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KioskCom 2004 hits the jackpot in Vegas

One of my first assignments as the editor for KIOSKmarketplace.com was to attend KioskCom 2004. A relaxing trip to Las Vegas-how could I refuse? But KioskCom 2004 was no ordinary show.

June 14, 2004

One of my first assignments as the editor for KIOSKmarketplace.com was to attend KioskCom 2004. It was an enticing proposition; I would meet a few industry leaders and a take brief tour of the exhibit floor. Then I would spend the rest of my time in the sun and having fun on the Vegas strip.

How exciting could a kiosk tradeshow actually be?

It didn't take long to realize that KioskCom 2004 was no ordinary show. My first hint was when I attended the first day educational sessions. I had the chance to attend in-depth presentations from industry leaders such as Doug Peter, president of St. Clair Interactive, Sylvia Berens, Ph.D., vice president of Apunix Computer Services, and Tom Weaver, vice president of sales and marketing for Kiosk Information Systems (KIS).

A sneak peak

On Monday afternoon I strolled through the un-opened exhibit floor. Many of the kiosks were still inside large wooden crates. Excited from the presentations, I felt like a child on Christmas day-impatiently waiting for the presents to be unwrapped.

As he swiftly unpacked, I interrupted Thomas Smith, president of Montegonet. Smith didn't seem to mind since he was eager to talk about some of Montegonet's recent projects.

He explained that Montegonet is the official kiosk supplier for the Washington Redskins. Currently, they have 12 kiosks located at FedEx Field. The kiosks allow fans to visit the Redskins' Web site, learn more about the team, view game schedules and join the waiting list for tickets. He said future applications will include the ability to purchase Redskins' tickets online and to order official Redskins' merchandise.

While I was at the Montegonet booth Smith introduced me to Mark Hill, president of PayCenters USA. Montegonet and PayCenters have teamed up to distribute kiosks that utilize PayCenters' interactive bill payment application. These kiosks will be placed in C-stores and other well-trafficked locations.

Hill said, "the kiosks allow customers to pay their bills without the need to buy stamps and they don't have to worry about their checks being delayed in the mail and incurring late payment fees."

SurfBoard kiosks

Even though they were setting up, I was able to peek at some of the impressive kiosks at the Frank Mayer & Associates booth. They brought along some of their most successful displays including the BMW Virtual Sales Center and John Deere Live kiosk.

When asked about KioskCom 2004, Allen Buchholz, Frank Mayer & Associates' vice president of sales, said, "KioskCom presents a unique opportunity for FMA to share our core retail merchandising experience with a whole new set of clients who are considering branded kiosk delivery systems for their interactive retail applications."

Another day, another kiosk

Day two started with an opening keynote address given by Robert Goodwin, managing vice president of global industries practices for Gartner Group.

Goodwin presented the results from a survey of potential kiosk purchasers across several vertical markets. According to Goodwin, vendors who were early to the kiosk marketplace have the competitive advantage.

But he feels there is room for kiosk entrepreneurs who partner with established vendors to help them take their products to market. He said also that Gartner predicts much growth in the use of mobile and wireless technologies.

Back on the floor

After the keynote address I rushed back to the exhibit floor. I couldn't believe it was the same place I had visited the night before. There were enough impressive displaysto rival anything on the casino floor.

Over at the Seiko booth, Marketing Manager Jerry Ward gave me a demonstration of their complete line of direct thermal printer solutions, including the portable/wireless printers using Bluetooth mobility.

"The kiosk market is one of the most important application segments for our direct thermal printing solutions," Ward said.

Kiosk transportation

As I passed the Elderlite Logistics booth, I noticed there was no kiosk display. Jeffery Page, who is the fleet logistics planner, explained that Elderlite Logistics specializes in deployments, warehouse management and light assembly services for the kiosk industry. He also explained how important reliable transportation, on-time deployments and warehouse management can be to the success of a kiosk project.

Large displays

After I left the Elderlite booth, I met up with KioskMarketplace's group editor, Joseph Grove, and we headed over for a tour of SMART Technologies' latest touch-enabled products.

John Cook, product manager for SMART interactive overlays demonstrated how the SMART Board for Flat-Panel Displays could turn a plasma or liquid crystal display panel into an interactive touchscreen.

He went on to explain how the interactive overlay is a hard coat polyester film laminated to the front of a glass sheet. This creates a durable, touch-friendly, anti-glare that protects your display from dirt and damage from scratches or abrasions.

New partnerships

As I looked at my watch I realized it was time to meet Peter Kaszycki, president of Pro-Tech. It had been a few weeks since I had last spoke with Kaszycki and I was looking forward to seeing what Pro-Tech was up to.

Kaszycki explained that he scheduled the meeting to introduce me to Mark Cambridge, marketing and sales director for Zytronic.

Pro-Tech is using the Zytouch Through Glass touchscreen technology in its DuraView Kiosks. Zytronic, a leader in the European marketplace, is just entering the U.S. market.

Kaszycki explained that they selected the Zytouch touchscreen not just because of durability, but also because Zytronic takes a small company approach to doing business.

"They listened to us and had excellent follow-up," Kaszycki said. "Their designers worked with Pro-Tech engineers to design a product that met all of our criteria."

Kiosk Hall of Fame Awards

When the exhibit floor closed, I walked over to the Kiosks.org Association (KOA) 2004 annual meeting.  After the conclusion of official organization business, KOA presented the 2004 Kiosk Hall of Fame Awards.

In January of 2003 KIOSK magazine launched the awards to recognize individuals who have made lifetime achievements in the kiosk marketplace.  The recipients are nominated by association members.  

KOA formally recognized last year's inductees--Dr. Sylvia Berens, Dr. Peter Berens, and Craig Keefner-before Mike Mayer, the first vice president of KOA, announced the 2004 recipients. 

The 2004 inductees were:

Lawrence Dvorchik -- Managing Director of KioskCom since 1997 Francie Mendelsohn - President, Summit Research Associates Lief Larson - Co-founder and editor of Kiosk Magazine

Casino night

The highlight of the the casino night event was the presentation of the Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards.

The finalists were selected based upon a written application and the winners were chosen after the judges conducted usability testing on the exhibit floor.

Lawrence Dvorchik, KioskCom executive director, said all of the submissions were excellent and the finalists demonstrated why they were selected. "The winners set the standards of excellence for future interactive self-service technology implementations," he said.

Heading home

On day three I had a few hours to kill before I took an afternoon flight back to Kentucky. I headed back to the exhibit floor where I spent some time at the Planar booth with PR manager, Linda Ferguson.

She demonstrated how their LA line of touch and non-touch open-frame AMLCD displays were ideal for indoor point-of-sale and point-of-purchase kiosks and then explained the LC line's automatic dimming capability, which is optimized for outdoor kiosk installations such as ticketing kiosks and quick-service restaurant menu boards.

Time quickly passed and I was regretting my decision to fly out on Wednesday afternoon. As I was preparing to leave, I paused at the MagTek booth where I spoke with Bill Rorick, national sales director for OEM products.

He showed me the high-light hybrid insert readers that are EMV certified and the MagnePrint technology that can prevent fraud by detecting copied magnetic cards.

The company's new MagnePrint technology provides excellent security for magnetic credit card transactions.

One last stop

I knew I couldn't leave before I spent a few minutes at the KIS exhibit. Not only did they win several awards, but they had one of the most impressive collections of displays on the exhibit floor. KIS featured six pavilion displays including applications for human resources and security, bill pay and order entry, public internet kiosk access, gaming, vending and ticketing along with retail and entertainment kiosks.

It was a very busy booth, but I finally got to spend a few moments with vice president of sales and marketing, Tom Weaver, who gave me the grand tour.

As I waited for my cab I thought about some of the great products I had seen, from the great enclosures at the Metal FX booth to the award-winning kiosks at nanonation.

I decided to use the wait time to start an article on the things I had seen and heard. That's when it hit me; I really didn't see much of Las Vegas.  Honestly, there was more kiosk dazzle than I could experience in just three days.