EPISODE 167 | Guest: Sean Matthews, president and CEO of Visix
Get an exciting preview of what to expect at InfoComm 2025 in Orlando, Florida. You’ll get an inside look at the new digital signage products and solutions being unveiled at the show. But it’s not just about the tech – Visix booth 3543 will also offer a unique and cool visitor experience. Celebrating our 45th anniversary, the booth will feature a fun, nostalgic ’80s theme with lots of giveaways, inviting attendees to explore our latest offerings and learn about our long history in the AV channel.
- Discover the new BrightSign player support and the browser-based presentation designer.
- Explore the rapidly growing electronic paper sign (EPS) solutions and their comprehensive space management applications, from rooms to individual desks.
- Understand how hybrid work models are driving innovation in digital signage and space management technologies.
- Get an exclusive sneak peek into the immersive and nostalgic booth experience awaiting visitors, including fun giveaways.
- Hear about the company’s 45-year legacy with the AV channel and their continued commitment to supporting the industry.
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See more of what we’re showing at IC25 here.
Transcript
Derek DeWitt: Every year AVIXA’s InfoComm happens, alternating between Orlando and Las Vegas. This year, 2025, it’s in Orlando, Florida, and as always, Visix will be there. This time we’re in Booth 3543 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
There’s a lot to talk about for this year’s offerings. To help me with that, I have Sean Matthews, the president and CEO of Visix to tell me everything that you can see at the Visix booth. Which is not a substitute for actually seeing it, so you should still come by.
Hi, Sean. Thanks for talking to me today.
Sean Matthews: Hey, Derek, glad to be here. And, hey, you know, not only are we gonna be at InfoComm, just to make it clear, we have been there for basically 40 years. 40+ years. So….
Derek DeWitt: Yeah, like from nearly the beginning.
Sean Matthews: Yes. I think we are. I don’t know if it’s chicken-egg, however that story goes. We’re definitely there.
Derek DeWitt: Right.! All right. I’d like to thank Sean for talking to me. Of course, everybody out there for listening to this episode of Digital Signage Done Right. I remind you that you can subscribe, you can review us, and you can follow along with a transcript on the Visix website.
So, Sean, I know every year there’s a conference like InfoComm and there’s always pressure to, you know, come up with something new. We gotta show something new. It’s always a thing, and everybody scrambles. Nobody wants to just show the same stuff they showed last year. It gives the impression nothing’s happening. Visix has done it again! You guys have come up with new stuff.
Sean Matthews: I mean, Derek, you’re right. Every year, we all go through this exercise of coming up with something new and, you know, last year we introduced our support of the BrightSign player, but we were a little premature in that. That was more of a prototype, a concept of us supporting the BrightSign player. It’s taken a really long time to support that platform.
You know, we’ve been a Windows-only shop forever. Lots of reasons why we’ve done it that way. But, you know, the channel was screaming for the BrightSign player. I mean, they were just demanding it. Our client, our user base, our higher education installation base, I mean, they were just clamoring.
Derek DeWitt: Right. A chant, you just hear it out through the window, “purple box, purple box, purple box”. Crowds of people chanting. It’s like a cult.
Sean Matthews: Yeah, it definitely is a cult. I mean, in fact, I think we’re gonna change our colors to purple.
But seriously, it’s, you know, more than 2 million BrightSign players have been delivered to the market, which is a staggering number, right? I mean, you’re talking about 250,000 or 200,000 players a year, every year for 10 years. That’s an unmatched number.
Derek DeWitt: Do the math, you’ll figure it out. You know, how often a day that is, and it probably comes down to like one every couple of minutes.
Sean Matthews: Yeah. It’s one of those. There’s things you see on a newscast or something, what the debt looks like or something. So, I mean, for us it’s a really, really big deal.
And it gets us closer to a web- or browser-based designer, because all the design tools in BrightSign support are browser based. So, we do have now a browser-based, or a web-based, designer built into the support of the BrightSign player. And we have all the data integration that we’ve always had with our CMS that, you know, we can kind of wrap around that BrightSign implementation.
Derek DeWitt: And for people who are listening and want to know more about that, we actually, two weeks ago, did an episode with, Trey Hicks, the CSO and COO of Visix, specifically about BrightSign. So, if you want more technical details, that’s all in that episode. Just go to the Visix website and there it is.
Sean Matthews: So, you know, not only beyond BrightSign, but the most successful and fastest growing aspect of our business is the space management offering that we have. Most of it’s centered around the electronic paper sign. Those things are just, I mean, flying off the shelf. There’s a backlog every month of units that we can’t even get from our suppliers. So, that piece has really taken off, and it’s taken off in a complete offering.
It’s not just one piece, it’s not just EPS, right? We’re talking about the electronic paper sign component married with the augmented reality space reservation component, which is called Choros. Also, in addition to that, the extension of the Connect room sign, the Touch room sign. The new Touch room sign has availability lights on all four sides. Really, really cool.
So, not only does it work for classic space management: rooms, classrooms, conference rooms, but it’s made itself all the way down to the hybrid workspace solution down to the desktop, you know, down to the individual space, which is, I mean, that’s exploding right now.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah, it’s funny, Debbie and I were talking about how we keep saying, well, you know, ever since the pandemic, hybrid has become kind of a thing, and we kind of realized, you know, that was five years ago. Maybe we should stop saying that and just acknowledge. I know there are still some articles out there that are trying to hint like, well, you know, maybe hybrid’s just a temporary thing. It’s clearly not, and, sorry, business owners out there who don’t trust your employees, but it’s just a thing. It was coming anyway, the pandemic certainly accelerated it, and it’s just here, and we don’t even need to talk about it like it’s something new anymore, because it isn’t.
Sean Matthews: Well, I mean, it’s funny when you talk about that, you know, this year we’re celebrating our 45th anniversary of being in business, right? Just in the U.S. there are about 33 million businesses. Dude, that’s an enormous number of businesses. Of the 33 million, only a tiny fraction, like 19,000 are really big businesses, those that you just mentioned that are saying, oh, you have to come back to the office, right? You know, the Googles of the world, you know, the Amazons; those really big, big organizations.
But when you get down to companies that are 200 to 500 employees there, those guys are realizing the value of reducing their square footage, managing that lease calculation. They know they have employees that don’t really have to be in the office. That whole team concept every day, the idea of Microsoft Teams, Zoom, you know, Google Meet, all that stuff, that’s eliminated the barriers of being apart and actually brought us closer together. And the idea that you have to be there every day, it’s just wrong.
I mean, yes, there are certain jobs, there are, where people have to be there every day, but a lot of jobs, maybe 50% of jobs, showing up once a week, every other day, twice a week, whatever, in some cases only every six months. But utilizing that space for those, you know, part-time visitors, dude, it’s phenomenal.
Derek DeWitt: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And obviously it’s reflected in, like you said, the demand for this stuff. Everybody seems to want it. The EPS obviously is a very efficient system. It’s a very great way to present space management solutions. It’s affordable, and it also uses not a ton of power, so there’s a savings there as well. Plus, you know, if you care, it’s ecological. So it’s just kind of a…. It’s not a surprise to me, I guess I should say, that the EPS is the aspect of this that really took off.
What is interesting is how people want to combine it into kind of a package with a bunch of stuff. That’s quite nice, ’cause it’s almost like the EPS is their gateway drug. They go, you know what, this is great, I wish in this one room or these places, we had this; oh, Visix has those as well. Here’s a Connect, here’s a Touch. Oh, cool. Okay, well, let’s just do this sort of comprehensive deployment, and we can serve every one of our needs.
Sean Matthews: Yeah. Actually it’s gone both ways, as you’ve just described. There are clients that have used Visix in the more classic sense with, you know, signs outside of conference rooms and classrooms. Then they’ve migrated to using EPS technologies down to the desk level. And we also have people that have started off with a hybrid desk solution and added on those other room signs. You know, so they’re going both directions.
Derek DeWitt: Comprehensive is the future, that’s what I suspect. It’s really a suite of things. And why not? I mean, this is a little bit like what Trey Hicks was saying when we talked about BrightSign. It’s kind of the philosophy behind supporting that as well. It’s like, look, we’re trying to create a suite of options for clients. What do you need, what do you want? Here’s what we got. We’ve got this now. We support BrightSign, we’ve got EPS. We’ve got Choros, if you want to go completely contactless, no app, nothing; it just, people use their smartphones, don’t even download anything. Like, however you wanna go, we got you covered.
Sean Matthews: Yeah, for sure. In fact, you know, you’re gonna see it all in our booth this year, man. I mean, you’re gonna see the full solution, you know, down from the desk, you know, level, the hybrid workspace, all the way up to the big signs in lobbies, cafeterias, that kind of stuff. You’re gonna see all of that in our booth, man. Everything from menu boards to data integration, design tools, BrightSign support, event management.
I mean, Derek, we’re gonna have all of it there. I mean, our goal this year is to create a really cool visitor experience. You know, not just on the technology side, but you know, in the space that you’re visiting as well.
Derek DeWitt: Yes, I’ve seen some of the design mockups, and it’s a lot of fun because it ties into the fact that this company started off, not called Visix when it started off, but it started off in 1980. And when you think 1980, you think a lot of bad haircuts, flare trousers were still around, people were still wearing bellbottoms. But also that’s the beginning of certainly a lot of what was my growing up period as a Gen Xer, certain kinds of movies, video games and so on. Like Pac-Man came out, Space Invaders had already blown the lid off of that business model. And so this is kind of what you guys are leaning into is like, some of you may remember 1980 and some of you who are into “retro” stuff might be into it as well. This is kinda what it was like when we began, and now see how far we’ve come and where we have landed. That’s kind of the idea, I think, behind the design.
Sean Matthews: Yeah. In fact, you know, you hit it spot on, man. With Pac-Man, the entire concept visually of the booth from a color scheme perspective is based on the colors on the side of a Pac-Man machine. Like, that’s the whole deal.
So, we’re gonna have Pac-Man in the booth, like real legitimate throwback Pac-Man. We’re giving away Pac-Man machines. We’re giving away two of them, once a day on Wednesday and Thursday. All you have to do is scan your badge. You know, throughout the day we’re giving away fresh baked cookies, pastries, popcorn, coffee, sodas, water. But even more to the throwback, we’re giving away Pop Rocks, yo-yos. Like, I mean, we’re doing it all.
Derek DeWitt: Wow, Pop Rocks! I wonder….You know, we should make a bet right now. How many times will you and your staff hear someone make the erroneous claim that Mikey from the Life cereal commercials died when eating Pop Rocks and then drinking a Coke, which is just, so everybody knows is not true, but….
Sean Matthews: We will have plenty of Cokes and Pop Rocks side by side.
Derek DeWitt: Try it yourself! And you guys have yo-yos, also. That’s so funny because I had forgotten that yo-yos were such a big deal in the early 80s.
Sean Matthews: Yeah, these aren’t just yo-yos, Derek. They have batteries in them, and they light up.
Derek DeWitt: Oh, wow! Walk the dog, around the world. I was one of those young fellas that I was impressed. I really, really, really wanted to be the person who could do all the tricked out yo-yo stuff. And instead it would just sort of dangle limply at the end of my string, just a classic symbol of impotence and failure, or I would smack myself in the head with it.
Sean Matthews: You know, we’ve been entrepreneuring in this space for 45 years. It all ties back to the 80s, as you mentioned. And, you know, for us it’s a big deal, man. Not a lot of companies make it 45 years. We were supposed to celebrate our 40th anniversary in 2020, which was the pandemic. So, we have a chance here to do it, five years later, for our 45th.
And then, you know, we started off with the AV channel, we’re still with the AV channel. And, you know, we support the AV channel from a digital signage perspective more than anyone else in this market. So, we’re excited about that. We look forward to having, you know, all of our friends come in and see us at this really cool experience in Orlando.
Derek DeWitt: And it’ll be very hard to miss the booth because it is, as Sean said, colored with the same color scheme as Pac-Man. So your eye is gonna be drawn right to it. Plus, you’ll smell cookies. And this is again hearkening back.
Shopping malls became a big deal in the 80s. Mrs. Fields Cookies made inroads into that market by being really the first one to, they would pump out the smell into the mall, and then they had, usually young ladies, standing there with samples. And, you know, my friend Rob and I, we would go by over and over again. Of course they recognized us, but we would go by over and over again, and what’s that? Macadamia and white chocolate. Sure, I’ll try that. I literally was just here three minutes ago. I know you, we thought we were sly, you know.
So, it is kind of a, it’s a bit of a nostalgia thing. But when you look at the content and what’s actually on the walls itself, you also see not only where we are today in 2025, but I think you can, now that we see these sort of comprehensive packages or suites of solutions coming together, I think you can kind of start to see where things are heading as well. So, in many ways, you could say stopping by Visix booth 3543 at InfoComm 2025 is a little bit like time travel.
Sean Matthews: That it is, Derek. I’m sure we’re gonna have lots of people stopping by to get those cookies over and over again. But in the meantime, they will get a little glimpse of what you can do with our technology. And, we’ll make sure that we get you a yo-yo, if you’re not there, and that way you can build upon your childhood experiences.
Derek DeWitt: Injure myself further, that’s so exciting. And if you don’t have a hall pass for the exhibit floor, you can go to the Visix website and get a free VIP exhibit hall pass by going to visix.com/infocomm and there you can get the link as well, and see a little bit of what there is to see in the booth.
Sean Matthews: Hi, Derek. Look forward to seeing you there. And as always, I appreciate the conversation.
Derek DeWitt: Thank you very much. And thank you again everybody for listening. I remind you that there is a transcript of the conversation we just had on the Visix website. And don’t forget to stop by Booth 3543.