DSrupted Is In the Can; Happy Crowd, Happy Organizer
September 18, 2014 by Dave Haynes
It’s a few hours after DSrupted shut down, and I am just a wee bit tired.
Forget about detailed coverage on what people said because the host and MC doesn’t get much time to sit and take notes. What I can say about the one-day conference – the first to focus specifically on disruptive tech in digital signage – is that it went off well.
I thought so, but way more importantly, the people who paid to be there – and in many cases travelled considerable distances to be there – told me it was money well spent.
They liked the TELUS Conference Centre as a venue. They liked the tight group of diverse speakers. They liked the extended-length presentations and Q&A time. And they liked that there wasn’t a sniff of people doing presentations based on their company being sponsors.
We had about 115 people, from as far away as London, England. Attendees included big retail, design firms, agencies and as you might expect lots of software and hardware people.
In talking to attendees I was struck by how different attendees all tended to identify different sessions as their favorite. Some said they really liked hearing direct from Google. Others liked going deep on what HTML5 was all about. Doug Thompson’s beacons talk was predictably popular because the tech is so hot and Thompson knows it as well as anyone on the planet. I loved what Second Story’s Matt Arnold had to say about the very disciplined idea development process his firm applies to environmental design. And I know a lot of people enjoyed Matthew Milan’s exploration about software and programming, which sounds terrifyingly technical but was actually very accessible for dummies like me.
The TELUS people were terrific, helpful hosts, and I had great support from sponsors Rise Vision, Cineplex Digital Solutions, Pattison Onestop, LG and the Digital Signage Federation, which had about 65 folks out for a mixer Tuesday night.
This event was absolutely an experiment, but I’m very happy how it came off. Looks like there will be a 2015 version, and I’d happily chat about partnering on a sister event in the US or UK.
But for now, priority 1 is a pillow.
I’m certain it took a lot of work – certainly the most important was the time you spend finding the speakers you convinced to show up. That was the key difference in this conference and time well spent by you.
Awesome day Dave. Great speakers great topics (out of the mainstream) great crowd of peers. You definitely delivered on your promise. See you in 2015.
Really pleased it went well Dave and disappointed that prior commitments prevented my attendance.
Look forward to you bringing DSrupted to the UK, would love to get involved.
Congratulations Dave…the hard work certainly paid off. Very happy to have been a co-sponsor, and looking forward to the next iteration.