19 Leaders, 3 Days in Miami, One Conclusion: Collaboration Beats Gatekeeping

December 8, 2025 by guest author, Antonia Hamberger

When we started posting on Sixteen:Nine in June, not many people in the North American digital signage industry knew what invidis is all about. A few knew us as a consulting company from Europe. Some had heard of – or even been to – one of our Digital Signage Summits at ISE, or seen our industry rankings and read our yearbook. But I think anyone who’s come to one of our Executive Club events gets it.

These events are where we bring everything we do together: consulting, hosting, and publishing. We keep it intimate — no more than 20 people. The idea is to give leadership a chance to plan for challenges and opportunities ahead, form connections with other leaders, and spend more time together than the typical 10 minutes at trade shows.

The three-day Miami event we hosted last week hit the spot. Nineteen highly motivated C-level executives joined us, and everyone was very dedicated to pushing the discussions forward. What we find is that, yes, networking is important. But what the industry needs is to stop turning a blind eye to the challenges ahead. And that’s best done by looking at unabashed numbers, reflecting on what has worked and what hasn’t, and having honest conversations about what’s actually going on in the market.

Because sometimes business in a certain area is developing terribly – but your competitors are experiencing the same. Which means it’s not an individual problem but an industry-wide one. And the industry doesn’t see enough open and honest conversations. Gatekeeping is certainly understandable to a point. But what we’ve found is that a small industry like digital signage needs collaboration and exchange. Mid-sized organizations are vulnerable to big corporations finding their way into the space and hitting the market with unmatched sales and marketing power.

The market is changing. It’s growing, and customers’ expectations are evolving. And even though the word is terribly overused, I think everyone who came left Miami empowered.

I had the chance to interview most of the attendees, and I’ll start posting those individual videos soon – some really interesting conversations about M&A, real innovation, thriving verticals, and more.

Next year, we’ll be heading to Palm Springs for our Executive Club. Miami definitely delivered on the going-out side, but Palm Springs will leave more time for golfing. Thank you to everyone for coming – the event would have been nothing without the dedication and great energy that our guests brought along. Already looking forward to next year. In the meantime, we’ll be hosting our last Executive Club of the year in Dubai on Thursday.

Check out some photos of Miami:

1. Carrie says:

   December 8, 2025 at 6:01 pm

   I would love to see more women invited. Such a talented group of Executives @ Miami 2025!

   Reply
   1. Antonia Hamberger says:

      December 11, 2025 at 5:37 am

      Absolutely – but currently, most leadership positions in digital signage are held by men. To all the women that want to be part of the discussions: reach out!

      Reply