From corporate retreats to general sessions, digital signage for events plays a pivotal role in conveying logistical information, promoting brand visibility, and creating an engaging experience for attendees. This blog will highlight the best technology, design, and layout practices to get the most out of digital signage at your next event.
Choosing the Right Digital Signage for Events
These days, it’s rare to see printed foam board displays at events. While printed visuals can work as a supplementary tool, it’s digital signage that rules modern conferences, trade shows, sales meetings, and general sessions.
Create Immersive Environments
Without a doubt, current technological advancements mean event planners and meeting owners have various digital display options that offer versatile solutions and superior interactivity. For example, if your agenda is to create large-scale, immersive visuals or displays, you could use the following:
High-resolution LED: These come in an array of customizable solutions like tiles, panels, curtains, and flexible walls that can display branding and content or act as a scenic fixture. LED signage can be used on any scale and in a variety of environments, whether indoor or outdoor.
3D projection mapping: As discussed in our January blog, this scalable solution enables you to project an image onto a 3D object or map a large venue area for maximum impact.
Logistical Content Display
For the type of digital signage that you see at registration desks or in common areas throughout the venue, consider the following:
Digital Posters: Typically, these come in long, rectangular displays framed inside a portable platform. Many of them feature touch screens to act as registration kiosks or interactive maps for wayfinding purposes.
MicroLED screens: Samsung recently unveiled their transparent panel, which essentially looks like a pane of glass that can display images while remaining completely see-through. While the screens are not commercially available, we expect to see more of these pop up at events towards the end of the year.
Displace TV: As we mentioned in our last blog, this 55-inch OLED screen has suction cups on the back to stick it on different surfaces. It’s perfect for smaller presentations or informative signage at hotels and other event venues.
A major perk of digital signage is that it allows your AV team to update the sign content in real time. Everything from agenda updates and changes to important notifications can be displayed so your attendees are always informed. Plus, we can create framed housing for your digital signage monitors and have them wrapped in branded skins for added sponsorship exposure.
Best Practices for Signage Content
Outside of large-scale scenic use, the main goal of digital signage is messaging. Whether it’s displaying upcoming session topics and speakers, a map of the venue, or interactive Q&As, the content needs to adhere to a few basic principles.
- Make sure the copy is straight to the point, easy to read, and uses as few words as possible without convoluting the message. Research shows that the average viewer’s dwell time is about 4.6 seconds or less, so short sentences and basic wording are essential to convey information.
- Use high-resolution images.
- To be ADA-compliant, use a 70% contrast between the content background and lettering.
- Add dynamic content like subtle animation or motion graphics that mimic eye movement. Research shows dynamic visuals are more effective at grabbing viewer attention than static images.
- Ensure the graphic design is cohesive with the event’s branding.
- Consider the hierarchy of sponsors to base how their logos and visuals appear on the sign and at what frequency. For example, sponsors who have invested a large amount should be featured prominently and more frequently than smaller investment sponsors.
Resist the urge to get too creative or design for designers. For example, don’t use animation if it feels extraneous to the message. Your signage is there to create an easier attendee experience.
Venue Layout
When deciding where to place digital signage at the event facility, refer to the venue’s layout and imagine the flow of attendee foot traffic. There are a few key touchpoints where you can maximize efficiency. The best strategy is to target high-traffic areas like the venue entrances, registration desks, outside general sessions, and places where attendees tend to get lost or gather.
If your digital signage has interactive elements, ensure that the event’s common areas have enough monitors to serve attendees so you can keep the foot traffic flowing.
Rely on Tallen for Expert Digital Signage for Events
When you choose Tallen as your AV partner, you can proudly display your brand and message with signage and bespoke digital experiences. And, during your event, impact the audience with a message tailored to deliver your story. We ensure events are staffed with on-site technical experts and producers so your conference, trade show, or dinner meeting goes off without a hitch. Contact Tallen today to see how we can support the success of