The new Digital Signal Experts Group (DSEG) is offering CE Pro readers $100 off on its Digital Signage Certified Experts Workshop (Course ESD077) at CEDIA Expo 2009 on Wednesday, September 9 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

CE Pro's recent downloadable Webinar on digital signage identified this commercial area as a strong possible niche market for residential integrators to explore.

The course covers:

• The seven parts that make up a digital signage system
• How to understand potential clients and applications for digital signage
• How to conduct a needs-analysis for a system
• The fundamentals of designing a system, including hardware, software, networking and integration.

The course is presented by Alan Brawn of Brawn Consulting and offers 4 CEU credits. To register, click here and use Discount Code DSEGCEDIA to get $100 off.

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The Georgia World Congress Center is home to CEDIA Expo 2009 in Atlanta.

Here are three things I hope to see at CEDIA Expo 2009 in Atlanta.

Positive Thinking

Attendees seemed optimistic at InfoComm … seriously.

The recession hasn’t hit the commercial market as hard as it hit the residential market. According to InfoComm’s July 2009 Economic Survey, 55.4 percent of participating companies perceive their company’s position as much better or somewhat better than six months ago.

Meanwhile, 31.5 percent perceive it as about the same. That means that only about 13 percent perceive their company as being in a worse position than six months ago.

Hopefully this positive thinking carries over to Atlanta on Sept. 9-13.

Product Enthusiasm

There needs to be a “this is the next big thing” attitude at CEDIA Expo. That attitude was directed towards digital signage at InfoComm. Everywhere I turned manufacturers where showing their latest video walls, people were filing into digital signage training and were talking about how the digital signage market is about to explode.

A “next big thing” product category needs to emerge at CEDIA Expo. Will it be gaming? Will it be 3-D video?

Maybe digital signage is also the next big thing for CEDIA attendees. If we’ve learned nothing else in the last few years, it’s that companies should be diversifying and doing more commercial work.