Category: EP Blog

If you’re considering renting an LED Video Wall it’s helpful to also understand the show floor related costs involved when your booth includes an LED Video Wall. You may be quoted a price for only the LED video wall tiles, and video player electronics, but there’s much more to the involved in the total cost of having a LED Video Wall in your trade show booth. If you know more about what required you’ll be able to shop more effectively and budget more accurately.

 

Whether your video wall is suspended from the ceiling or supported on the ground both will have these show floor costs in common:

The first one you might not think about is the electrical power requirements. Video wall tiles require anywhere from 100 watt to 150 watt depending on the brand and the pixel density resolution.

So for example, if your LED Video Wall is quite large having 100 LED Video Wall tiles your video wall would require 10,000 watts of electrical power just for the tiles. This does not include the additional electrical power required for the laptop and controller and audio system. We typically plan another thousand watts for those items. So in this case, 11000 watts total for this 100 tile LED Video Wall.

Depending on how you order your power you might have additional Electrical costs such as the Electricians may add a “Distribution box.” This is essentially a high powered power strip about the size of a desktop computer. These have one large cord going into it and a number of power out outlets you can plug into on the other side. The show can charge approximately $200 for a distribution box.

Sometimes this distribution box is the best way to go but when possible we prefer to order a number of 1500 watt outlets. This is one way to avoid the cost of a distribution box and the delay caused by requiring the electrician to come over and make the connections in and out of the distribution box.

To put this into perspective – the typical TV only requires about 150 watts and the typical stem light today requires only about 20 watts of power so adding a LED Video Wall to your booth can significantly jump your electrical power needs, and the cost can be a few thousand, rather than a few hundred.

If your video wall is suspended from the ceiling then there’s a cost to run the power from some ceiling location dropped down to your suspended video wall. To get an accurate price for a ceiling electrical draw you need to provide drawings of your booth with the dress and the LED Video Wall for the power drop. This electrical power drop can be anywhere from $500-$1000.

For a suspended video walls, you will also need a CAT5 data cable drop. Typically suspend the video walls get their content from a controller and laptop located somewhere on the ground level in the booth space, maybe inside a tower or a closet.

It could be the rigging team or the electricians that run your data cable, and their charge will be based on the cost for the crew and the amount of time it takes them to place your data cable. The typical rigging crew runs approximately $800 an hour so if your data cable is running a long distance it’s realistic that the cost for positioning your data cable could be $500-$1000.

So you see that power requirements is it important part of a LED video wall and your budget for your LED video wall.

One last electrical requirement to be aware of. We find out a number of shows layer on the requirement to either; order “24 hour power” or to pay a certain amount for Stagehands to turn on and off your LED Video Wall each day of the event.

Unless your video wall is very large, we find it’s best to order the 24 hour electrical service. For example if your video wall required $900 of standard electrical power then the typical fee for 24 hours power is double that amount, or $1800 in this case.

 

Next, let’s take a look at the union labor required to build your video wall before the show and dismantle your video while after the show:

In cities where unions are strong such as San Francisco, Chicago and Las Vegas, you will be required to order Stagehands to do this work. We find it currently many of these venues have a policy to require to stagehands for a minimum of four hours. A typical hourly rate would be $150 per hour for standard time and $225 per hour for evenings and weekends.

If you do the math, you can see that this is also another significant cost related to including a LED Video Wall on your booth. If for example your booth dismantles on a Saturday the bill would come to $1800 for the two Stagehands has four hour minimum each.

It’s good to talk with your Exhibit House about the city and venue where are your show is taking place because for example Orlando is very relaxed on union labor requirements. So this additional $2500 for Stagehands you would pay in Las Vegas for example you could avoid entirely if your show was being held in Orlando Florida.

 

If your video wall will be suspended from the ceiling we should look at rigging related costs:

All suspended video walls require truss and motorized hoists.

The Rigging crew hast to determine where is the motors can be placed overhead to support your LED Video Wall. This can require more truss to go further distance than anticipated. Often this is not fully known until install day when looking up from the booth space.

Once motors and truss are in place, the truss is lowered and a Stagehands can begin attaching the LED Video Wall tiles to the video wall hang bar.

Every few rows the rigging crew will raise the video wall and eventually the last row is locked in place. The Rigging crew stands by while the electricians and stage hands make the data and electrical connections so the wall can be tested before it’s raised.

When ready the video wall is raised up to its final position.

So you see that suspending an LED Video Wall includes union Rigging people, Stagehands and Electricians – all are billed at different hourly rates for standard and overtime work.

In general, we find that a smaller LED Video Walls with all of the above included will have a rigging cost of around $5000 whereas a larger LED Video Walls will require more of everything and have a cost of closer to $10,000. These are the cost just to get your video wall overhead. However, with your video while overhead it gives you better show for disability and more options for an open inviting booth space. Not all Rigging requires truss, it depends on weight and available hang points.

 

The last trade show floor related costs related to LED video walls would be Material Handling:

Your LED Video Wall is heavy. If you consider the weight assigned to each LED video wall tile and it’s portion of the shipping AV case you’re looking at about 35 pounds per tile. An LED video wall with 100 tiles probably will weigh close to 3500 pounds.

If the show charges $1.50 a pound for Material Handling, then we would be looking at a Material Handling cost of $5200.

So Electrical costs and stagehand related costs, and Material Handling related costs are significant factors that in most cases well I’m out to the majority of your video wall expense.

There’s no question about the ability to deliver a high impact message a LED video Wall provides. Even with these significant show for costs LED Video Walls continue to become more common on the show floor because they outperform any other printed or architectural element intended to draw attention.

Over time, LED Video Walls will become cheaper, lighter and more common and General Contractors (Freeman, GES ) will be forced to relax the install and dismantle requirements. However right now the extra cost to have a commanding presence is worth it for many exhibitors.

If you’re considering considering adding an LED Video Wall above or into your booth design give us a call here at Exhibit People.

We’d be happy to brainstorm how to best accomplish this with a minimal cost and maximum impact. Browse priced LED Video Wall kits and LED Video Wall design ideas and let us know what catches your eye.

Exhibitors need to capture interest in just few seconds. Printed graphics are simply limited in how much information they can deliver in that 3-4 seconds. The industry was ripe for a better way to deliver fast, efficient, large format marketing messages on the trade show floor. Exhibitors may want to step it up into a rental LED video wall but they need an affordable entry level way to do this.

There’s no question LED video walls are quickly growing in popularity on the show floor. It’s also no surprise, they offer the best way to draw attendees and communicate from a distance. Because of this there is a fast growing need for affordable LED video wall content. Let’s dive in and take a look at how to get affordable video content for trade show booths.

Four questions typically quickly arise, 1) Who can help us develop a trade show booth that integrates a rental LED video wall. 2) Who can create our looping video movie for our LED video wall? 3) How long should the video be? and  4) How much is all of this going to cost?

Three of these answers are easy.

We specialize in great looking low cost trade show rental booths. We have LED TV’s and LED video walls in your rental inventory and all the technical expertise required, which means we’re not farming these out. Take a minute and browse our priced design ideas filtered to show you only great looking rental booths with LED video walls integrated.

Your looping video should be short, definitely under 2 minutes. It sort of depends on what you want to accomplish, but there’s nothing wrong with a message that loops every 30 seconds. If your video wall is more to educate attendees once they are in your booth then a longer video is plenty good, but beyond 2 minutes may be too long.

PRO TIP: consider Aspect Ratio aka the height and width of your video. This is something you’ll want to determine as one of your first steps. Many exhibitors are looking for a 9:16 video wall so that the video they invest in can look great on their website. However, in many cases, a LED video wall that is very wide looks awesome. So, what you’ll want to do is have your video designer create you two versions, one that’s an exact fit for your LED video wall, and another that’s 9:16 for all your standard website and social media uses.

We have the ability to create a playlist of short video clips. This can break up the message and give you the ability to pause for discussion between video clips. There’s plenty of tricky things you can do with video equipment, but the vast majority of cost-conscious exhibitors will be focused on a nice looping video message.

In terms of cost to create your LED video wall video. In most cases, the type of video format you’re looking for is an MP4 video. Surprisingly you can have this done for under $100. However on the low-end, plan to pay between $100 – $500. These would be using existing templates with your logo, images and text inserted. For something a bit more custom plan to pay between $500 – $2,000. For something completed custom plan to pay between $2,000 – $10,000.

Fiverr is worth checking out.

For video content on a tight budget, the short answer is to use a provider that works with templates that can be modified to suit your company’s needs. Your first stop should be to browse Fiverr.com. Fiverr is a website it’s been around for a few years. Today Fiverr’s website has a number of video-related categories under Video and Animation:

Animated Explainers
Live-Action Explainers
Short Video Ads

You can also use Fiverr to piece together a more custom looping video. You’ll do this by using a number of Fiverr’s creative specialists that can build the separate pieces then forward those pieces to one of the Video Editors listed on Fiverr for some post-production work. With direction from you they will be able to combine the separate elements into a custom-tailored looping video:

Video Editing
3D Product Animation
Drone Videography
Logo Animation

Live events have more impact with LED technology, LED displays, and video marketing. Thankfully Fiverr seems to also attract more capable Sellers as video graphics continue to overtake print graphics. You can browse sample work and message Sellers with questions. It’s a helpful platform. Also, Fiverr has a great website and customer service that allows you some amount of protection to back out of a gig, or insist on more revisions if you’re unhappy with anything.

Fiverr is definitely a resource you should know about whether you use it or just refer to it for ideas as it can be a big help. Our own Exhibit People website features a clever explainer video from on of the sellers on Fiverr. We paid $450 for this two minute looping video.

Dive in it’s fun!

Don’t be afraid to dive in. Consider testing the waters with a low-cost video gig. It could upload your video to YouTube and embed your YouTube video on your website, or upload it to your social media. It’s a great way to get familiar with this resource. Fiverr isn’t the only website that will connect you with creative talent from around the world.

Also, check out Shutterstock for a huge library of stock video clips. You’ll be amazed on whats out there ready to use in your looping video.

Upwork is another creative resource that we use on a regular basis. Upwork is more intended for larger longer term creative work or more custom high-quality videos. If you plan to build many videos then looking for a video designer on Upwork is a good way to go. There’s also plenty of local talent likely in your area and a google search for Video Designer near me is a great place to start.

Embrace LED video walls and embrace creating fresh new video content, you won’t regret diving in!

Does LED video wall pixel size really matter? In many cases, surprisingly not. Content quality is far more important. Here’s what we’ve found…

LED video wall manufacturers are racing to provide lighter LED tiles with the smallest LED bulbs and better overall LED technology. And yes, the difference between the newest 1.8 pixel pitch tiles and the older 3.9 pixel pitch tiles is significant. The smaller the pixel pitch, the higher the resolution.

But even between these extremes, it’s still somewhat relative to your viewing distance, viewing angle, and ambient lighting. If most of your viewing will be within 6 to 8 feet then yes, you will notice a big difference. However if the viewing distance is 15 to 30 feet then your eye will simply see the content and not the individual LED bulbs.

 

Our Exhibit People 2.9/2.6 Comparison.

In our LED video wall rental inventory we have LED video wall tiles with 2.9 pixel pitch and we have two different LED video wall tiles with a pixel pitch of 2.6 -three walls in total. Comparing these two resolutions, it’s quite difficult to say one is better than the other. When the pixel pitch is this close then it’s truly the quality of the content that matters.

In fact, the only way we really see a difference between LED video walls with 2.9 pixel pitch and 2.6 pixel pitches is when we have these tiles set up side-by-side playing the same content. Even then, you somewhat feel you need some kind of metering device to measure quality because to your eye they look very much the same.

Our 2.9 pixel pitch tiles have a blacker surface mask which is appealing to the eye so that black colors look blacker. In addition, it’s a well-known fact that the larger the pixel pitch the brighter your video wall can be. So for some people that additional brightness translates into a better looking video image.

The sweet spot in pixel pitch seems to be the 2.6 pixel pitch for rental LED video walls. At this pitch the bulbs are small enough to give an amazing image near and far and the tiles are relatively affordable and durable enough for handling and use. Note: remember that Pixel Pitch is pixel density determined by the width of the bulb plus the black space to the next bulb. The space between bulbs becomes less and the bulbs get smaller. Other things become more important such as calibration of the tiles to ensure they are are the same color white, for example.

Content is King.

In the end, it’s the content that has the biggest impact on how good the video wall screen looks. A well crafted video with beautiful high contrast images and big bold clear text always looks good across any video wall.

Over time we’ve learned a helpful pro-tip to help the black colors look blacker. Simply open your video in your favorite video editing software and make sure the black level is turned down to zero. Sometimes the video artist will start with the black set to one. However, since the video wall surface is not as true black as their computer monitor, it helps to compensate by bringing the black level to zero. Simple tip but it can make a video wall have obvious improvement in color depth and color saturation.

We hope this morsel of LED video wall insight is helpful! If your interested in browsing trade show rental design ideas that feature LED video walls, just click here.

Today we’re taking a look at adding booth space and if adding space with a double deck trade show booth or reserving a larger booth space is the better way to go. On the surface, both of these seem like a simple question of adding square footage on a second level versus adding square footage on the floor level.

One would think you could simply compare the square foot cost of getting a larger booth space against the additional cost of adding a double deck structure to your custom island booth design. However it’s much more complex than that.

Exhibitors that would pull the trigger on having a double deck structure integrated into their booth design have different motivation than companies that would gravitate towards a larger booth space.

Here’s what matters:

Double decks don’t exactly double your booth space. Adding a double deck structure sacrifices as much, if not more, of the usable space at the floor level, instead of opening your space up. What you’re really achieving is elevating part of your existing booth space. Double deck can also limit what you can do with overhead signage, and the install and dismantle costs more.

But double decks do create an impressive, commanding presence and view across the show floor. If you’re an established market leader and you’ve transitioned from hunting for new customers to maintaining customers, then a double deck could be a great VIP lounge or meeting space to make your loyal customers feel special.

If you also happen to be in an industry where you can name 6 to 10 buyers that control large portion of your sales then a double deck could really be helpful. Being invited up to the deck is seen as a privilege. Taking a meeting on the deck overlooking the show floor makes a powerful statement.

You can probably see that by contrast, adding booth space by opting for a larger island booth might be the better solution if you’re a newer exhibitor building your client base, or if maintaining your client base has nothing to do with pleasing a handful of heavy hitter buyers.

Choosing to add booth space by increasing your floor space allows you to create a more open and inviting booth layout where new prospects can come and investigate who you are, what you do, and how you might be a fit for them. On any given large trade show floor the heavy hitter buyers might be browsing the show floor on their way to their meeting at a double deck trade show booth. It certainly makes sense that they’re more likely to engage in an open and inviting larger island booth than they are to engage a competitor with an intimidating double deck.

It’s fair to mention that if money were no object the overall best solution could be a much larger open island booth that also happens to have a double deck designed into in one corner. However, companies that can afford this don’t represent the vast majority of exhibitors.

So with a little deeper look, it’s easy to see that booth options have a purpose depending on the company you are and where you’re at in building your brand and customer base or maintaining it.

Unique Larger Booth Challenges

For companies familiar with exhibiting in a larger booth space, they know some challenges that the rest of the exhibitors don’t really deal with as much. Most companies that jump from an in-line into an island booth space, go with a smaller island that might be 20 x 20 or 20 x 30 booth size. Most shows have a good quantity of these two very common booth sizes.

The larger booth sizes are less plentiful but also less predictable in what will be offered by the show. For example, if you have a booth designed and built perfectly for a 50 x 50 booth space, you may not be able to secure a 50 x 50 booth space at the show. By the time it’s your turn to pick, there might only be smaller or larger booths available, but not exactly what you’re looking for.

This is where renting your larger island booth space becomes a great strategy. When you choose a rental partner that specializes in trade show rental booths, you’re also getting tremendous flexibility do adapt your larger booth design to any future booth spaces you reserve, with double deck rentals or without.

Renting a larger island booth can be like having your own warehouse, filled with options you can pick and choose to freshen your look or tailor to a specific booth space. Renting a larger island booth is by far the best way to go big and even land heavy hitters without it costing you the farm.

Our warehouse is your warehouse so let’s design something cool together!

Today, exhibitors are poised to leverage larger booth spaces at trade shows more than ever before.

In the past, bigger booth spaces went to established exhibitors that placed heavy, costly custom booths on them. However today many smaller, fast-growing young companies are moving into this floor space with open, inviting, cost-effective booths. This is happening for some very good strategic reasons.

Location – It’s no secret that the larger booth spaces are located in the prime show floor real estate, known as the golden triangle. This is the space closest to the main entrance where attendees enter and fan out. Having a booth in this location means you will have prime exposure to the show’s attendees. For a three-day show, think of how many times each attendee will see your overhead signage and walk by your booth.

Elbow Room – Attendees will linger in a larger booth space. They will wander around to see your products and services, read your info and even join in on your demonstrations. A larger booth space is more inviting to browsing and learning before engaging booth staff. In smaller booth spaces you don’t have this luxury. If you need more space, going vertical to a double deck can’t compare with the advantages of larger, more open booth space.

Go Big Strategy – We all know the phrase “Go big or go home”. This applied back in the days of yellow page advertising and it still applies today on the internet and the trade show floor. Today’s decision-makers are realizing that if you’re going to play the trade show game, play to win. Jump in with both feet and come away with the most quality leads.

 

Renting compliments this strategy best.

Too many people buy a trade show exhibit and are locked into selecting only booth sizes that match the exhibit they own. When you rent your larger island rental booth, you are able to work with one of our rental specialists to tailor your rental exhibit design and maximize the booth space you landed on the show floor. With minor changes, a 20×20 rental booth can fit beautifully in a 30×30 booth space and give helpful elbow room for attendees and booth staff. With a few more changes, that same trade show rental booth can morph to fit even larger island booth spaces. The options really are quite vast!

Consider how easy it is to swap out a smaller reception area with a larger one ideal for a larger island booth space. Items like reception counters, walls, towers and signs are the booth elements that easily resize to allow the booth to fit any booth space. Furniture sets can even be resized. As exhibit designers we often go with bar height seating for smaller booth spaces and lounge seating for larger booth spaces. Swapping furniture is just as easy as swapping reception areas when you work with a rental partner that offers a good selection of reconfigurable booth elements – like Exhibit People, of course.

So the next time you’re brainstorming ways to stand out and get noticed, don’t think about cheesy giveaways. Think about investing in the larger booth space. Done smartly, you could have a major leap in exposure with a expertly designed, cost-effective trade show rental booth.

 

Interested in more details?

Here are some examples:

• Freestanding LED video walls can resize easily without having to change the video content you invested in. LED Video walls are 1′ square tiles that connect to build a wall. Just keep adding rows and columns and these walls can go from big to crazy big fairly easily. If you have a large exhibit space, you may want a larger LED video wall.
• Interlocking tile flooring has come a long way and it’s amazing how many larger trade show booths we see with interlocking tile floors – the low cost one time use tiles are the most widely used. These tiles come in some trendy colors and patterns that we love. This won’t be for everyone but these could work great for the majority of exhibitors right up to the Sony’s and Samsung’s of the show.
• Modular hanging signs are the latest trend. Depending on your branding, it could be possible to have a 2 or 3 piece hanging sign. One that grows with complimenting elements for larger booth spaces but can also work great using only the main smaller sign for smaller booth sizes. This is possible only with 2-sided flat signs. But here again, do you really need a 4 sided sign if your 2 sided sign is huge and crazy cool? It’s unlikely to go overlooked. We need to remember that people are always moving around the show floor and your 2-sided sign will get noticed many times during the day.
• Graphics can be modular too. Sure, it’s easy to print graphics as your walls and towers change size, but with some clever creativity you can reuse portions of graphics as your booth size changes. 3 panels of a 10 panel mural can work great for your smaller booths. This takes a tad more planning in the design stage but its easy for us to show you concepts of a small, medium and large booth re-using many of your printed graphics. If we can reuse 50%, we consider that a win because we never want the booth to limit your potential to stand out. Reusing 50% allows you to remain familiar while changing 50% allows you to always look fresh and interesting. Smart right?

 

Let’s think outside the box together.

Let’s keep your booth efficient and reconfigurable while leveraging today’s trends for more authentic and approachable booth environments. Your booth must be impressive in its design, fit and finish, but there’s no need to dress to impress. Casual-comfortable is in style and fortunately this translates into more booth for less money.

Let’s have a no obligation brainstorming discussion. We would love to learn about your company and tell you more about how we specialize in smart booth rentals. If that goes well, we’d love to develop a design concept to show you what we think would work super well for your company!