The DailyDOOH has done an excellent job of covering and summarizing this week’s DS Investor Conference so I won’t repeat their points. Here are some other takeaways:
1. There were (according to the Speaker and Attendee List), 64 attendees and 32 Speakers. Of those, less than 10% were investors, and at least half of them were speakers. Obviously there are many active and or new investors hovering around DOOH (LocaModa’s VCs, Dace are just one example) but I wonder how many people came to the conference hoping to network with investors rather than competitors?
2. Related to my point above, I’d guess at least 50% of the attendees were the “old boys club.” On the positive side, this is an excellent opportunity to connect with business partners and colleagues. But are we talking to ourselves more than reaching a wider community of new blood?
3. I agree with RMG’s CEO, Gary McGuire that the web guys are coming. I’ve bet on such, and that’s reflected in our blog being called The Web Outside (by the way, we’re changing our branding soon to bring it all under the LocaModa brand, but I digress). But how many DOOH CEOs think their exit could be to a web company?
4. I was delighted to hear David Drain from the Digital Screenmedia Association announce the integration of Mobile into their mission. Mobile and Social were definitely some of the buzz words during the two days, and were mentioned by pretty much every speaker. I particularly enjoyed the passionate debate on our own mobile panel, but we all know that Mobile/Social is still misunderstood by a majority of networks.
5. I welcomed hearing Jill Nickerson, VP Horizon Media and Connie Garrido, CEO Posterscope USA at the event. These events have not attracted too many major media or creative agencies. We are still perceived as being too niche or too tech-centric. We have to simplify our benefits to our customers.
6. The real time participation via Twitter and near real time participation via blogs was VERY good to see. David Weinfeld, Principal of The Preset Group, a long time fan of all things connected, was “tuned in” via Twitter and blogged about it here. Adrian Cotterill, when he chaired on the second day, posed a question that came in via Twitter. The combined number of followers of just a few of the people tweeting meant that several thousand people were receiving highlights in realtime from the conference. It’s a fact that most events today will be connected to audiences beyond their four walls. Adrian gave us a nice plug for our Wiffiti screen (we’re also changing our branding soon on Wiffiti to bring it under the LocaModa brand, but I digress again) tagged for the event. With more and more conferences reaching wider audiences outside than in (think about the excellent TED conferences) isn’t it about time our conferences did a better job of being connected? Papers should be available to everyone not just attendees (I always place my presentations and papers on slideshare). Promote free WiFi and ensure the main screens work properly (one of the two screens wasn’t working at a DOOH conf!)
Always room for improvement, but this was a successful event. I enjoyed it, and found it a good environment to network and be informed. A round of applause to the Strategy Institute, Stuart Armstrong and Adrian Cotterill for hosting over the two days.
