Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
The organizers of Digital Signage Expo have put together a great program for DSE ONE, its first event to be held in conjunction with New York Digital Signage Week on Oct. 21, 2014.
We are particularly interested in its choice of David Kepron, AIA, LEED BD+C, RDI, creative director of Little’s Brand Experience Studio, and owner/principal, Retail (r)Evolution LLC. His speech is titled ‘Creating Customer Connections in a Digitally Driven World’ – we last saw David speak at #dse2014 in Las Vegas where he delivered the Thursday, Feb. 13 keynote address ‘Creating Engaging Experiences in a Digitally Distracted World’.
DSE ONE is a brand new, full-day education and networking program designed specifically for middle and upper management decision-makers whose organizations are interested in exploring new ways to communicate more effectively with their customers and employees through existing or planned digital signage, interactive technology and mobile solutions.
The entire program has been designed to provide a thought-provoking, forward-thinking exploration of the factors affecting digital communications today, from changes in human behavior by technology to the use of technology to connect people to places, products and brands.
DSE ONE’s program will feature the keynote by Kepron; peer networking; panel presentation; collaborative discussions; and a representative cross-section of key industry vendors prepared to demonstrate and discuss the benefits of various cutting-edge communications technology solutions.
Attendance is open only to Ad Agencies/Brand, Designers, Marketers, Architects, End Users, DOOH Network Operators, Store Planners and Systems Integrators/Installers.
Kepron will be speaking at 9 a.m., following a breakfast and networking opportunity from 8 a.m. to 9.a.m.
The rise of digital technology – the adoption of mobile devices, the influence of online social networks, and so forth – is not only changing how we communicate with each other but also ‘rewiring’ our brains. These changes have enormous implications for the ways in which places and brands connect with customers.
While the retail store and the shopper experience provide the most prominent example of the impact of this technological revolution, the effect extends equally to other environments, whether restaurant, hotel, stadium, museum, airport, station, movie theater or other venues we might visit during the course of our everyday lives. This is so because the customer experience does not exist ‘out there’ in the architecture and other material aspects of the environment, but lives in our minds.
The goal of Kepron’s talk will be to shed light on how we’ve arrived at this point in our evolution and what it means in terms of using technology not for its own sake but to connect with customers in ways that create meaningful experiences and build lasting relationships.
As a keynote speaker at #dse2014, David Kepron captivated a diverse audience with his infectious humor and insights into the thinking behind his new book ’Retail (r) Evolution’. What the audience response indicated and what DSE ONE attendees will come to understand is that ‘Retail (r) Evolution’ not only applies to retail but to any customer engagement environment, from airports to restaurants to sporting venues to zoos. In a larger sense, we are all shoppers, and all influenced by the digital technology that is shaping our relationship with one another and the world around us.
As the creative director of Little’s Brand Experience Studio, David Kepron draws on 25 years of work as an architect, artist and educator. His multidisciplinary approach to the design of shopping places focuses on understanding consumer behavior and the creation of relevant shopping experiences at the intersection of sociology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies.
Kepron has been recognized as an industry leader by being listed in Display and Design Ideas Magazine’s ‘40 Under 40’ and ‘30 of the Industry’s Most Influential People’. He is currently a member of VM+SD magazine’s editorial advisory board and the Association for Retail Environments Dream Team. He also serves as an Emeritus Member of the board of directors of The Planning and Visual Education Partnership (P.A.V.E.).
Kepron has held roles as a professor of architecture and design for the MS Interior Design Program at Drexel University in Philadelphia and the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising in New York, and he served as the director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School in Singapore. He presently teaches a retail design studio at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology.
His retail clients have included ILORI, Perry Ellis, Toys ‘R Us, Lacoste, Polo Jeans Co., Godiva Chocolatier, Levi’s, Calvin Klein, Nautica, Ralph Lauren, Lane Bryant, Capital One Bank, Darden Restaurants, Aramark, L’Occitane and Kohl’s.
David Kepron‘s first book: ‘Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World‘ will be published by STMedia Group International in the fall of 2014.
DSE ONE will be held at TKP New York Conference Center, 139 W. 39th St., New York, N.Y..
Follow DailyDOOH