diff --git a/protosign.py b/protosign.py
index d95fea4..9d1302f 100644
--- a/protosign.py
+++ b/protosign.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def poll_and_display():
 
             if message and message != last_message:
                 print "Updating sign with new message: " + message
-                send_sign(message)
+                send_sign(message.encode('utf-8'))
                 last_message = message
 
         except (urllib2.URLError, ValueError, KeyError) as e: