Full disclosure: I’m the Executive Vice President of Marketing for the Digital Screenmedia Association.
Second full disclosure: I attended the DSA Symposium in Dallas in May.
Okay, now that we have that out of the way, I thought I would share with you why you should go to the DSA Symposium in Chicago on September 5-6.
In the long history of attending conferences, trade shows, summits, seminars, and organized events of the digital signage/digital media ilk, I have routinely walked away from the event with some form of vacancy in my mind. What did I get out of this? Did I meet the people/companies I wanted to meet? And most importantly, was I able to do business from this?
As the last DSA Symposium was winding down, there was a general consensus around the room that this was something really special. It felt productive and positive. It felt like everyone was walking away happy. I had gone through the clichéd “I have not heard a bad word about this yet!” phase. But this time, it seemed to hold true.
Being part of the DSA, I was eager to put out a survey to see what people thought. It would be easy to tell you, but why don’t I let the actual survey responses explain it.
That’s right. 100% of the people surveyed not only thought it met their expectations, but 100% said they would attend again. 96% of the people said they were able to network effectively.
I don’t believe I have ever seen a conference score that high on the three most important things that people want out of a conference. Here are some of the comments we got from attendees:
“Best networking I’ve had in a long time between end users. Very open discussions. Even conversations with vendors were non selling, which I appreciated.”
“A very effective use of my time and value for our money.”
“We’ll definitely invite and push for all of our clients to attend in the future”
“Great exposure to people I normally would not get to meet or hear their perspective as a buyer. Very interesting conversations.”
“I thought all speakers/panelists were high quality, value add. I could find parallels even with industries that were different than mine.”
“Glad I discovered this meeting. Very worthwhile. Very little preaching to the choir. Real meat as opposed to the tiresome ‘content is king’ or ‘this is the breakout year for digital’ you usually hear.”
“Do one every quarter. I will sign up every time”
You should attend the upcoming Symposium in Chicago. Here’s why:
THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE WHAT’S OUT THERE.
The DSA continues to deliver a focus on understanding that there is more than one channel to communicate. Mobile, digital signage, online, and even human interaction, are all part of the “omni-channel” experience. Here, you get to listen to those who practice it, and those who manufacture it, and you’re able to take away honest and important insight that will help you.
EFFECTIVE NETWORKING.
Particularly for end-users and potential clients, this is a terrific opportunity to leave with answers to your questions. The DSA has taken tremendous measures to ensure that networking is a critical outcome of the conference.
WALK AWAY WITH BUSINESS.
You attend to do business. You know it and I know it. What makes this unique is the size of the conference. It’s small, and targeted. It gives all of you time to meet and talk at length about your initiatives and goals. Instead of gigantic conferences with a “speed-dating” approach, it’s a comfortable and conducive atmosphere.
What are you going to see at this one? Well, how about United Airlines, Kohler, AT&T Retail, The Wall Street Journal, and Ricoh? Pretty nice lineup across a breadth of industries and expertise, all there to talk about audience and customer engagement.
In the end, you need to justify this. If you live/work anywhere around Chicago, this is a great time to spend to get your project from script to screen.
If you want to learn more about it, send me a note on Twitter or email me.
And here’s the best part. By being on the DSA Board, I get a discount to share with you. If you follow this link to buy tickets, enter DSABOARD in the promotional code to get a discount. But this promotion ends THIS FRIDAY, AUGUST 23rd.
I hope you’ll join me at the show. It should be really fantastic.