Kioskcom and DS Show being re-branded as Customer Engagement Technology World

March 18, 2010 by Dave Haynes

JD Events, the guys who have been doing Kioskcom for the past decade, are renaming and re-branding the the kiosk show and its sister digital signage event as Customer Engagement Technology World, starting this fall in New York.

The show that is in Vegas next month will be, yay!!!, in San Francisco in spring 2011.

For more than a decade, JD Events, the organization behind KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show, has dedicated itself to exploring the key role that digital media plays in the world, from kiosks to digital signs, and mobile applications to new platforms on the horizon. Today, JD Events announces that KioskCom and The Digital Signage Show will converge to become Customer Engagement Technology World. Beginning in November 2010 in New York, the event will focus on the expanding role of customer engagement in business success and improved ROI, addressing topics that are more reflective of what the industry has become and where it is going.

“This evolution is a natural progression that many have been looking for and it’s encouraging to see JD Events come forward to drive the migration towards a more outcome-focused offering,” said Danna Vetter, associate vice president, ARAMARK Marketing Services.

“Today digital media is less about the technology and more about the connections it makes – the connection with consumers and other key stakeholders. The goal of digital media needs to be tied to business outcomes and measured against business objectives; the technology is a necessary vehicle, but at the end of the day, it is how the technology enables consumer engagement to drive demand that has the strongest impact.”

Customer Engagement Technology World will fuse the best resources and education tools KioskCom and The Digital Signage Show have to offer with new, innovative features that will continue to explore the strategies and content solutions that create successful customer engagement. Developed using the concerns, questions and feedback from industry professionals, board members, vendors and attendees, Customer Engagement Technology World is a name which best represents the discussion topics, solutions and business interactions that KioskCom and The Digital Signage Show participants have come to expect.

“Once again JD Events is leading the way in helping to make customer engagement solutions easily accessible and all within one show,” said Janet Webster, president of Creative Solutions Consulting and president of Self-Service & Kiosk Association. “JD Events has always been forward-thinking about providing easier and better access to a wide variety of industry-related information – they really listen to their customers and make adjustments to ensure the next show includes recommended changes to make it even better. Just look at the excellent transformation of KioskCom over the last few years – it has grown into a ‘must attend’ event, and this new expansion reflects JD Events’ continued leadership in the industry.”

“For more than 14 years, we have educated individuals and organizations, stressing that kiosks, digital signage, mobile, and future applications will only find long-term success by delivering meaningful engagement to customers, creating stronger ROI,” said Lawrence Dvorchik, general manager for KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show. “We strive to step outside the tradeshow norms and bring a new approach and new life to the table. Customer Engagement Technology World exemplifies everything we have been and continue to be – a strategic leader, providing content and resources so our customers can move with the industry, not after it.”

To further reinforce JD Events’ commitment to attracting the largest possible concentration of qualified attendees, there will be a venue change for the 2011 spring show. Historically, the spring KioskCom and The Digital Signage Show events have been in Las Vegas. Customer Engagement Technology World now will be held in San Francisco, at the Moscone Convention Center, April 27-28, 2011.

When KioskCom / The Digital Signage Show moved its fall event to New York three years ago, the event attracted an unprecedented number of qualified attendees, and JD Events expects the same result in San Francisco. According to leading online business database, Manta.com, California has the largest number of advertising agencies in the country, and is in the top three for Fortune 500 company headquarters. The show will now provide an easy commute for thousands of qualified attendees, and will be in San Francisco, a highly desirable travel destination, for those traveling from other parts of the country.

I agree with the observers about this being a smart move. I don’t think the Digital Signage Show thing really ever stuck, as most people just called it Kioskcom because it was quicker. The new handle doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it does speak more to what this is all about. Technologies are converging and what the kiosk world calls an attract loop is a playlist in the digital signage world, and the interactive touch apps of the digital signage sector are the kiosk interfaces of that sector. This handle allows JD Events to get more squarely focused and also draw in complementary sectors like mobile and social media.

This also puts JD Events more in its own box, and not competing so much with DSE and, more and more, InfoComm. Not to mention if the Digital Signage Association comes up with its own industry show.