DSF Launches Industry Advisory Council

February 24, 2022 by Dave Haynes

The Digital Signage Federation (DSF) has announced a DSF Advisory Council made up of companies in the industry ecosystem that provided the necessary funds to keep the association going as the pandemic settled in and other funding resources all but dried up.

The member companies, says the DSF, will advise on topics such as education and member events, and provide thought leadership.

“The Advisory Council is the result of outreach efforts the DSF Board made to our members this past fall seeking advice on what direction the DSF should take as we all navigate the post-pandemic new normal,” says DSF chair Len Dudis. “Resoundingly our members wanted us to remain an independent trade association focused on continuing to grow our industry. These Advisory Council firms stepped up to the plate with the resources we needed to further that mission.”

The DSF says this new Advisory Council will “meet quarterly to provide the DSF Board with insights and guidance on industry trends, help determine what topics to pursue for future micro-credential education tracks and provide advice on road and trade show participation. Advisory Council member organizations will provide members to the DSF Speakers Bureau to assist with panel discussions and education tracks for online or in person events and participation in webinar series.”

Member companies:

“We’re asking our Advisory Council to lean in and provide the Board with concrete advice and counsel on how best to serve our members and in the process make their DSF as proactive and responsive as it can be,” says Ryan Cahoy, incoming Vice Chairman of the DSF Board. “These members companies are all leaders in their respective verticals, and we want to leverage that knowledge as chart a new course for the organization.”  

Membership on the DSF Advisory Council is for one year, with terms renewable at the end of each calendar year.

It may seem slightly weird that the DSF has an advisory council to the board, when the board largely consists of senior people from companies in the signage ecosystem, effectively acting as advisors. But this is a bit different and brought on by what played out when COVID-19 hit. The DSF’s primary financial supporter was Exponation, which ran Digital Signage Expo and contributed a percentage of show revenues to the DSF. When that trade show entered bankruptcy processings, that funding dried up and the DSF needed new funding avenues to do things like pay the admin bills.

A bunch of companies – this advisory council – saw the value in an industry association and stepped up with financial support. That’s the reference Dudis is making to how “firms stepped up to the plate with the resources we needed to further that mission.”

 

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