March 21-23 Could Be Date Window For DSE Reboot Next Year In Las Vegas

July 2, 2021 by Dave Haynes

Nothing has been announced, but if the company that is doing a re-launch of Digital Signage Expo next year does indeed pair the event with one it already operates, the DSE re-boot would be in late March in Las Vegas.

Questex, which bought the assets of DSE, has not made a formal announcement of its intentions for a show re-boot, but CEO Paul Miller told me recently in a podcast interview that it was looking at things like running the show concurrently with the Bar and Nightclub Show.

That event – which caters to guess what – had a busy, fully live event in Las Vegas earlier this week, and show owners Questex have said it will be called the Bar & Restaurant Expo going forward, with the 2022 dates set for March 21-23rd at the LVCC. Miller said in the interview his team was looking at early spring, so this lines up.

The old DSE bounced around the month of March in recent years, though I remember one time it was in February. So if Questex does indeed run the two events at roughly the same time – the thinking being a lot of people at the bar show would have an interest in display and interactive tech – it will be familiar timing for the signage crowd.

As you can see in this video, the bar show is a pretty lively three days. That owes partly to countless adult beverage companies pouring free samples, but also to the venues and the fun-hungry crowd that works in and runs restaurants and bars.

I joke about the potential for attendees to get very wobbly-kneed, but the show is a lot more than an open bar. The exhibit hall has a pile of vendors showing things like order capture and payment systems.

The show also has celebrities (this year, Jenny McCarthy and Sammy Hagar, who I interviewed about 300 years ago when I was a rock writer at a newspaper in Winnipeg). The DSE re-boot could have celebrities, I suppose. The CMS Raydiant has Mark Wahlberg as a brand ambassador … and then there’s … hmmm …. never mind.

The International Pizza Expo is also on that week in Vegas – which would seem unrelated until you start thinking digital menus and back of house signage.

Miller said in the podcast interview his team would be announcing its plans within a few weeks, so I expect something in the next two-three weeks. They kinda have to, as March 2022 will be here in a flash.