Sixteen:Nine - All Digital Signage, Some Snark
00:27:49 · Dave Haynes, Balthasar Mayer, Antonia Hamberger
[00:27:49] S0: a game show. It's a fabulous part [00:27:51] S1: of a celebration for your part. I have 16 questions. You try to answer them as rapidly as possible. Since this is your exit interview and your celebration, you're allowed to put one sentence into it. [00:28:04] S0: Okay. [00:28:05] S1: We are not that strict with the rules. [00:28:07] S2: We're little flexible today. [00:28:08] S1: We are little flexible today, yeah. [00:28:09] S2: Today on our very first podcast. [00:28:11] S1: Oh, on our very first Yes, that's all. You need another sip of beer? Are you ready? I'm good. Okay, okay, then let's begin. What is your first big thing you do in retirement? [00:28:24] S0: Oh, it's boring yard work. [00:28:27] S1: Boring yard work. Okay. After the show, wine or beer? [00:28:32] S0: After what show? Ibiza. Well, that's Spain, so that's wine. And in Phuket? That'd be beer because it's hot. [00:28:41] S2: What do [00:28:42] S1: you like more? Conferences or trade shows? Conferences. In conference, on stage or in the audience? [00:28:48] S0: I like both. Blog or newspaper? Well, I'm a newspaper guy, but I I... You know, the... Unfortunately, I I love the tactile side of newspapers, but they're hard to find. So if I'm in New York, I'll I'll pick up the times. Okay. Hardware or software? Hardware. Hologram or micro LED? Micro LED. [00:29:11] S1: What was the coolest story you covered in '69? Oh, boy. That's that's hard to [00:29:18] S0: give a snappy answer to. [00:29:20] S1: You can have top three because it's the exit interview. We we...
00:29:20 · Balthasar Mayer, Dave Haynes, Antonia Hamberger
[00:29:20] S1: You can have top three because it's the exit interview. We we... [00:29:25] S0: I would say going to China, going to Taiwan, And, man, I always remember that I called it the LED billboard that ate Times Square. It was back in, like, ten years ago or something in front of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. They lit up what at that time was the biggest LED board certainly in in The United States and probably among the biggest in the world. And I I saw the room where they have all the servers and everything else, and then I was there when they turned the thing on. That was pretty cool. True micro LED or OLED? They're so different. True micro LED is still in its infancy. OLED is getting a lot better than it used to be. But I still don't see it as a digital signage project... Product by and large. [00:30:15] S1: Okay. I messed up the numbers, but what was the silliest story you covered? [00:30:19] S0: The silliest story? Also talk three aloud. Well, most of those I just don't run. What is [00:30:30] S1: the silliest then? We changed the question. What was the absolute silliest press release you got? [00:30:36] S0: It's it's a tie between those that are Guinness World Records and those that are win Frost and Sullivan Awards, which you buy. You don't win an award, you buy a Frost and Sullivan Award. [00:30:49] S1: I I have to say I love the Guinness World Records stories, yeah, you're right. You're right. The coolest person in Digital Signage, interviewed. [00:30:57] S0: The coolest? Can I say the best interview? [00:31:00] S2: Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:00 · Antonia Hamberger, Dave Haynes, Balthasar Mayer
[00:31:00] S2: Yeah. Yeah. [00:31:00] S0: That's that's easier. Chris Riegel, CEO of StrataCash, founder of StrataCash, sole owner as far as I know. Insanely smart guy, very dry sense of humor, but so, so knowledgeable and so blunt. It's it's inevitably or very reliably a great interview. And and if he talks, people should listen. [00:31:25] S1: Yeah. We heard it before, your your past. So what was the best interview you ever had? [00:31:32] S2: Aside from Digital Signage. [00:31:34] S1: Aside from Digital Signage, yeah. [00:31:35] S0: Oh, boy. I I had a whole bunch of really great interviews when I was doing the entertainment industry. I think the... One of the ones that always sticks in my mind is Bryan Adams in his very early days when he was still playing in, like, local nightclubs and not in arenas or anything else. I had a chat with him at at our offices. He came up there, and he was playing in a local spot and said, you coming? I said, yeah, I'll come. Is your wife coming? Yeah. I go, she's gonna come with me. And I said, well, come and see me. And went up to see him after the first set and he said, did your wife come? Yeah. Well, let's go. So he sat down with Joy and I and friends of ours and shot the ship in between sets. Super nice guy. I've I've met some rock people who were idiots, but he was among the, you know, truly truly nice nice people and and that's always encouraging that fame doesn't get to them. [00:32:36] S1: Yeah. The most useless digital signage tech you ever saw.
00:32:36 · Balthasar Mayer, Dave Haynes, Antonia Hamberger
[00:32:36] S1: Yeah. The most useless digital signage tech you ever saw. [00:32:43] S0: I I know I rack on holograms, I do think they have a role, I just think they're overstated in terms of their applicability. Robots, screens on roving robots. [00:32:57] S2: That's a pretty good one. [00:32:59] S0: Those are almost universally pointless. [00:33:04] S1: A technology you didn't think would make it, but became successful. Oh, [00:33:09] S0: these are hard questions. [00:33:10] S1: Was there ever a thing [00:33:12] S2: you were wrong about? You You misjudged, oh never. [00:33:16] S0: Yeah. Well, you know what, the rotating LED rotors, when I first saw them, I thought, well, they're interesting, but those will disappear in a couple of years and to Hypervision's credit and Hypervision is the company that markets them more than anybody, they've done a great job of marketing their product and getting people excited about it. And I have seen instances of it where I think it's really applicable, but I've seen lots of other cases where I just don't get it. So I was wrong there that I thought that would just kind of disappear, but they've done a good job. [00:33:48] S1: Okay, so you had 15 questions, now question 16. Imagine you run a successful trade trade block for almost twenty years. Yeah. You are you were very successful and are are a guiding star in the industry. If you retire, what is best better? Simple goodbye or emotional farewell?
00:33:48 · Balthasar Mayer, Dave Haynes, Antonia Hamberger
[00:33:48] S1: Okay, so you had 15 questions, now question 16. Imagine you run a successful trade trade block for almost twenty years. Yeah. You are you were very successful and are are a guiding star in the industry. If you retire, what is best better? Simple goodbye or emotional farewell? [00:34:12] S0: A simple goodbye by the time this gets up and listenable, I've already had my post and I already have my goodbye post written, and it's me riding off into the sunset on my ride on lawnmower. [00:34:31] S1: Well, we couldn't top that. We could [00:34:34] S2: not top that. You... That picture of you riding off the sunset on your lawn mower. Yep. We want to preserve it. [00:34:40] S0: Just like a cowboy except it's on a really electric lawn mower. Yes. [00:34:45] S1: Nevertheless, thanks Dave. Thanks Dave for all the things you've done, from all of Invidis, and we will try to hold up your flag. And I think it's your time to have the last words.
00:34:56 · Dave Haynes
[00:34:56] S0: Well, thank you. I've known Florian and Stefan and you guys for quite some time now. I've got to not just be industry colleagues and people doing the same work, but friends as well. And when I decided to wind things down, I'm 67 now, it... You know, it's just... At some point, you gotta do it or you'll be sitting at a computer when you're 85 and trying to remember your name. I think I'm leaving it in good hands. I've I've got a lot of respect for what you guys do with the yearbook, with your day to day stuff and everything else. It would have been challenging to just have, like, some person come into the industry and try to have a little baptism by fire, understanding it so to to have it taken over by people who already know the industry, know the people in it, know the goods and bads and understand some of the bullshit. That that makes it a lot easier to kind of back out of it. And, you know, as I've said to you and I've said to others, I'm... It's not like you'll never see me again. You know, I'm going to stay in the industry. I've just decided I didn't want to do this every day first thing in the morning. I would be better off health wise to get up, have my coffee and then do some stretching and go for a walk and things like that instead of banging away on a keyboard. So I'll be around. I'll still go to ISE, I'll still do other things. I'll probably still do some writing on Sixteen:Nine but just as a guest editor as opposed to the daily editor. So it's been great, and I think this is gonna work out really well, and I'm excited for it.