CASE STUDY: Digital Signage Provides a Dynamic System for Communicating Event Information at the Last Vegas Convention Center

Content Award Winner, Digital Signage Expo East 2008
Client: Las Vegas Convention Center & Visitors Authority (LVCVA)
Industry: Convention Center
Project: Deployment of digital signage for event information and wayfinding
Supplier: Wireless Ronin Technologies (WRT)

PROFILE
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) http://www.lvcva.com/index.jsp is charged with marketing Southern Nevada as a tourism and convention destination worldwide, and also with operating the Las Vegas Convention Center and Cashman Center. A 3.2 million-square-foot facility, the Las Vegas Convention Center http://www.lvcva.com/meetings/meeting-venues/convention-centers/las-vegas-convention.jsp is one of the most modern and functional facilities in the world. In addition to more than 2 million square feet of exhibit space, 144 meeting rooms (more than 241,000 square feet) handle seating capacities ranging from 20 to 2,500. A grand lobby and registration area (more than 225,000 square feet) efficiently link existing exhibit halls with new exhibit and meeting rooms, and allowing simultaneous set-up, break-down and exhibiting of multiple events.

Wireless Ronin Wireless Ronin Technologies Inc. http://www.wirelessronin.com was founded in 2000 as a wireless communications development company. Working with various clients on wireless communication projects helped single out digital signage as a new market with tremendous growth potential in various industries. In 2003, the company launched the RoninCast software suite for dynamic digital signage. Today, the RoninCast system is installed in more than 6,300 displays — with prominent clients such as Thomson Reuters, Chrysler and Las Vegas Convention Center.

CHALLENGE
The Las Vegas Convention Center has more than 1.3 million visitors annually who attend events and shows at their facility. With such a high volume of visitors and multiple events taking place at the same time, it was difficult for the convention center to keep up with the ever-changing facility messaging needs. Installing static signage in the right location at the right time was extremely challenging. It was important to maintain a high level of customer service and satisfaction by providing directions to visitors to navigate the facility and also proper messaging for event companies to promote their shows, meetings and events.

CONTENT/CREATIVE BRIEF
The Las Vegas Convention Center and Visitors Association (LVCVA) asked Wireless Ronin’s creative team to develop a variety of content that would provide facility and transportation information, wayfinding with event information and meeting room calendars that would showcase schedules of meetings, sessions and seminars. In addition, LVCVA needed this content to be dynamically updated to reduce time required to post new event and tradeshow information to screens throughout the facility. The convention center also wanted to give meeting and show planners access to meeting room calendars to update each screen to reflect their schedules of seminars and sessions.

OBJECTIVES
To create digital advertising and promotional content that is quick to deploy, easy to maintain and can incorporate a variety of database information from calendaring systems and .asp pages. To accomplish this goal, Wireless Ronin needed to develop:
1. a series of design templates, touch screen and non-touch, that could incorporate animated and static content along with database information that were quick and efficient to deploy.
2. a platform to provide meeting and show planners access to update meeting room screens.

CONTENT STRATEGY
WRT designed a template-based content solution in which the client could incorporate dynamic wayfinding that would indicate event locations by pulling information from a LVCVA scheduling database. This information would be available to visitors via a touch screen kiosk application.

Meeting room displays were approached in the same way by developing template based designs and a customized .asp internet page that LVCVA is able to provide to meeting planners to update their own event’s calendars.

A variety of standard, non-touch, displays are implemented throughout the facility. These incorporate facility and event messaging into content template designs that contain a mix of static and animated content. The animated content is created by WRT with convention and show assets provided by LVCVA on a regular schedule. Content deployment is handled directly by the LVCVA.

SOLUTIONS
Informational advertising and wayfinding content was deployed via a series of templates that are able to be scheduled with animated and static content via the RoninCast software and its Zone Builder and Schedule Builder capabilities. Wayfinding displays use the RoninCast Database Client to pull event calendars from scheduling systems and the content automatically color-codes the floorplan indicating the event’s location. Meeting room templates are branded for the LVCVA with areas that can be populated with text supplied via an .asp internet page.

WRT creates the animated content on an ongoing basis, with LVCVA deploying the content via RoninCast software. WRT also created the customized and secure Internet page that the LVCVA is able to send out to event planners to update their own schedules.

RESULTS
These efforts resulted in new and exciting content displaying on a variety of screens throughout the LVCVA. From week-to-week and show-to-show, there is always unique content being displayed throughout the facility. This lends to the freshness and welcoming feel that visitors get when walking through the Las Vegas Convention Center. Visitors are now provided useful information in a compelling format to get them where they need to be and to keep them informed of facility schedules. LVCVA has benefitted by having a system that can be updated in real-time without the need for printed signage or the labor required to update printed signs throughout the facility. Meeting and event planners are excited about the new platform to communicate their event information throughout the facility and outside of their event’s meeting room, also cutting down on their print signage costs.