“When we look back on InfoComm 2011, we’ll think of it as the show ....”

We’ve had a lot of fun with that phrase leading up to and during InfoComm 2011.

We asked industry leaders to play Nostradamus and speculate what the key takeaways of this year’s show will be. If you attended InfoComm 2011, please let us know what you’ll remember from the show in the comments.

InfoComm 2011: The Digital Signage Show

By Jonathan Brawn, principal of Brawn Consulting, Digital Signage Experts Group

When we look back on InfoComm 2011, we’ll think of it as the digital signage show. Digital signage has been a nearly constant presence over the last few years, but it is definitely reaching a new crescendo, a point where the whole nature of the business is changing, and InfoComm 2011 will go down as the first show where this is truly something noticeable.

Digital signage is reaching a critical period in its evolution. Since the early 2000s we have been aware of the concept of digital signage, as a valuable replacement to traditional static print media. It always called to us with a very seductive song, promising new markets, new technologies to explore, and above all else, new profits.

Looking back at those early days, we can see that in the beginning, it just didn’t make sense. The technology wasn’t ready, the business models hadn’t developed, and people who attempted those pioneering systems did help forge the way for what has come, but ended in a very sad situation, not truly failure, but definitely not success. At Brawn Consulting, we used to teach a seminar we called “The Black Hole of Digital Signage” because it truly was back then!

Obviously, things have radically changed. According to studies from many market research groups, and even InfoComm itself, digital signage is one of the fastest growing market segments a company can tap into, and it frequently offers much better profit margins than we can eke out in “traditional” A/V systems, merely because of the opportunity to provide ongoing service and maintenance contracts, in a way a boardroom system or command and control installation June not automatically offer. It is a beautiful thing, and everyone wants a piece of that action these days.

Related: Digital Signage Revenues to Grow 40% in 2013

I feel that InfoComm 2011 will provide us with a new perspective on digital signage, not a major revolution, but a subtle evolution that will, without fanfare, mark a true tipping point in the market. We have seen, at the last several InfoComm shows, a true evolution in technology, and I’m sure that true to form, we will see new “revolutionary” technologies that promise to change the way digital signage works again this year.

However, that’s not what I’m referring to at all.

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