Digital signage imprint continues to grow at InfoComm 2010

The digital signage imprint continues to grow at the annual InfoComm audio-visual industry tradeshow, and this year’s InfoComm 2010 promises to yield a wealth of products, displays and educational and networking opportunities for the digital signage sector.

The 60-year old tradeshow added a digital signage pavilion about five years ago, and organizers say their digital signage show floor is now possibly the largest display of exhibits for digital signage under one roof. Exhibitors will be on hand displaying the full range of technology and equipment necessary for digital signage deployments, and just by square footage alone the digital signage area is one of the largest, if not the largest, digital signage shows in the country, organizers say.

“digital signage certainly has been one of the fastest growing sectors in the A-V industry,” said Jason McGraw, senior vice president of expositions for InfoComm International. “And it’s been one of the fastest growing areas on our show floor.”

The show runs June 5-11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and is arguably the world largest and most complete A-V tradeshow.

In addition to digital-signage-specific exhibitors, display manufacturers and other A-V equipment manufacturers also are on hand each year at InfoComm, making it “the most comprehensive showcase of digital signage hardware that you’re going to see anywhere,” Mcgaw says.

“Everything that somebody needs to see solution-wise and product-wise for digital signage is there at InfoComm,” he said.

Organizers say the show’s digital signage pavilion “captures one of the most rapidly expanding fields in our industry and is a must-attend for digital signage technology end-users and integrators in retail, corporate, hospitality and institutional markets,” with exhibits from the likes of Ingram Micro, Harris, Scala and X2O Media, among others.

The show also has a strong educational component, says InfoComm executive director and CEO Randal Lemke. InfoComm will feature a two-day digital signage technology summit, with two- and four-hour individual classes (about 10 in total, focusing on digital signage), as well as half-day sessions on digital signage fundamentals and digital signage business planning. Attendees also will have the chance to take A-V Technology Tours featuring digital signage content.

“In particular, digital signage I think is going to be one of the hot areas, not only on the show floor but in terms of content,” McGraw said.

InfoComm has a different flavor than the other digital signage shows of the year, says Denise MacDonell, general manager of the digital signage division for Harris Corp., the pavilion’s gold sponsor.

While some shows are geared more toward the people and companies deploying digital signage, InfoComm is tailored toward digital-signage integrators and people and companies that/who are implementing the solutions in the marketplace, MacDonell says.

“For InfoComm we’ll get into the weeds a little more about, specifically: ‘How do you design content for those environments?’ ‘How you put together the right bill of materials and lists of components for those markets?’ ‘What are the differences in things like the networking infrastructure that has to be deployed say for a stadium versus a corporate headquarters?’ she said.

InfoComm 2010 will again play host to a digital signage Technology Summit, which runs June 7 and 8, from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Convention Center. The pre-show conference aims at teaching how to use digital signage to improve customer experience, generate revenue through ad opportunities and plan rollouts more effectively, among other objectives.

InfoComm organizers are expecting about 32,000 people to attend this year’s show, making it the second largest show ever, after its peak in 2008. Attendees will be coming from all 50 states and 90 countries, McGraw says, noting that almost 5,000 people come to the show from outside the United States every year.

The number one reason people come to trade shows is to see products, but after that come education and networking opportunities, and InfoComm has all three of those in abundance as well, Lemke says.

“We think we have a very well-rounded program,” McGraw said. “We have the gamut at InfoComm and we think it is probably the one stop shop when it comes to looking at digital signage solutions.”