Dynamic Digital Signage Highlights 2014 Sign Expo

ISA’s recently completed Sign Expo 2014 qualifies as another great show, but, for me, the best highlights occurred before the exhibit hall even opened. The actual Orlando tradeshow ran from Thursday, April 24 through Saturday, April 26, but I was primarily enamored with the dynamic-digital-signage (DS) educational opportunities provided on Wednesday April 23. Details will appear in my editorial for the June 2014 issue of Signs of the Times magazine.

The show marked the second appearance of the Dynamic Digital Park at the show, and ISA reported 12 new DS exhibitors. Of special note, on Wednesday, Almo Professional A/V hosted its own E4 tradeshow, adjacent to all of the ISA DS-oriented sessions. Almo represents nearly 30 DS-related vendors, and such companies exhibit. This is the fifth year that Almo has presented this quarterly event, but it was the first time it co-located with ISA.

N. Glantz & Son, the century-old, sign-supply company, co-sponsored the DS party on Thursday night with Samsung, a DS hardware vendor that it represents. Glantz has created a separate division, called Glantz Dynamic Solutions, to concentrate on DS. It represents roughly two dozen DS vendors.

Interestingly, Almo and Glantz represent at least nine common companies, so battle lines are clearly being drawn between these two entities for market dominance. Also, while Roland DGA has been in the forefront of digital printing for two decades, it too has joined in the DS fray with its introduction of its entry-level DisplayStudio program.

ISA announced Sign Expo attendance at 18,110, a record for the even-year Orlando show. This represents significant improvement over the 16,200 in 2012 and 17,000 in 2010. But, it still pales in comparison to the odd-year Las Vegas shows, where Sign Expo attendance high-water mark of 21,777 was set in 2005. Its 2013 attendance figure of 19,500 also exceeds this year’s tally. Interestingly, this year’s 198,900 sq. ft. of exhibit space (an Orlando record) is just shy of last year’s record 202,000 sq. ft. in Las Vegas.

As for digital-printing trends, the introduction of smaller, less-expensive versions of existing printing equipment dominated the show floor.

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In other highlights, ISA announced that its Hosted Buyer Program, which strives to bring designers and architects to the show, doubled in size from last year. Additionally, the newly renamed Society for Experiential Graphic Design hosted a one-day educational track. ISA reported a 34% attendance increase for its educational offerings, compared to the last Orlando show in 2012.