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 How large a screen do I need for my
presentation?
Good question - but one that needs a bit of
clarification. Correct screen or image size is essential to the
successful communication of your ideas. Go too big and you can
overwhelm your audience -- go too small and you’ll lose their
interest very quickly.
Screen size depends on a lot of factors,
including: audience size, room dimensions, projector brightness,
image type, etc. A simple rule of thumb for screen size is that no
audience member should be more than 6x the screen width from the
screen. In other words, if your room is 60 ft long you should have
at least a 10’ wide screen. This then is a good point of departure
for selecting an appropriate projector.
CRT, DLP, LCD, Plasma, D-ILA --what do all
these abbreviations mean to me?
Depending on your event and the media being
presented, one of these technologies will be employed in producing
your viewed images. Some are older technology, like CRT, (cathode
ray tube) used in standard televisions, and will not be around much
longer. LCD, (Liquid Crystal Display) and DLP (Digital Light
Processing,) are image technologies that are typically used in
projectors.
LCD is excellent for computer image re-creation
and DLP is very well suited to video or moving image reproduction.
Both are also used in home rear projection units, as well as in
video wall cubes. LCD is prominently used in flat screen units like
desktop computer screens as well as larger flat screen displays up
to 42” diagonal. They have good stability and are rugged but can lag
slightly in image qualities like contrast ratio.
Plasma is purely a flat screen technology that
has excellent image characteristics producing deep blacks and
beautifully saturated colors. Plasma is an excellent choice for
moving images as well as computer-generated images.
In short, you need to determine what the primary
use of the projector, whether flat screen or cube, will be and
decide which technology fits your need and budget.
How does rear projection affect my image?
There are a multitude of advantages to rear
projection (RP). RP yields brighter and higher contrast images,
allows room brightness to remain higher, and affords a much cleaner
stage area since all of the components are hidden behind the screen.
RP imparts a magical quality to the show where
all of the electronics are hidden and audiences can focus completely
on the presenter, YOU! Once you stage a show with rear projection,
you will not go back.
Can lighting really help my presentation be
more effective?
Don’t think of it as lighting, think of it as
“highlighting”. Washing a stage, spotlighting a podium or
up-lighting your background with lighting and colored gels will
create an inexpensive but memorable scene. We all respond to drama
and action - and lighting imparts just that. You can warm up a stage
or cool it off-- Brighten up the whole stage or just a section of
it. Lighting emphasizes and brings focus to your presentation and
de-emphasizes the distracting surroundings. Lighting is the most
overlooked facet of presentation staging but can be the best spent
money.
My last presentation was marred by audio
interference on our wireless mics. How can we avoid this problem in
the future?
Today the airwaves are saturated with wireless
product signals. Bluetooth, cell phones, radios, walkie talkies,
Wi-Fi, wireless remotes and other wireless mics are everywhere.
Even though each of these has a designated
frequency band, you need to use wireless mics that will reject
unwanted signals. Although wireless mics may have come down in price
over the years using high performance units that reject unwanted
signals is more important than ever. Always use a vendor who has mic
systems of the highest quality with multiple frequencies on tap, as
well as units that are tuned to work in your specific geographical
area.
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