More CES and websites

It's kind of hard to believe all that transpired at CES.  I saw so many companies with such an effort to promote their goods, it was, as always, amazing!  I did bring back a good amount of follow up material, some I sorted through today, a week and two days after returning from Las Vegas.  So much of what we do is being recorded and tracked... I wonder if all this data is really being used?  I mean we collect data here, some is very necessary, some we may never touch.  What about you in your business?  If you haven't yet started putting your customer's emails in an easy to use program to "tickle" them about your specials or to deliver thank you notes... you are remiss.  We can do today easily what was only a marketer's dream 5 years ago.  It's inexpensive to collect and launch email blasts through programs like Constant Contact.  You can do this.

The next version of our websites for franchisees will include services like this... for BillboardConnection and FranchiseMart, very soon.  For Australia SIGNARAMA and EmbroidMe franchisees, very soon.  For US SIGNARAMA franchisees, the new look websites will compliment the MyOnlineSign initiative we are launching.  So keep an ear to the ground as we announce new things in this new year!

-dm

Consumer Electronics Show

I just returned from CES, the huge geeked-out trade show that happens each year in Las Vegas.  It was 1.7 million sq. ft of exhibitors with their products and such, very impressive!  Here's what I noticed - first of several posts on this topic...

• Even the big companies are being pinched by a slowed economy.  Less giveaways, a toned down booth presence, not as many hospitality things, parties, dinners, etc.
• My feet hurt after walking the show for the good part of four days!
• TV and display technology is ROARING forward, now you can get 3D-HDTVs.  Panasonic & Sony had really slick demos of futuristic movies and BCS football, very cool. Katzenberg (SGK Dreamworks!) said in 5 yrs all Hollywood studios will be making 3D movies in high quality resolution.
• USB 3.0 is coming, it's almost there, rumors are it is 8-10 times faster than USB 2.0.  Imagine how great removable hard drives will be then!
• Solid State hard disks are here, although not big storage capacity yet, they have no moving parts and are very fast.  Think very large iPod Nano!
• Windows 7 looks like it will work well, so does Internet Explorer ver 8.  Both can be downloaded now as beta. Don't make them work on important computers, remember, they are just beta!
• Lots of software as a service companies (SAAS) promoting backups, accounting, etc. that you rent to use... neat!  We can all get world class performance for pennies.  Think Flickr, YouTube, but for things you can employ in your business... will be HUGE!

I'll post some pics of neat things, too, because the show is packed with gaming, automotive and home based technology as well.  more to follow!

-dm

Dinner...

We had dinner as a department last night, it went very well.  It is now a tradition that our team meets for a good meal before the holidays.  It's so good to get together after work and not pepper our work or projects into everything we discuss.  I am fortunate to have good, appreciative coworkers that can socialize out of the office!  Happy Holidays, gang, let's really show our stuff in 2009!

-dm

Webmasterworld-PubCon

I attended the 8th (maybe wrong year) annual Webmaster World conference in Las Vegas a week ago... some thoughts:

• It was a shoestring budget convention, small meeting rooms, only enough wireless access for 100 of 800 attendees, box lunches, you get it.
• It was staffed by very passionate members of the "in" crowd for web marketing, search engine gurus, and the like.
• The information shared by the speakers was very worth the price of admission.  We left with great ideas and plans for how this will filter down to our franchisees, their sites, our web presence, etc.
• Vegas is the best place to hold meetings, period!

I have to still process my expenses from the trip, but I was impressed and satisfied that this was 3.5 days well spent in meetings, doing mostly listening! I also learned what not to do when on stage, but that's a good lesson for Expo, etc.

-dm

LA Franchise Show

I attended and participated in the 2008 International Franchise Exposition in Los Angeles last weekend.  It was busy and a really good showing for our brands.  We met many very interested people that are ripe to own a business, some as a result of the changes in our economy.  It was very insightful to meet with people that had such an interest in our brands.  I can say that for many, our trade show stand with modern kiosks and neat clean design was very attractive.  So was our content, many different brands for as many different interests.

I was at our very first trade show for SIGNARAMA in 1988. It was exciting back then when we we unheard of. Although a hard three days of work, standing, no breaks or lunch, it's still exciting to meet and tell everyone who we are and what we do.  Many are already aware of our brand names, having been satisfied customers in the past. To think, some may come forward now to own their own franchises... this is  how we prosper!

-dm