Review: KIOSK EUROPE EXPO 2010

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KIOSK EUROPE EXPO 2010 reaffirmed its status as the world’s leading exhibition concerned with self-service and interactivity, demonstrating that the non-stop innovation in this industry shows no signs of slowing down.
 
With over 3,250 visitors and over 140 international exhibitors, KIOSK EUROPE EXPO 2010 and DIGITAL SIGNAGE EXPO 2010 attracted an even higher quality of visitors, who were real decision makers from an even more international field.
 
Innovation in interactivity and intuition were key themes of this year’s exhibitions and Forums. Emerging technologies such as facial recognition kiosks, 3D displays, mobile interactivity, augmented reality and advanced multi-touch and gesture interactivity were demonstrated not as prototypes but as technologies with real-life installations for international brands.
 
The event was even more interactive this year, with a dedicated mobile application from metaio which enabled visitors to the exhibitions to explore and experience the event with the aid of their smart phone, which pointed them in the direction of key attractions, provided further information on special exhibits and also abstracts on upcoming talks in the Forum.
 
In the Open Forum, experts from within the digital signage industry, including JCDecaux, Futuramedia, Metro AG-Media Markt and Saturn, Harrods, Monopoly Media and IMTV, discussed the challenges and opportunities of out-of-home networks, presented retail case studies from Harrods and MediaMarkt, discussed content demands of effective digital signage and closed with a European and US outlook for digital signage. Visitors looking for an insight into the global markets for self-service and digital signage were able to gain this knowledge at this popular Forum.
 
Further specialised Workshops focusing on Mobile Interactivity and Museum Installations were also appreciated by visitors. Topics discussed in the Mobile Interactivity Workshop included mobile as a threat or opportunity for the digital signage and kiosk industries, digital signage enhanced by mobile interactivity for banking projects, mobile interactivity for a new customer experience in revolutionary flagship stores, Vodafone’s innovative deployment of mobile, as well as a consideration of how mobile can be used as an extension of self-service interactivity.
 
As part of the celebration of Essen and the surrounding Ruhr area being European Capital of Culture 2010, the exhibitions’ very own ‘Interactive Museum’ was a great success. Interactive exhibits from 3D kiosks for the Amandus Adamson sculpture museum in Estonia, gesture-based digital book readers for the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich and the Kunstsammlungen und Museen Augsburg Maximilianmuseum, to outdoor informational kiosks, holographic works of art and an interactive copy of the painting ‘Merchant Gisze’ by Hans Holbein the Younger. All these exhibits illustrated that museums across the world need to incorporate interactive solutions to appeal to the modern day visitor.
 
The Museum Workshop considered a number of interactive exhibits in museums across Europe, from the interactive kiosks at the Florence Uffizi Gallery to 3D kiosks at Estonia’s Amandus Adamson museum, as well as the museum in the digital age, interactive media for exhibitions, and many other topics.
 
In the Futures Parlour, universities and other research bodies presented prototypes for the future of interactivity, from mobile interactivity, facial recognition kiosks, to real-time augmented reality and other live customer interaction scenarios.
 
The European Association for Self-service presented their Self-Service Awards 2010 for Best Self-Service Solution and Most Innovative Self-Service Project. The first award went to 3M for their innovative work for a telecomm retailer’s stores across France which incorporated full multi-touch in their customer marketing. The second award went to Coffee Nation, a UK coffee company which provides self-service machines for luxury coffee in busy environments such as universities, leisure centres, and businesses. The UK-based company is looking to launch into other countries in Europe with this self-service coffee restaurant solution.
 
Testimony to the success of the two events is the rebooking onsite during the exhibitions. Jens Schindler, Managing Director of the organiser, hf media & events, explains, “We have had very good feedback from our exhibitors: they were pleased both by the quality of the visitors and the international spread of them, as well as the number of leads and orders they brought. Many of our exhibitors have already rebooked stands for 2011 and many of these are actually upgrading to take double the space next year on the basis of the outstanding results of this year’s events.”
 
The more than 140 exhibitors included companies operating at an international level, such as Samsung, Optoma, Epson, Hyundai and LG. Sponsors were Provisio, Star Micronics, Bell Microproducts and impuls.TV.
 
KIOSK EUROPE EXPO 2011 and DIGITAL SIGNAGE EXPO 2011 take place at Messe Essen, Essen, Germany, from the 24th to the 26th May 2011.