Have you registered for the upcoming Content Best Practices for Digital Signage Networks Webinar? We have included this event on our digital signage portal events. If you have any upcoming events (exhibitions, seminar, webinars, etc) feel free to add them to the events (note registration is required).

Here’s the Meeting Description and details that was sent to us. We will try our best to join this webinar but because of the time difference, it will be 4AM in Australia and I’m normally in bed. Hopefully the hosts will be able to record this webinar and share it with the rest of the digital signage community:

Date:  Thu, Jan 29, 2009
Time:  12:00 PM EST
Duration:  1 hour
Host:  Digital Signage Association

Join us for a very special webinar where members of the Digital Signage Association Content Best Practices Committee will present a methodology that delivers the highest possible viewer impact, influence and response for digital signage networks. The presenters will discuss the critical DO’s and DON’Ts for creating content and programming schedules.

1. How to create powerful content that drives results
2. How to structure playlists to achieve maximum effect; loop times, day parts and update frequency
3. Adding elements that create additional viewer interest such as weather, news and subscription services
4. Understanding environmental issues such as display placement, location, and traffic

Do you have an upcoming digital signage event? Let us know or add it to the digital signage portal events calendar.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Category: Digital Signage Blog Events, Digital Signage Blog News

It’s the holidays so I decided to take the family out to Oceanworld Manly Australia so the kid could experience and see the tropical and temperature fishes, sharks, snakes, lizards and insects. I’ve been there before so I wasn’t excited as the kid, but when I entered the first section of the venue (Middle Level – Level 2) my excitement grew. Yes… I saw digital signage being used around the floor which wasn’t there the last time I visited.

I’m always on the lookout for digital signage so this was a great opportunity for me to understand how Oceanworld implemented their system and if any, recommend ways to improve their setup. At each of the tanks, there was a 15-17 inch LCD screen displaying information about the fish or animal inside the tanks. This was located above each of the tanks and it eliminated the need to have a static board with this information.

Here’s an image of the screen:

Digital Signage at Oceanworld Manly Australia

Digital Signage at Oceanworld Manly Australia

I noticed that some of the screens had one static slide (I’m assuming that the system was using powerpoint), however there were other screens which had pictures of each of the different types of fishes in the tank at the bottom of the screen. This however wasn’t initially obvious to me or to the people I asked as the time it took to rotate to the next slide was several minutes – I wasn’t going to stand around and wait for several minutes just to find out more information about each of the different types of fish in the tank. Overall, the solution was quite average and may need to be reviewed. Here is our recommendation of things that may need to be improved:

1. LCD screen location – to view the screen, one would need to step away from the tank and tilt your head slightly up.  I think the screens could have been strategically better located so the visitors would actually see the information whilst looking at the fishes in the tank. Just as a thought, maybe install a waterproof screen at the back wall of the tank??? We talked about strategically positioning your screens in one of our previous posts called “Location, location, location“.

You’re probably thinking “waterproof screens????”… yep here’s a video from youtube to prove it that it does exist.

For more Digital Signage videos visit the Digital Signage Portal.

2. Use touch screen technology to enable the visitors to interact with the fish tank. Currently, visitors like myself would not be standing around to wait for the next slide so why not get the visitor to initiate the slide change. Otherwise, decrease the time it takes for each slide to rotate and also place a reference on the screen stating that “The below fishes can be found in the tank”. Make the image of the fish at the bottom of the screen that the information is referring to more noticeable – either fade the other images or highlight the current image. We talked about touch screen technology in one of the previous posts called “To touch or not to touch – that is the question“.

3. I also found that the solution installed was using the Windows XP operating system. How did I know this? We that was easy because there was that typical windows notification balloon at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Maybe disable all Windows XP notification messages.

Digital Signage Error Message

4. On another screen there was also a notification that it found the Wireless network. This is definitely a security issue as the SSID of the wireless network was clearly visible to the public. We talked about digital signage security issues in two of our previous posts called “How secure is your digital signage solution?” and “Secure your digital signage solution – here’s why“.

Well that’s my recommendation based on what I saw and I apologise in advance if I misrepresented the solution and setup but I hope our readers can learn something from this post.

Do you have any digital signage experiences you would like to share with us?
Send us an email to info@digitalsignageblog.com or feel free to comment here.

P.S: For those who are interested in going to visit Oceanworld, there is a 15% discount if you enter after 3:30pm. Overall, the kid had fun and we will most likely visit Oceanworld again in the near future.

Category: Digital Signage Blog News, Digital Signage Reviews

Have you ever walked into a shop and incidentally spotted an LCD or plasma screen hanging near the back corner of the shop and you’ve asked yourself whether that’s the best location for the screen?

I’ve experienced this too many times and I often wonder whether there was any time spent by the installer to strategically position the screens in the most effective locations.

Our thoughts: Retail businesses with shop fronts need to come to a realisation that if the initial intention of installing digital signage was to engage and drive more customers into the shop, then installing the screen inside the shop will not achieve this. Our recommendation would be to install screens at the front of the shop were people passing by can actually see the specials your business is running, then with engaging content drive them into the shop. When they enter the shop, increase the chances of the visitor buying your products by using large screens with product videos and information.

We have also seen businesses installing and positioning small screens at “hot spots” for manufacturers to showcase and advertise their products. What we mean by “hot spots” is locations where the most traffic would pass at any given time – generally this could be in an area where the special or on sale products are located or at the front of the product iles.

Just as an example, here’s a couple of pictures of an install we completed for a Newsagency based in Sydney. We had two screens located right in front of the entrance to catch the attention of people passing by in both directions. Then inside the store, we had a large LCD screen located right at the magazine stand – this was a “hot spot” because people tended to hang around to read the magazines and pickup the newspaper.

Sometimes, you may also need to think “outside the square” and find locations where you think you can target a specific audience, e.g toilets – you can target your audience by gender (male or female).

Our question: Have you seen any screens installed in any interesting locations/areas?

Category: Digital Signage Blog Info, Digital Signage Blog News