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PRESS RELEASE
A Q & A with Lawrence Dvorchik, General Manager of the KioskCom Self Service Expo's on the Success of the New York Event!
05 November, 2007 -
The KioskCom Self Service Expo delivers strategic, marketing and technical business solutions for organizations utilizing – or looking to utilize –self-service through interactive digital media. The KioskCom Self Service Expo provides a focused medium on the benefits of using self-service technology and interactive digital media, including kiosks, digital signage, self-checkout and other self-service technologies.
The much anticipated KioskCom Self Service Expo New York event (23-24 October, 2007), was in session last week in the heart of New York City. We had a chance to catch up with Lawrence Dvorchik to learn more about the latest addition to the KioskCom Self Service Expo Worldwide Event Network. KioskCom Self Service Expo's are held each year in Las Vegas, New York, London and Beijing. The KioskCom Self Service Expo's are produced by JD Events under the guidance of Joel Davis and his expert staff.
EKN: "Congratulations on the outstanding success of your New York Event last week. We know how hard you and the whole JDE team have been working towards launching the New York Self Service Expo, and ensuring that it serves at a comparable level to the Las Vegas event that has been running for over 10 years. Can you explain a little to our readers about your thought process for selecting New York City?" Lawrence: "Many East Coast organizations were not able to attend in Las Vegas, thus making it critical that we offer an East Coast venue, allowing these organizations to have every opportunity to educate themselves about the best ways for successful deployments right out of the gate."
"It was also vital that we ensure that these organizations have the opportunity to meet with the many qualified, professional suppliers and service providers focused on kiosks, digital signage and all of the self service technologies that they were seeking to implement.
New York City provides a locale that is home to so many of the leading organizations, and close proximity with easy access to many of the cities throughout the East Coast and into the Midwest. It turned out to be a great choice."
EKN: "We spoke with Cheryl Madeson, Marketing Manager for Kiosk Information Systems, who said:The KioskCom Self Service Expo in New York was an exceptionally productive show for KIOSK Information Systems. We had a very steady flow of high quality clients in our booth, and it was time well spent for our show staff. It was a nice indicator of strong sales trends for 2008."
EKN: "The KioskCom Self Service Expo's continue to introduce new, exciting and unique attendee experiences this year. Can you tell us a bit about the Digital Signage Drive and why it was such an important part of the Expo?" Lawrence: "It’s always an important part of our mission to ensure that we showcase the cutting edge designs, technologies and offerings. It is a goal of ours to keep expanding on these experiences for attendees at each and every show we produce.
The Digital Signage Drive is a direct result of addressing an attendee request. It’s really as simple as that. We surveyed attendees from the April 2007 event in Las Vegas, and found that 77% either had or needed to have digital signage in their overall plans, and were the decision makers for purchasing these solutions as well. If the audience is responsible for both, it is our responsibility to ensure that their experience offers them as much assistance, education and networking in as much of their job as
we can. All of these areas have developed directly from our attendee’s requests, and that is something we consider valuable. We listen extremely closely to what our audience tells us they want and need, as well as their goals. Then we make sure that their efforts are rewarded by adding the critical components for them to the next shows."
EKN: "So if I understand you correctly, this new and focused area was designed to educate attendees on the effectiveness of the digital signage medium as a way to enhance the interactive experience. Would you agree with that?
" Lawrence: "Our attendees have told us that in addition to kiosks and self service, they are the primary people responsible for purchasing and deployment of digital signage. And given that this is now another component of their responsibilities, they asked us if we could add a section of the exhibit floor with more companies that provide those products and services that are necessary for digital signage deployments as well."
"It’s about providing the attendees with the most complete experience we can, one that addresses as many of the needs of their responsibilities as we can. Everything we do is designed to improve the attendees’ experience, and make it more effective and efficient for them to attend the KioskCom Self Service Expo's."
EKN: "I know that you also offer attendees several different experiences and methods for the
educational portion of the show. Can you tell us a little bit about those sessions?" Lawrence: "First off, I must extend a very deep appreciation and respect for our Board of Advisors. This Board is currently comprised of 22 of the leaders in self service, kiosk and digital signage deployments. Eighteen of those are representing merchant deployer organizations. You can view a list of these amazing individuals at http://www.kioskcom.com/advisoryboard.asp. It is through their efforts that we were able to design an incredible educational program for the attendees. We offered 3 distinct areas and opportunities for attendees – Conference sessions, Tech Talks Theater sessions and Birds of a Feather discussion groups.
Each of these 3 areas offered a different type of content, brought to attendees from various viewpoints and in unique formats. The feedback we received on each of these areas was phenomenal! The Presenters went into great detail to explain any issues they faced, how they overcame them, and ways for attendees to avoid the same problems they encountered.
Our conference session programming remains the cream of the crop. We are diligent in recruiting companies that have deployed kiosks, digital signage and other self service and digital media programs to join our speaking faculty. We mix these in with input from leading suppliers and service providers to offer an in-depth look and analysis of successful deployments. The feedback that we received from attendees specifically stated how much they learned, how dead on the content and presentation from the speakers were, and how they wished we were offering even more educational sessions."
EKN: "We spoke with V. Miller Newton, CEO of Netkey, who offered his insights from his unique perspective as a Platinum Sponsor and Exhibitor for the Expo:"The New York event built on the momentum we saw in Las Vegas back in April and attracted a large audience of knowledgeable and interested attendees from across multiple industries. We were excited to see the positive customer reaction to Netkey's new digital signage products and came away from the show with many significant new business opportunities for digital signage in addition to our existing kiosk solutions. Overall, the event was extremely well run and helped further Netkey's position as a leading provider of software for both self-service and digital signage in a growing marketplace."
EKN: "One of the new policies that you have instituted in 2007 focused on the quality of your attendees. Can you explain that in more detail?" Lawrence: "This is an initiative that we are extremely proud of. Our exhibitors, speakers and attendees all came to us throughout the years, and told us that they felt the overall experience for everyone would be improved if we could help improve the quality, not just the quantity of attendees. They asked us to be selective in admission processes, so that their valuable time could be spent in a more effective and efficient manner. And as I have said many times today, we strive to follow through on improving the experience for everyone, and make each and every KioskCom Self Service Expo better.
So we instituted an audience qualification process, ensuring that every application for a pass was reviewed by a team of people, to ensure that attendees were there for appropriate purposes (as deemed so by the exhibitors and other attendees). Through our diligent efforts, we were successfully able to improve the time each merchant deployer attending had with exhibitors, allowing them to gain more insight and knowledge on how to be successful. For those companies who came armed with RFP’s, and there were many, it allowed them to spend more time determining who would be selected to fill those RFP’s!
As we review the program now post event, and receive feedback from everyone, it is clear that this program did indeed improve the show for everyone who participated."
EKN: "Just as we recap KioskCom’s latest Self Service Expo in New York, we are joining Phil Hunter at KioskCom Europe's Self Service Expo in London (7-8 November, 2007), for the second seasonal event which also promises to be in excellent form. We will be updating you with another overview from Olympia shortly! Hope to see you all there!"
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