DSE Day 1 Very Quick Impressions

March 28, 2019 by Dave Haynes

This will have to be fast. Out late, and need to be out the door again early for client meeting.

Show looks good. Some people whined about the orientation of the hall, which has the entry and registration area inside the hall. You walk into the hall, and then left into the show. Been like that before. No big deal, really.

Hard to get a read on how busy it was. The big booths up front looked busy all day, and some of the ones part of the way in were insanely busy, notably Broadsign. BrightSign was packed, as well, but that’s kinda normal.

I’ve already been to several trade shows in 2019, so seeing something new and different is a bit of a challenge. There are some companies launching things here, but it’s more like version 2 or 3.1 of something that already existed, as opposed to something you’ve never seen before.

The footprint of DSE 2019 is not all that big, but I still didn’t get up and down all the aisles. More time for that today.

Some lightning impressions:

I liked the way Panasonic blended projection and big LCDs in its booth. Projection-mapping the wall around the screens.

The Peerless AV party is nuts. I’m 61 so I go to THUMPTHUMPTHUMP nightclubs about as often as I go for colonoscopies. And both are about the same level of fun for me. But I paid my dues and went in. Peerless and the many sponsors of the event do a great job, and 100s of people (mostly way younger) were having a blast. Some very heavy heads this morning, though, I’m guessing.

Thanks to Broadsign and Milestone for drinks.

Ayuda has a very clever, kooky booth again. Last year they had a trailer. This year, it’s a log cabin, built from a kit by two staffers. Took them forever, but it looks great.

Once again, many people were enchanted by the whirly-twirly LED blades of Hypervsn. They do look cool, but anyone in digital signage ops with experience knows things that spin break down. There’s a reason fanless media players and solid state hard drives are greatly preferred.

At the Apex awards, DSE and the DSF did a nice, brief tribute to Lyle Bunn, the industry vet who passed away last year.

The big winner of the Apex awards was a theater complex job in Utah, done by Revel Media Group. It’s a nice project, but largely an AV job, using direct view LED as outside posters and a big screen as a stage backdrop. Well done, certainly, but pointing at it as the best thing done in digital signage in 2018 is a big “Huh???”

There are yet more companies here with CMS platforms, and yet more with video analytics. The big pitch for one of them – forget the name – was lower price. Important, but …

I will have way more time to do Day 2 impressions. Long flight home. Gotta run.