The Digital Signage Insider

It looks like there are a number of new tradeshows on the horizon addressing all sorts of innovative marketing techniques and technologies.  First, there was the digital signage exhibition at InfoComm (I blogged about it at FireCast Digital Signs at InfoComm), then the Digital Retailing Expo (and my thoughts on it here), and most recently, the At-Retail Media Expo (I don't have a link to that one, but I blogged about it at: A New Kiosk and Digital Signage Trade Show & Conference: The At-Retail Media Expo).  Recently, though, I've been inundated with flyers, emails and phone calls about a number of new shows coming up that cover everything from kiosks to digital signs to a bunch of new techniques and digital marketing programs.  The first of these that I'd like to point out is the Digital Signage Summit, brought to us by the Strategy Institute.  The first summit is coming up next February in Toronto, and there are rumors of another in New York a bit later next year.  It features some interesting-sounding topics like:

Content Creation: Strategies Designed to Captivate Your Audience
Legal Concerns: Protect Your Organization with the Best Contracts and Licensing Agreements
Selecting the Right Software to Save You Time and Money
and a number of case studies.

Shortly after that, VNU Expositions is presenting the Digital Marketing Conference and Exposition in New York City.  While less focused on in-store digital marketing techniques like the other shows and conferences I've mentioned, the Digital Marketing Expo takes a broader view of digital marketing techniques, including rich media campaigns, Internet marketing hotspots like search engine optimization and banner advertising, and mass mail campaigns.  Since the digital merchandising strategies that we're so focused on draw heavily from both the traditional advertising worlds as well as more "standard" Internet marketing techniques, I think it's very important to gather information from both of these camps.  It's easy to take a myopic view of the industry and focus exclusively on tradeshows and conferences specifically for interactive kiosks or dynamic digital signage networks, but in doing so one can quickly lose perspective and forget how these techniques fit into the broader marketing landscape.