Mixer Sponsor Profiles: DMG, Harris, POPAI
February 17, 2011 by Dave Haynes
Note: Part Two, following on a Wednesday post …
The big Preset Group DSE Mixer is our way of getting a lot of industry friends together for a casual networking evening just ahead of the mayhem to follow the next day, as the trade show hall opens at Digital Signage Expo.
The thing has grown into a bit of a beast and we were all ticketed out in seven hours this year. There are free drinks, which explains the lopsided Canadian presence. But we think most people come because it’s a great way to meet a buncha smart people. End of day mixers on the day of a show tend to be typified by a lot of people who are pretty much talked out and beat. And Canadians.
We have ticketed some 250 people (yes, we’re sold out), and while the vast crew at The Preset Group organizes the thing, we seek help from industry sponsors to help offset the cost. One of the ways we pay that back is by profiling those sponsors to the millions, quite possibly billions, of Sixteen:Nine readers.
So, we are doing profiles on those six kind firms. The last three, in alphabetical order:
Diversified Media Group (DMG) is a network and systems engineering company, responsible for the management of day-to-day planning, engineering, installation, content development and routine maintenance across a wide span of business sectors.
DMG is also the sister company of Diversified Systems, one of the US’ largest A/V integrators, with multiple offices from New Jersey to Seattle).
The company has a pile of experience in DS deployment work and some tier one clients. DMG is a returning sponsor and they’ll have people, like Tom Percich, at the mixer.
If you just saw Harris at digital signage events you might think the company is just another element in the big mob of software companies out there. They don’t overdo it with a booth and there’s not the degree of hoo-hah you perhaps see with some marketing-driven competitors.
It takes going to an event like NAB to realize the Harris digital signage team has a HUGE company behind it. When I hoofed it through the National Association of Broadcasters show last fall I was bowled over by the size of its booth – necessary because the company is into a whole bunch more than just digital signage. They do “battlespace systems” – whatever that is.
And I quote:
Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has approximately $5 billion of annual revenue and more than 16,000 employees — including nearly 7,000 engineers and scientists.
That said, the core of the software offer stands on its own. I liked InfoCaster when I was monkeying with it in 2003, and it’s come a long way since then. The three bright women – Denise MacDonnell, Carre Dawson and Rebecca Walt – who are in many respects the faces of Harris DS, will be at the mixer.
POPAI is the international trade association for the marketing at retail industry. The organization has some 1,700 member companies representing major brands, retailers, marketing at retail producers and ad agencies in some 45 countries from around the world.
POPAI focuses on education, globalization, technology, advocacy, and a goal of elevating marketing at retail as a measured medium on a par with print, broadcast, and other advertising mediums.
The organization has been active in the standards side of this sector for many years and has the very active support of guys like Bill Gerba, and anyone who knows Bill knows he would not be involved unless there’s substance, meaning and results.
Richard Winter – POPAI’s president for North America – will be on hand.
Thanks to all the sponsors, who are critical to the success of what looks very much like the start of a tradition. Based on the seven hours to be all ticketed out – and two weeks of “Pssst, I know you are sold out, but … ” – we may have to look for bigger digs for 2012.
Sheesh.
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