The DSE Mixer Is Coming Back

January 11, 2022 by Dave Haynes

With the big qualifier that who knows how things look in a couple of months, the plan is to revive the DSE Sixteen:Nine industry mixer for Las Vegas in March, as kind of the opening party for Digital Signage Experience.

The mixer is set to take place on the evening of March 21st at its most familiar and used venue, the third floor of the Hard Rock Cafe on the Las Vegas strip. Registration to attend is required, as always, and will open online some time next month.

The old DSE was always supportive of the event and the same is true with the re-booted show’s new backers, Questex, who regards the evening as a partner event.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to partner with Sixteen:Nine on this must-attend industry event,” says Marian Sandberg, VP/Market Leader for DSE at Questex. “The mixer will be a great kick-off to Digital Signage Experience this year, and it will be amazing to be back together, celebrating at an in-person event. Dave Haynes has established a clear winner with his mixer, and we’re so glad he has the confidence in us to bring it back to the new DSE. We look forward to seeing everyone there in March.”

If you are new to the industry or to Sixteen:Nine, and don’t know what I am nattering on about, there has been a mixer immediately ahead of DSE since 2009. It started as a loose gathering at a bizarro lounge on the Strip with flaming fire pools (Peppermill, if you want a trippy ’60s experience), but through the years the mixer has grown more formalized, and in demand. Some years, 400 tickets are gone in a day or two. It seems to be popular for a few key reasons:

As always, the mixer will be free to attend, but I cap the attendee numbers AND the booze tickets (don’t want people teetering out of there and into traffic). I will be looking for sponsors once again, though I have some rollovers from a succession of COVID-cancelled events dating back to the old DSE, InfoComm and ISE.

The remaining big variable is the state of the pandemic by late March in Vegas. What will omicron and COVID look like by then??? Hopefully, things will be calmed down sufficiently to make networking safe. Putting a lot of people in a room can be counter-intuitive to health safety if the the bug is still all over. I’m triple-vaxxed, as I am sure many are, but I have a five-week-old grandson I don’t want to pass anything on to by bringing back COVID wth my duty-free bottle of bourbon.

The outlook will hopefully look much clearer by the end of this month, which is why I am holding back on registrations for a bit.

DSE is set for March 22-24 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. You can get 50% off an exhibit hall pass by using the code SIXT22 during registration.

  1. Stephen Nesbit says:

    Dave…. GREAT to see your push for a return to normalcy…. Your event has always been a highlight of DSE over the years… THANK YOU FOR GETTING BEHIND THE INDUSTRY. look forward to it this year (God willing!!).

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