But what do they do?
August 13, 2008 by Dave Haynes
Get the cake. Dig out the candles. The Digital Signage Association just hit 100 … members.
The Digital Signage Association recently signed its 100th member when Ingram Micro joined the association, reports the association.
Based in Santa Ana, Calif., Ingram Micro is one of the world’s largest distributors of technology solutions as well as a technology sales, marketing and logistics company.
It was a milestone for the association, which launched in Nov. 2007 and held its first meeting in Feb. 2008.
“We are pleased to welcome Ingram Micro into the Digital Signage Association,” said David Drain, DSA executive director. “The fact that we were able to reach the 100-member milestone so quickly demonstrates the sheer amount of interest there is in an association dedicated to digital signage for all market segments.”
Other companies to join in recent weeks include Cables To Go, KenCast, John Ryan, MosChip Semiconductor, netFaze, NEXCOM, PRN and X2O Media.
Well, I guess this is swell. Membership fees are somewhere between $1,000 and $3,000, so let’s say $2,000 on average – which means publisher NetWorld Alliance (which owns the association) has generated about $200,000 out of this thing.
So what do you get?
If you are a deployer, you get:
* Complimentary expert advice
* Critical know-how
* Networking with other professionals
* Savings on research and trade shows
!!!!
Aren’t expert advice and critical know-how the same thing?
I’ve met the guy who runs this, David Drain, and he’s very nice. But unless I am missing something this is one of these things that has meetings just enough to say it’s real, but is really not a lot more than a shell of a thing to join so that you can say you are a member of something legitimate sounding. Mu masters are among the century club, so I guess that sorta, kinda, in a really vague kinda way makes me a member.
How this would actually work, were it really there to advance the industry, is a bit of a question. The board has 40 people on it … so far. Which would make for one hell of a long and messy meeting (or really short … “All in favor say “Aye”, now let’s go get a beer”).
A seat at that board table costs another grand, by the way. And the board has so far met once, right before DSE .
A few grand grand a member. Hmmm. I just HAVE to start my own association. So I can retire.
More on that soon, as a few people who have suffered through my recent presentations already know I have a name and acronym in mind.
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