NDSR - Consultant's toolkit

This is non-digital signage related (NDSR) but relevant to all consultants and office workers out there...

I'm sharing here some of the most useful and practical tools I use on a daily basis:

• Freshbooks. This is the best online tool to manage your invoices, clients and budgets.
• Dropbox: If you don't already have a Dropbox account, get one now. I use this service to share and synchronize content across all my PCs, iPad and iPhone. Its an essential part of my toolkit.
• Evernote: Great for stashing away stuff you find online. Also great for sharing across multiple devices. I probably don't use this one to its full potential.
• LogMeIn: If you are in the digital signage business or in any technical field, you need some type of remote access solution. I have used many but the free LogMeIn service has been the best I have used so far (and I have used several).
• GoToMeeting and Join.Me: Two indispensable tools for anyone who needs to perform online meetings, product demos and training sessions. These tools have never let me down. Highly recommended.
• Google Docs: As much as I rely on Microsoft Office for my day to day work, I also often use the various tools in Google Docs. I find their presentation tools particularly easy to use when integrating the material on sites like Linked-In for example. Another great service that complements Google Docs is Zoho Office.
• TechSmith applications: TechSmith has a great suite of products you can use to capture on screen content. I rely on Jing! and Snagit daily.

I'm sure there are other tools and services I could have added but these are the ones I use on a daily basis. Don't know how I could spend a day without them.

Setting up a good studio

I do a lot of online training and audio recording for training videos. One of the biggest challenge is having an office environment that is suitable for recording. I found this excellent posting on the ZD Net web site that covers this subject. I haven't had to paint one of my office walls green (yet) as I mostly record voice, not video. But there are lots of good advice in this article and I recommend anyone who needs to record themselves to read up before they start spending bundles of cash on various acoustic treatments and expensive recording devices.

Digital Signage Expo 2011 feedback

As reported in DailyDOOH and other industry blogs, DSE 2011 was a big success. Several records were broken, including highest attendance and most exhibitors ever. I have attended other DSE shows in the past and can confirm this. I worked one of the booths and it was so busy I hardly had the chance to wander off.

I was finally able to do a quick tour about an hour before closing on Thursday and saw some interesting stuff. Will be posting more on this shortly.