Does it make a difference where your screens are mounted? YES!

The Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, The Egyptian Pyramids, and the Great Wall of China all have something in common. Whether they have an audience of one, or of thousands, they can be seen by everyone. These landmarks wouldn’t be nearly as impressive if they could only be seen by one person at a time.

 The best way to make your digital screens viewable by the masses is to move them off the floor! Hanging them by the ceiling or on the wall with proper tilting can go a long way. The cynics will say ‘Yeah, but the higher they are the harder it is for them to read.’ Then get a bigger screen! Make the fonts larger! There is always a way around distance. There is NOT a way around having your message blocked while there is a group of people in front of the screen that is on a floor stand. Even one person standing in front of the screen can be enough to destroy your message if your screen is on the floor.

While floor standing screens have their place, make sure that everyone can see your screens by taking the high road, not the low road.

SIDE NOTE: Although this isn’t an article about touch-screens, one reason why touch screen kiosks are strongly discouraged is because they’re intended for one person to use them at a time. Who wants to wait in line to see the Eiffel Tower one person at a time? I would rather enjoy the Eiffel Tower with my friends and family. The same feelings or principles apply to digital signage. People are at your place of business to do something other than stop and admire the new digital screens. So make your digital signs a part of their da­y-to-day lives by giving them the information they need that is easily viewable by many.

Noventri Digital Signage greets guests and meeting attendees as they arrive at The Chauncey Hotel and Conference Center, an ARAMARK-managed property located in Princeton. New Jersey.

A 55-inch LCD screen was mounted in the property’s lobby with the goal of greeting visitors immediately upon their arrival. Noventri mounted the screen vertically and the screen is powered by Noventri technology – the Eco-Series SF-100e digital signage player and Noventri Suite and Server digital signage software. Just below the digital signage is a 32-inch LCD screen for broadcast TV viewing.

The digital signage screen displays meeting information such as meeting times and social events scheduled for 22 meeting rooms at the facility. The display provides visitors with date, name of the event for that day, the event location and start and end times.

“The screen replaced the former pedestal board, which displayed a printed copy of daily events,” says Loren Romberger, Director of Conference Planning at Chauncey. “The new screen has a greater visual impact, since clients enter the property and are immediately shown meeting information while being greeted by the lobby greeter. Upon completion of our summer renovation, the information displayed on the lobby screen will also be available on the guest room televisions.”

The reader board also features the Noventri Weather Station, a weather-feed service from Noventri. The service provides current weather conditions as well as forecasts for the area. The center has plans for Noventri digital meeting room signage to be added outside of each meeting room.

Noventri provides digital signage / digital menu boards at other ARAMARK locations, including: Minute Maid Park, Greater Columbus Convention Center, Verizon Center, Citizens Bank Park, M & T Bank Stadium, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Fenway Park, The Greater Richmond Convention Center and Kansas City Convention Center.

Chauncey Conference Center Guests are greeted by Noventri digital signage.

Noventri announces the release of digital signage software that was designed specifically to be free! Simply download Noventri Designer and turn any computer and monitor into a simple digital signage player!

Smithsburg, Maryland, February 1, 2010 – Digital signage software should not cost anything. At least that is what Noventri thinks and they have decided to make their software available for download absolutely cost-free. Noventri has announced an early build of Noventri Designer, an easy-to-use and feature-rich digital signage software available for immediate download. The only thing that Noventri asks is that users provide feedback, suggestions and ideas for improvement of the software on the Noventri forum (http://www.noventri.com/forum/). User-feedback will be used to evolve and improve the digital signage software so that it directly meets the demands of users in the industry.

“With Noventri Designer users can start creating digital signage content immediately. The software does not need to be used with Noventri Eco-Series SF-100e digital signage hardware,” remarks Andrew Hoffman, VP at Noventri. “Once downloaded to a PC, users can begin designing content on existing computers and displaying that content to their monitors. The free software requires no licensing or subscription fees.“

Noventri Designer is capable of content creation in resolutions up to 1920×1200 with multiple region types. Content can be played on a main monitor or a secondary monitor and the software will function as a simple digital signage player.

Features of Noventri Designer include:

Create unlimited, independent regions that can be layered and overlapped with transparency support to create unique, eye-catching layouts.
Support for industry standard image formats including, BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIFF and PNG with additional formats such as PDF and PowerPoint to be made available at a later date.
Noventri Designer will include tools to manage all aspects of the process from content design to scheduling and management of the SF-100e digital signage players, all in one software package.
Newly designed scheduling tools, when coupled with the Eco-Series SF-100e, will allow you to not only schedule what content appears on the display, but also allow you to schedule your screen to go into standby mode during non-peak hours to save energy.
Emergency Setup panel allows you to prepare and be ready for the worst. Pre-load multiple messages into the Eco-Series SF-100e and trigger those messages to be displayed with virtually no delay in the event of an emergency.

To download go to: http://www.noventri.com/eco/digital-signage-software.php. For information contact Judy L. Hoffman at: judyh@noventri.com or call 301-790-0103.

Using technology and services by InnView, Noventri can now offer hotels and resorts an advanced technology platform that transforms a property’s guest room television in to a powerful, interactive entertainment and information portal. The results are an enhanced guest experience while providing a per-room revenue stream. Large and small properties alike can benefit from this extraordinary service and it will also help attract new customers.

Click here to view the press release(39k).

For information contact Judy L. Hoffman, Public Relations & Marketing at 1-800-359-1858, ext. 211 or email at: judyh@noventri.com.

In the hospitality world, the guests are king. In the Digital Signage world, content and integration is king. When melded together, the hotel experience is novel instead of ordinary. It all starts in the lobby when the guest walks through the door and checks in.

The following is a first persons perspective of their experience at a hotel that has a properly integrated Dynamic Digital Signage (DDS) network.

The first thing that is noticed is a screen with sharp and crisp imagery dazzling your senses. Second, an attention grabbing animation that features the hotel’s restaurant. “I didn’t realize that they had a restaurant here, how convenient? That steak looks so good and what a great price, I think I’ll eat at the hotel tonight!” Below the restaurant animation is the hotel’s event schedule. The meeting that you came to attend has changed meeting space since the time you have received your itinerary. “That’s good to know” you think to yourself. The last thing you want is a guest wandering around the next day burning up precious networking time.

Ah, the things that are learned before you even walked up to the counter to check in. Once you check in and get to your room, it’s time to get dressed for dinner. While dressing it’s only natural to turn on the TV. “What’s this? It’s welcoming me by name! It has my company’s logo, since that’s the reason why I’m here and has my meeting agenda right on the screen. Now I’m curious!” Navigation is very simple. Click by click and the HD menu is displaying what appeals to you most. One click enables you to order your favorite meal right on the TV and have it delivered directly to your room. The decision is made to order room service instead of going down to eat, “maybe tomorrow” you reason with yourself as you peruse the rest of the options on the screen. “Movies look interesting. How about that! These movies are still in the theater. This movie is getting rave reviews and I’ve wanted to see it but I had to come to this meeting instead. I think I’ll have dinner and a movie right here in my room!” While waiting on the food to arrive, you start to unpack. The white dress shirt that was needed for this meeting isn’t here! To no avail! A “Shopping” button on your TV screen allures even the frugal to click on it. Here is everything that you need including shirts! Leaving the room isn’t really needed since there is an option to have it delivered right to your room!

Let’s just say that dinner and a movie was a great hit and you plan on doing it again the next evening but it’s morning and it’s time to talk turkey at the business meeting. After rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, with paperwork in hand, you head toward your destination, Ballroom 203. While you are walking down the hall to your meeting space it is noticed that the other meeting room screens are featuring a lunch special at the hotel restaurant; chicken potpie that looks like it is to die for. “I’ll order that this afternoon,” you say with stern resolution. Ah! Ballroom 203. There isn’t an ad playing here. It’s a notification message. “XYZ meeting has been moved to the Grand Ballroom 227 due to space constraints.” “That’s right! I remember, they moved the space” Just around the corner you find the Grand Ballroom and this time the screen says “Grand Ballroom 227 – XYZ Inc. “How to sell more XYZ’mabobs” 10:00AM – 5:00PM” Of course this is placed on top of the XYZ logo since that is what you would expect.

The meeting is a hit and your department is ahead by 12%!

Make them King

Yes, the guests are king, and what makes them feel like a king is up to you, it’s all about having the right tools. In this case, products, and services that back those products enable you to get a Return On Objectives (ROO) and Return On Investment (ROI).

Now we will look at the previous scenario from the hotel’s perspective.

Since the DDS screens were installed in your lobby there is a noticed improvement in restaurant sales. The guests seem more informed. Adding DDS screens behind your counter drastically reduces perceived wait time for your guests. We all know that we don’t like asking for directions, especially if we’re in a hurry and a well-implemented DDS network will help your guests save face during their “kingship”. We have just identified getting ROO from you DDS network.

ROO also comes by using that same DDS network to brand your hotel even further as compared to de-branding it with a wrinkled piece of paper being used as a way finder. ROO is usually overlooked in implementing a DDS network since most are only interested in the ROI. One thing to remember is the ROO is what is the most powerful tool a hotel can put at their disposal.

ROI is achieved by offering the hotels preferred Limousine Company and the nearby Museum advertising space on your DDS network. Ah! Now the DDS network is working for your pocket. In the end this makes you king.

Every time meeting space is sold to a client, offer to place their logo on the meeting room’s screen for “just an additional $30″. Before you know it, the meeting room screens have paid for themselves in months and not years, not including the ad space they offer.

What about in the hotel room? Why not make some extra ‘green stuff’ every time a brand new HD Hollywood movie is clicked on to watch, and Internet is used on the TV. They can even work for you if there is no occupancy in that room since “Amenities” are provided to the guests as local attractions that have paid to have that “ad” on your in-room service screen. Guests don’t get charged for everything. In-room free-to-guest offerings include free PC gaming and television all in HD!

There are so many ways to make your guest feel like a king while you sit on the treasure by installing a well integrated DDS network that meets your objectives and at the same time, adds vitality to your property.