To start your emergency digital signage, we would suggest you look to see:
- What City/Government-owned digital signage is already in place that could be used
- What commercial digital sign networks are in your local area that could be part of a disaster plan
City/Government Owned Emergency Digital Signage
It is likely that authorities already own and have access to digital signage in arenas, recreation complexes, libraries, government offices and other government owned facilities. You would want to streamline the systems that control these monitors so that they can show the emergency playlist when authorized. Our iPoint digital signage player software tool can handle the distribution of emergency messages on screens across your city, state, province or country.
You will need to have multiple people authorized to create emergency messages and to distribute them in emergencies.
As part of your emergency plan. you might want to consider additional digital signage in places where you have sparse coverage.
Private/Commercial Digital Signage
In addition to the public networks, there are a huge number of digital signage monitors already in place in shopping malls, retail stores, private office buildings and other private and commercial spaces. Reach out to the owners and managers of these networks to see if they will participate in your emergency program. Perhaps you can arrange a special price on software to manage their digital signage as a reason to participate. We would be happy to discuss this option using our emergency digital signage software with you.
Preparing Your Emergency Messages
Start by creating an emergency message template. We recommend PowerPoint for this as it is common and easy to use and has powerful PowerPoint add-ins available to connect it to automatically updating data
You will want to use bold colors that attract attention, such as red or yellow backgrounds. Create a series of prepared separate message slides for potential emergencies such as:
- Fire
- Flood
- Water quality issues
- Hurricanes
- Toxic spills
- Spread of disease, etc.
Start with the disasters most likely to occur in your area, but do include less likely ones as well. When the disaster happens, you can just call up your prepared slides, make a few additions for this specific emergency, and then distribute them.
Handling Internet Loss
Our software will cache the last version of the emergency message on the local computer, so it will continue to play even if the Internet is lost. You can also create generic local playlists for this occasion that would list general help options like emergency shelters, emergency radio station frequencies and how to alert first responders if your residence has people in distress.
City/Government Owned Emergency Digital Signage
It is likely that authorities already own and have access to digital signage in arenas, recreation complexes, libraries, government offices and other government owned facilities. You would want to streamline the systems that control these monitors so that they can show the emergency playlist when authorized. Our iPoint digital signage player software tool can handle the distribution of emergency messages on screens across your city, state, province or country.
You will need to have multiple people authorized to create emergency messages and to distribute them in emergencies.
Suggested Tools for Emergency Digital Signage
Here are some suggested tools for emergency digital signage:
- PowerPoint – easy to create the messages and graphics
- DataPoint – connect your digital signage to data feeds
- iPoint – lets you manage your entire digital signage network from a central point
Want help with setting up your emergency digital signage. Please contact us.
