Article

Digital signage takes the stand at trade shows and events

Digital sign technology is developing quickly in many diverse directions and multiple industries, from retail to travel, and it's catching on just as rapidly in the event industry; so what makes good digital event signage?

October 15, 2015

By Reno Macri, founder and co-director, Enigma Visual Solutions

Digital sign technology is developing quickly in many diverse directions and multiple industries, from retail to travel, and it's catching on just as rapidly in the event industry. However, while some companies are investing in this new technology and reaping benefits such as improved experiences for visitors, clients and customers; added exhibition stand and store value; and even advertising revenue, others are wasting money on badly-designed and ineffective signs that aren't living up to their potential. So what makes good digital event signage?

Display relevant content

Effective digital signs must still follow all the basic rules of advertising — you don't get to ignore them just because you're advertising in a different format. Most importantly, it considers the audience and the nature of the event, and provides information that is useful and relevant to a person at that event, without going into information overload.

Quite possibly the worst thing you could do is use digital signage technology to do things like display, for example, a PowerPoint presentation or video clip that's 10 or 15 minutes long. Few people at an event are going to stick around for that long, which means all the effort that went into making the presentation or the clip is entirely wasted. If there's any useful information in the presentation, it's not being disseminated to potential customers and contacts, so the opportunity to use the signage to good effect is also lost.

The optimal digital sign delivers exactly the opposite: small chunks of information in an easy-to-read format, one that visitors can look at and quickly understand. Interspersing the relevant information with short advertising messages — carefully formulated for high impact delivery — provides sponsor exposure without overloading viewers with too much to read. This means that event branding advertising messages get more views, even if they're shorter, because short-format content ensures that viewers haven't already "switched off" by the time they see those sponsor messages. On the other hand, providing sponsor messages are short and entertaining, viewers are typically willing to watch them, because they know that the information they need will follow quickly.

Easy-to-control and feature-packed digital system

Even the best-designed content is only as good as the system that displays it, and a good system therefore needs to be easy and intuitive to control, and easy to both set up and modify. In a multiscreen system, it should be possible to control multiple screens at once, and also control individual screens separately, but again, with an interface that's accessible and easy to learn.

A good digital system is also resilient, as well as intuitive. Viewers will quickly stop trusting the information they're receiving if the screens don't work consistently, which also reduces trust in advertising brands, and limits the effectiveness of the entire system. It's typically best, for example, if such a system doesn't rely on having access to the Internet or with other computer networks — simply because losing access to that network is a more-or-less guaranteed disaster, at least as far as the signage goes.

Finally, there's also considerable scope for interactive signage — for example, integration with Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media. Adding an interactive element increases viewer number and viewer engagement levels, and integrating with familiar social media brands is another good way to establish a higher initial level of trust with the event brand as well as sponsors.

Reno Macri is a Director of Enigma Visual Solutions (http://eni.co.uk/), an exhibition and event company in the U.K., specializing in stand design, graphic productions, signage systems, event branding, office interior design and much more. He specialises in experiential marketing and event productions. He enjoys sharing his thoughts on upcoming marketing ideas and design trends, and can be found on Twitter at @enigmavisual.