The Digital Signage Expo has heavily relied on education this year to drive new ideas and enable more business to happen. In what was once a very fragmented industry, more and more people are willing to share their ideas and strategies for the good of everyone (with a ticket of course).

This morning, on the second and final day of the open trade show floor, Intel’s Jose Avalos opened his breakfast keynote speech with a look at the way the digital out of home industry is changing. “Yesterday was a push model,” said Avalos, who has been very influential with not only the technology behind the success of digital signage and DOOH, but of the way that companies work together. A push model, he explained, meant segmenting the market, creating supply, implementing the networks and pushing out content. It was a one to many model.

Today, the industry is shifting to a pull model, which Avalos told us means responding to changing markets, having real-time interaction with customers, and creating engaging immersive experiences. With interactivity and especially mobile integration, it is now both a one to many and one to one model.

As attendees to the DSE have certainly seen at Intel’s booth, their proof-of-concepts are impressive, as are their partnerships. Intel works directly with brands and companies like Adidas and Kraft to improve commerce and the experience customers have in retail and way-finding environments. Avalos elaborated on their testing studies worldwide (China, Japan, UK, USA) and found some interesting points: the first was quite apparent to people in the media landscape but it worth repeating; people want to consumer media at their own rate. What this means is that understanding what people want is more important initially than trying to change the way people act, which is the ultimate goal.

The second point that was a little more interesting to people who are trying to improve their capabilities and the effectiveness of their DOOH technology: Intel found that people draw other people in, but they don’t share well. This sharing is not the type of social media sharing for which everyone strives, it is more like two children with one toy. Avalos recommended multi-touch as a way to make it easier for multiple people to interact with one screen. It certainly makes sense for Intel, as their embedded chips power exactly this type of technology, but it also makes sense for networks looking to upgrade, since there should be as many ways to interact with digital signage as possible. From the look of the technology coming out right now, both the industry and the consumers have a lot to look forward to.