The Communication Studio

Conference Info Kiosk

IIA / TCS entrepreneurial project

By 1986 the Information Industry Association was moving quickly towards interactive electronic online services. We were able to offer them a practical model.

We provided a major tradeshow with a full suite of convention floor services - And we made money. Here's how

View the Interactive Kiosk proposal

The Value Proposition

Intro page

Graphical Site Map

Exhibitor Info and Ad

Exhibitor fFoormap

Exhibitor Directory

Quick Schedule

How It Works page

Industry Tradeshow

Working in cooperation with the IIA, we created an interactive information kiosk for use on the Exhibit Floor at the IIA annual conference in New York. The 500+ screen database was the public debut for the TCS Environment site software:

  • Exhibitor Directory
  • Exhibitor Floormap
  • Bulletin Board
  • Information About the IIA
  • Conference Meeting Update
  • Quick Schedule
  • Joint Venture partnering list
  • Graphic Presentation Showcase
  • Help/Tutorial section
  • Automated Ad Billboard

Cutting Edge Design

The Communication Studio pioneered some features that were cutting edge (for 1986):

  • graphic "window frames" for on-screen information sections
  • single-keystroke hotkeys to the information sections
  • automated merging of advertising messages from an "Ad Pool"
  • extensive "one-click" cross-referencing between an alphabetic directory of exhibitors and a physical map of exhibit booths
  • animated graphics
  • default timeouts to a pre-configured scrolling ad show if the kiosk was not in use
  • automated presentational "mini-shows"
  • on-screen dynamic graphic confirmation ("highlighting") of user selections

Although we did not receive most of the informational content from the IIA until two weeks before the conference, we were able - by using our Textup Context Management System - to complete the screens on time and even add 45 new pages to the site on the first day of the conference.

We decided to see if the Conference Info Kiosk could be a money-maker. The "Kiosk Services" flyer (at right, produced on our clunky dot-matrix printer) offered:

  • Full-screen advertising on the default scrolling Ad Show
  • Partial page banner ads
  • Graphical design
  • Value-added Animations
  • Embedded sponsorship links

TCS actually made a nice chunk of money as a Service Bureau.

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