I’m here at the Toshiba dealer show in Orlando Florida this week to see what Toshiba’s been up.  This is the first show for Scott Maccabe since he took over as President and CEO earlier this year and it was my first time meeting him.  There are over 250 dealers in attendance at this year’s show.

I arrived Monday and was treated to a press/analyst walk through of Toshiba’s product fair.  There were no new copiers and printers on the floor but we were reminded that Toshiba launched 16 MFPs earlier this year.

Like the last dealer events, Toshiba is once again including a customer day where they bring in customers and close deals.  I think that’s a great idea and I think they said they closed over $7 million in business at last year’s show.

Scott took the stage and kicked off the keynote this morning.  He touted Toshiba’s brand agnostic approach, referring to the partnerships with HP, Lexmark and others.  He discussed how Toshiba is continually reinvesting in R&D and the impact it’s had on keeping them on the cutting edge of technology.  He also mentioned something about streamlining operations, but I’m not sure what he really meant by that.  Hopefully it’s not a headcount issue.

After an awards ceremony that saw TGI Office Automation win Dealer of the Year, VP of marketing services & solutions and GM Bill Melo took the stage to dive a bit deeper into what dealers would find at the product fair.  Bill discussed how office printing is declining 6-8% annually (according to Gartner) and that Toshiba needs to find other ways to keep dealers profitable.  While monochrome is falling, color is still on the rise.  He mentioned the proliferation of mobile devices and that he believes that’s having an impact on print.

Bill then spent quite a bit of time discussing Toshiba’s signage strategy.  There are two types of products they’re marketing; traditional digital signage such as indoor and outdoor screens and their Ellumina touch screen displays that are just awesome

The touch screen displays are template based and Toshiba has a dealer version that is a must for their demo rooms.  It’s stocked full of solutions, all hardware, videos, even a presentation viewer that allows reps to walk a customer through a proposal.  Most importantly, these are really slick looking and will definitely impress customers when they come in to see products.  Every dealer should have one of these.  Another benefit is that dealers can cut back on the amount of product on their demo room floor as these interactive displays should be able to provide more than enough of a demonstration to satisfy most customers.

Bill then discussed their Encompass service and showed the excellent proposal building tools sales reps can use.  There is a decent amount of content on how environmentally friendly Toshiba products are, which should be very well received by customers with green initiatives.

So here are my thoughts on the show so far.  Scott looked very comfortable in front of the dealers and I loved seeing him working the product fair and mingling with dealers.   He wasn’t just up on a stage and he wasn’t surrounded by an entourage; he was just walking around checking things out and chatting with people – very cool.

I thought their product fair was a little light on product and solutions.  Maybe it’s just because there was so much attention placed on the displays, but it felt like there weren’t a ton of products.  I know Toshiba wants to be a solutions company but at the end of the day, the ships are coming and they’re loaded with hardware.

The displays were awesome, especially the interactive displays.  Not only do they offer a package to dealers with all the product info and videos, Toshiba has examples in different verticals.  An automotive example allows you to customize a Tesla, choosing your rims, interior color, exterior color, etc.  As you make the changes on the screen, the pricing changes and so does the picture of the car you’re building.  They had an example for universities and another example as an interactive map for a mall.  And the best part is, there’s an aftermarket with maintenance contracts that provide a nice revenue stream for dealers – something that’s missing from some competitive display offerings.

So far it’s a pretty good show.  The product fair was very busy for a while.  Dealers seem pretty happy with the new leadership from what I’m hearing and Toshiba is very excited about the new products and programs they’re presenting.