The Daktronics Experience

Looking for different ways to connect with your fans this fall? To discuss a new offering from Daktronics, Justin and Matt are joined by Kyle Sydow, Daktronics market manager, and Chris Westerman, Daktronics product manager. This new offering allows schools to stream video board content to fans wherever they are watching. It’s called Big Stream because it brings the big game view to a live stream.

• Daktronics Sports Marketing information request webpage: https://www.daktronics.com/en-us/services/daktronics-sports-marketing/contact-dsm
• Big Stream landing page: www.daktronics.com/bigstream
  
  

To discuss the differences between a broker and manufacturer model for producing LED displays, Justin and Matt are joined by Brett Wendler, Daktronics Vice President of design and development. Brett covers the issues of sourcing and partnering with component suppliers, how much control that gives a manufacturer over the design and engineering of their LED displays, and how that affects the testing, performance, service and support of a final product. And we can’t forget, how it might be easy to produce one display perfectly and as intended, but it’s much harder to produce 100 out of 100 displays perfectly.

When your electronics need to be repaired, where do you take them? Daktronics’ domestic customer can rely on a US-based repair center located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. To discuss our repair center, Justin and Matt are joined by Trent Erickson, Daktronics Repair Center Plant Manager. He talks about our US-based and global repair centers, how they operate to serve our customers, and shares some of the common and uncommon reasons for displays to be repaired.

To hear about a unique scoreboard collection, Justin and Matt talk with Rob Hathaway, Minnesota Wild Mascot Coordinator and Daktronics scoreboard enthusiast. He opens up about his role with the Wild and the Xcel Energy Center, his scoreboard collection and how he uses them, and how it all got started with a gift from his parents.

• Xcel Energy Center Installation: https://www.daktronics.com/en-us/photos/details?pn=WP-18847&cid=131524
• Before and after of Xcel Energy Center’s centerhung: https://daktne.ws/2XsGO2L 

To hear about the LED technology transformation at Bethel College in Newton, Kansas, Justin and Matt are joined by their Athletic Director, Tony Hoops. We talk about his role at Bethel, installing a video display at their stadium to support football and other sports and events, how they manage their sponsorships with the display, its overall impact and more.

• Bethel College Website: https://www.bethelks.edu/
• Thresher Stadium Website: http://www.bethelthreshers.com/facility/details/1-thresher-stadium

To learn more about the facility upgrades at the University of South Dakota (USD), Justin and Matt talked with Cameron Wilson, Director of Events for USD. The discussion covers Cameron’s path to his current position, what his role is like at USD, their video display systems and much more.

• Dakotadome Renovation: https://goyotes.com/sports/2019/8/30/DakotaDome-Renovations.aspx
• Daktronics Project Highlight: https://www.daktronics.com/en-us/photos/details?pn=WP-20220&cid=SOS004-003

As our control systems continue to improve and advance, Justin and Matt sit down with Scott Davidson, Broadcast Systems Engineer at American Airlines Center, to talk about his experience with their recent Show Control upgrade. We also talk about Scott’s role and other stories surrounding his work at the venue.

• Daktronics Show Control Webpage: www.daktronics.com/showcontrol 
• American Airlines Center Website: http://www.americanairlinescenter.com/

Daktronics provides many different products and services for its customers, including Daktronics Sports Marketing. To discuss the details of DSM, Justin and Matt are joined by Kyle Sydow, Daktronics market manager, and Bud Postma, retired athletic director and Daktronics consultant. The conversation covers how DSM works, the features and benefits of the program, examples of how it has worked for Bud, and much more.

• Daktronics Sports Marketing website: www.daktronics.com/dsm 

How to handle sponsorships has become somewhat interesting during these times. As such, Justin and Matt sat down with Mike Vogelaar, Daktronics Sports Marketing regional manager, to hear how some Daktronics customers are fulfilling their sponsorships and providing exposure to those businesses due to the absence of live events taking place. He also shares how Daktronics is helping customers be creative with their sponsorships and show to show support for their partners and community.

• Daktronics Sports Marketing Website: daktronics.com/dsm
• Contact Mike Vogelaar via email: mike.vogelaar@daktronics.com 
• #LightItBlue on Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/events/1248617035371655176
• #BeTheLight on Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/events/1251248923836067841

As digital signage can be used almost anywhere, Justin and Matt discussed the SBB railway project with Rolf Bauer, region manager for German spoken area of Daktronics international operations. Rolf explains how we’ve worked with SBB to install more than 50 displays across multiple railway stations in Switzerland.

• SBB Project Release: https://www.daktronics.com/news/Pages/Daktronics-Partners-With-SBB.aspx
  
• SBB Award Release: https://www.daktronics.com/news/Pages/SBB-Award-bestowed-upon-Daktronics.aspx