This week, I had the pleasure of speaking in Chicago at the 5th Annual Building Your Digital Signage Business Conference.  Having been in this industry for the last two years and attending several of these conferences, I definitely felt that this one delivered on what it promised — a well rounded mix of insight for all stakeholders of our industry.

Recap:

1) Attendance was not huge, but this was actually a plus in my opinion, as it made for a more intimate setting for Q&A and networking breaks were not overwhelming.

2) The Grand Ballroom of the Swissotel was a solid venue.  The staff was very prompt and I was pleasantly surprised by how good the food looked AND tasted.

3) The “Digital Signage Tour of Chicago” culminating the first night of the expo was Awesome!  We viewed digital signage in action at the ING Direct cafe and a local sports bar, which naturally evolved into a networking mixer to finish off the night.

4) Keith Kelsen did a great job moderating the entire conference. His cadence and demeanor kept things moving at good pace and the audience well engaged.

5) The weather in Chicago sucked; Windy and rainy as usual for this time of year.  Perhaps next year, SI can host this show in Hawaii?

TOP 3 Presentations (IMHO):

3) John Ross, President of IPG Emerging Media Lab.  “Engagement and Interaction: The Future of Advertising and the Brand Experience” John led an excellent keynote address to open up the conference, detailing digital signage’s place in the total brand experience.  Key metric taken away from his presentation: 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations when making their purchase decision vs. 14% who trust advertisements!

2) Kim Luegars, Director of Media Innovations, DraftFCB.  “Media Buyers and Planners Speak Out on Digital Out-of-Home” Kim was in on the same panel discussion as I, but she unequivocally stole the show with her “cut the crap and show me the sales increase” viewpoint on digital signage advertising.

and the number 1 presentation (drum roll please)…

1) Manolo Almagro, CTO Show & Tell Productions “User-Generated and Localized Content: Understanding the Factors for Success” The only thing I wish was that Manolo’s presentation had been one of the first on Day 1, when the most amount of people would’ve seen it.  FANTASTIC job highlighting the power behind Twitter, Facebook and other User Generated Content sites and what incorporating that into digital signage could mean from analytical and ad dollar standpoint.

Agencies complain there are no metrics for DOOH.  Real-Time FREE analytics already exists for YouTube, Twitter and more.  Blending the two makes the screens more interesting for viewers and delivers the hard numbers agencies want in order to justify the spend.

Kudos Manolo - It was well worth almost missing my flight back to the bay area!

-Matthew Olivieri