InfoComm Day 2 – A Big Ooops And A Fantastic Mixer
June 14, 2024 by Dave Haynes
At airport, heading home. so there will be no Day 3 InfoComm insights report. I am not sure what I would write if I had a third day, if the intent was to report on genuinely new stuff. Lots of great stuff, but I saw and wrote about it out of ISE.
Day 2 was a bit truncated by my need to bolt mid afternoon and start the set-up for the mixer last night. More on that later.
I went over to the Central Hall, where all the AV gear and AV gearheads were located. There is not a lot of digital signage and display stuff over there, but it was packed late morning when I was at that hall. The most interesting thing was seeing Appspace with a very large booth. That company has done a good job of not only building up business in the workplace vertical, but also stitching itself into the fabric of how a lot of workplaces operate.
The company calls what it has a unified workplace experience platform, and when I was over there, they were just in the middle of announcing deeper ties with Microsoft through the integration of its digital signage capabilities with Microsoft Teams Rooms.
Currently, idle Teams Rooms devices display a static background with the room calendar. With the Appspace integration, customers can broadcast digital signage content, messages, and alerts to their Teams Rooms devices, transforming meeting areas into vibrant communication hubs while still displaying key Teams Rooms information, such as the room name and preview of the room calendar.
Numerous digital signage software companies have some sort of tie-in with pervasive workplace tools like Teams and Zoom, but I gather this is much tighter than what most others do.
As a provider, organizations can also use Appspace playlists and content from a centralized location to share and manage globally, to every collaboration space, ensuring employees and visitors are well informed. This further enhances workplace communication and engagement.
Visix also has a big presence in the Central Hall, as does Pixelflex (LED guys, US-based). But most of what is over there is for the people who think about installation and management, not what is on screens.
In the West hall, the big new-ish space, I had good chats with numerous companies …
- Kitcast has always marketed itself as a platform that uses Apple TV, but they are opening up to include BrightSign devices and, over time, Android.
- Poppulo (Four Winds) is still primarily known as workplace experience like Appspace, but their team told me there is still a long-running set of accounts in hospitality and other sectors, and they are ramping that back up – hence the InfoComm stand.
- Mimo Monitors showed me its Flashcast messaging device and software. Pretty cool!
- Absen, Daktronics and Nanolumens gave me good rundowns on their products and focus, and it was interesting to hear Absen talking about sustainability initiatives and a desire to get the larger LED industry thinking about things like packaging and power consumption.
- I met the new CEO of BrightSign, and the guy he kinda sorta replaced. Steve Durkee seems a very nice, very sharp and engaged guy, and longtime CEO Jeff Hastings is wildly happy just being a CTO now.
DVSI showed me an e-paper color display that uses Wi-Charge wireless power, so no need even for a battery.- The Displax-Interactive Scape touch table collaboration is cool, and has business applications. Much of what I have seen of that tech is interesting, but skewed more to museums and experience centers.
One thing I noticed, and was surprised by, was the lack of companies marketing those madly spinning LED rotor thingies they try to call holograms. I do not recall seeing any, though there were probably some … somewhere.
I also didn’t see Proto or other companies marketing the transparent LCD shower stalls.
The biggest piece of exhibitor eye candy this year is the LG kinetic wall – the same one it had at ISE. People started texting me midday to tell me it was not working. I went over, and it was showing content, but the robotic sliders were not doing their thing. For at least an hour. Oops.
Moving parts make ops people nervous and this was loudly making their case. I assume somebody beat it with a hammer and got it going again, but there were undoubtedly a few LG events people looking for a vat of soju to drown themselves in.
If you are still at the show, go have a look at the Artmorph stuff at the Cecoceco stand, with ROE. 3D printed LED titles that create animated walls – like woodgrain walls that suddenly go active. Different and probably very interesting to people who design built spaces. I did a podcast with the founders several months ago.
The mixer was last night and it was great. We could have had twice as many people, but those who scored tickets all provided very positive reviews.
The only slightly negative thing is that the Buzz part of Buzz & Bullseyes was a 30 minute casual chat about the show, and the venue audio set-up was a little boombox thing that looked like a Geiger counter, and was pretty much useless. So we hollered. Good discussion but mikes and speakers would have been JUST a wee bit better.
We used Ed Crowley’s kiosks – the ones that never showed up for DSE – and they were great for checking people in.
I was too busy to stop and take photos, but we had a pro shooter running around and will get those photos in the coming days.
Huge thanks to Bryan Meszaros, my co-host and frankly the guy who did most of the hard work. He did a great job, and I just did promo and sponsor support, and was the on-site eye candy.
Big thanks as well to my buddy Tom Milner, his wife Fran and Tom’s Canuck wingman Stefan Thorarinson for helping in set-up and then running the check-in process. Very helpful.
By the way, someone left a little portable Sandisk HDD in a case at the mixer venue. It is at Lost and Found.
There will be a mixer at ISE, but I have seven or so months to get that together. I already have numerous returning sponsors, but email me if your company wants in on that event – which has become a big thing at the Barcelona show.
Almost boarding time. Gotta go.
Great to see so many industry people this week. Safe travels home!
Dave, I have to say, I sincerely appreciate your posts, but more importantly your industry insights. You and I are about the same age and probably been in the industry about the same amount of time. So I’m as jaded and suspicious as you are😎
Anyways thank you for your posts. Keep them coming!!
Thanks for a wonderful party, Dave!
Thanks for the love, Dave!
That party was one of the best for networking! Amazing sponsors and great conversations. Hours of good alcohol and sharp pointy things to throw around, what could go wrong?
Thanks for coordinating this great event!