PowerPoint Replaces Flash Digital Signage

CC De Werf is a Belgian arts center from Aalst that was already using a digital signage solution that they bought. This system was a Flash-based.  To illustrate what they needed, they created a PowerPoint(!) slideshow that they would send to an external supplier who would convert that PowerPoint to Flash. Then, this Flash file was returned to the arts center and then used on their digital signage screens. This conversation typically took more than 1 week and costs a little fortune. The outcome is a completely static multimedia file.

Using Flash nowadays is bad.  Why? Adobe, the owner of the Flash technology,  declared to stop supporting it.  And everyone dropped their support for Flash format because of security problems and more.  Even Apple is not allowing Flash on their iPads and iPhones for this security risk. 

But the arts center CC De Werf wanted to do more. They wanted to show live data about concerts, upcoming events, advertising, sponsors and much more.  They looked around and then found PresentationPoint.

Bregt Van Den Bergh claims: “With this system we have a full control over the screens, layout and its dynamic content. Everything is automatically linked to one single data source.  No more copy-paste errors or old-dated information on our screens. We took full control of this. PresentationPoint is holding a unique position for this type of software.”

After playing with our trial, they were so enthusiastic about the new capabilities that they decided to use our software on some 13 displays already.  Both DataPoint and iPoint.

Their system is now completely in the air and they have successfully linked their screens to the data services of Yesplan. Yesplan offers software and services to manage events, personnel and resources with software tailored to the cultural sector. They take care of the planning of events and accounting of tickets etc.

With this integration, they can show live in their next upcoming concerts with data and availability.  When a seat is sold online, the availability on their screens is updated accordingly.

For the artists, they also have screens where they show the agenda for the preparation of the event.  Next to that, they show how many people are already in the theatre for their show.  How cool is that? They even have linked their digital signage screens directly to their fire detection system.  When the fire alarm starts, the iPoint system is automatically switching its playlist to a dedicated playlist with fire and evacuation instructions.

Here are some impressions of their screens. They show welcome information, schedule information, today’s events, way-finding for the conference rooms and customized artists information on various screen formats.