[original img src via Nasa]

Feedback and comments always welcome! You can also tweet your comment with the hashtag #screenmediaexpo to show up on the official LocaModa conference screen!

Speaking of “The Future is Now,” check out the photo that Stephen sent from the expo this morning:

Certainly gives new meaning to mobile-enabled digital out of home!

I’ve previewed the conversation here, and judging by the buzz surrounding the #screenmediaexpo group, it looks like it’s shaping up to be quite a well-attended and highly regarded event! Stephen’s keynote promises to poke, prod, and instigate, so come prepared with pithy commentary and contentiously friendly questions :)

If you’d like to embed the Screenmedia wiffiti/twitter screen in your website or blog, just drop me an email (or leave a comment here) and I can send you an easy embed code to help spread the word!

(Note: Making that last sentence non-partisan has caused me to break into a legitimate sweat.)

This discussion begins to pull back the curtain for a set of keynotes at the Screenmedia Expo Europe, held in London’s Earl’s Court on May 5-6th, one of which will be delivered by LocaModa’s own Stephen Randall, and the other by Symon’s VP of Biz Dev, Steve Gurley.

If you’re in the DOOH space and not a member of the #screenmediaexpo group, get on it!

And if you are… hop on the discussion thread and prepare to be amazed at the respect and neutrality of all of the contributors. It’s an encouragingly open conversation for the DOOH industry, particularly in its finessing of the oftentimes contentious subject of defining value within an interactive play across all relevant parties – end user, venue, OS, network, brand.

Stephen’s recent white paper, Increasing the Value of a Digital Out of Home Network Via Metcalfe’s Law, lays the groundwork for his method of increasing a venue’s or campaign’s “connectivity score.”

I’ll tease you with the first five steps in the equation, and will follow up after Stephen’s presentation with the final five tenets (you can’t give away all of your cookies before the bake sale!):

1. Your network is connected to the web
2. Dynamic media supports local/topical tags
3. Media is multi-network
4. Mobile is more than a text CTA
5. Screens react (interact) in real time to end users

Hope to see many of you at the Summit, and look for the entire presentation to be posted on SlideShare after the event.

These two white papers are available for free full download below.

Increasing the Value of a Digital Out of Home Network Via Metcalfe’s Law

Metcalfe’s law states that the value of a network is the square of its connected users (n2). DOOH networks, being typically single hub and spoke designs, fail to leverage the potential network effect of Metcalfe’s law and are consequently failing to maximize their value to locations, advertisers or end users.

The Digital Out of Home Tipping Point

Lessons can be learned from the web and the mobile industry to help Digital Out of Home reach its “tipping point.” Those lessons reinforce that media needs to be more measurable and more engaging, and networks need to offer less friction to brands and agencies wishing to reach their audiences across multiple channels.

The full collection of LocaModa White Papers is available on our site.

So what does this mean for the still emerging DOOH industry?
Was this installation DOOH’s coming out party to the mainstream tech crowd? (Hey, what better place for a par-tay than Vegas, right?)

If so, does this mean the DOOH Tipping Point is happening at the intersection of Place Based Social Media (such as LocaModa) and Location Based Services (such as Foursquare and Gowalla)?

We’re interested in hearing from the thought leaders of the industry… speak up!

And with that, I’m turning the blog over to CEO Stephen Randall today for his take on this past week in Loca-Land. Take it away, Stephen…

***

Following DSE 2010 in Vegas, the LocaModa train keeps rolling along…

We used DSE as a platform to launch the industry’s first app store – dedicated to solving the problem of helping networks find revenue generating media that engages audiences, attracts advertisers and adds value to venues.

I’m happy to say that our message and proposition was received loud and clear! It’s great to see so many companies coming over to our booth and telling us that we had the exact solution they were looking for. I was also delighted to see so many inquiries coming from major networks outside the US.

We also announced our relationship and integration with Foursquare.

The Foursquare announcement was timed to coincide with our launch on another Clear Channel screen – this one happens to be the largest on the strip, outside Miracle Mile Shops. This was great timing with the DSE show less than one mile away, and various events occurring at the Paris, next to the screen. This story keeps on getting bigger for good reason. Applications like Foursquare will become the on-ramp for loyalty programs in venues and are perfect for DOOH screens. Not surprising then that both Techcrunch and Mashable covered it yesterday afternoon. You should have seen our web stats spike!

Back to DSE, where we also announced that UCView has integrated LocaModa Apps directly into their software offering (they have hundreds of licensees collectively reaching thousands of locations).

The show itself was a great success with hundreds of leads from networks globally representing tens of thousands of venues. Our booth was always well attended and our applications were also on display at UCView, Eventful and CoolSign booths, as well as being used by the event organizers as a communications tool, showing tweets, hashtags and text messages from attendees.

LocaModa’s position as thought leaders was further strengthened when it was announced that we had won two gold awards for our work – a Gold Apex award in the Hospitality category and a Gold Content award in the Interactive category. Both awards were for applications that ran on Zoom Media and Marketing’s network – which was also great news for our partners.

Luckily we managed to fly back to Boston missing the massive Nor’ Easter that dumped 18 inches of snow along the east coast and delayed flights up to New York. We made it back with no delays. Our team was great – Jake, Tim and Gabi were first timers at DSE and now know what it’s like to stand and talk to customers until you don’t have a voice. Jayne, Bill, Steve and I, are long time supporters of DSE so we already knew what to expect – but even we were very surprised by how the event went. Thanks Chris and team over at DSE.

More Vegas photos available on Gabi’s Flickr.