Copywriting Example - Editorial in Director of Finance Delivering your message: the brighter option Office Technology & IT Audio-visual technology has advanced greatly over the last few years. Graham Godfrey, Marketing Manager at Plasmaware.co.uk, gives us the lowdown on the latest AV equipment on sale and the benefits it can bring to corporations Over the last decade advances in audio-visual (AV) technology have been matched by equally rapid plummeting prices. Consequently, business applications for items such as plasma screens, digital video projectors and interactive whiteboards have grown across every sector. There's no doubt that all this kit is highly desirable, but those holding the company purse strings might well ask whether it's a sound investment or just an expensive luxury. This piece will take a whistle stop tour around the equipment available, and how it is being used to help deliver corporate objectives. The timescale between the writing and reading of this article makes it futile to mention cost, but current prices can be sourced readily from online AV stores. We do, however, predict continued growth in the market and the increased accessibility of the latest AV equipment leading to innovative new uses. Plasma screens Now used extensively for signage and advertising in retail, reception areas, hospitals and passenger terminals, for example, plasma screens offer many advantages over traditional methods. For retailers, gone is the lead-time of designing and implementing a merchandising strategy based on cardboard and print. Now they can interact with their customers with dynamic point-of-sale displays, showing up-to-date messages tailored to buying patterns, special offers or current stock levels. Plasma screens typically have several different input options including video, TV, DVD, satellite and PC - any rich content you can create on a PC with any software can be displayed, and changes made with a few mouse clicks. Implementation is highly configurable to users' requirements - starting from a single screen connected to an existing PC. When NEC installed plasma displays in Granada's motorway service stations, these were controlled by onsite PCs with the content downloaded via the Internet from a remote server. Translucis, set up with the backing of drinks company Diageo, control the content of displays in pubs and clubs nationwide centrally by satellite. For signage and display, plasma screens have a significant advantage over other technologies such as CRT and LCD: they have a viewing angle of 160 degrees, meaning the viewer can see a good, clear image even from the side. This quality can also make a plasma a good choice for board meetings, video conferencing and some presentation venues. Video conferencing brings enormous benefits when face to face meetings are desirable, but impractical - notably, savings on business mileage, accommodation and management time. As well as the wide viewing angle and large screen, which help to bring participants closer together, a plasma screen will display a clear, bright image in ambient light conditions. Bright light helps the cameras to capture good images for transmission. One of the most frequently asked questions about plasma screens concerns dimming of the image over time. It's true that this happens, but it should be put into perspective: the screens have a life of 20,000 - 30,000 hours, equating to many years of heavy use before replacement is necessary. Digital video projectors Business presentations fall broadly into two areas - pitching for new business and training. In either case, presenters should feel confident that they have reliable equipment suited to the task, leaving them free to concentrate on content and delivery. Any mishap will distract the audience at the least, and could ruin the presentation altogether. It is well understood that the image you portray when dealing with potential customers is vital. Were you to see two salesmen pitching for your business, and the presentation of one was significantly more professional than that of the other, which one would you favour? It would probably depend on their respective offerings, but it's not unusual for there to be little differentiation between products or services. The choice of projectors is very wide, with the latest ultra portable class becoming very popular. Designed with the mobile presenter in mind, they are small, durable and typically weigh around 3 kg. Some have a slot for a PCMCIA card, enabling the presenter to download the presentation to the card and leave his or her laptop behind when out and about. The next class is the desktop/portable projectors. While it's not prohibitive to take these offsite from time to time, they are mainly used in one location. These are brighter than the ultra portables, and more suitable for use in lighter environments. Finally, there is the installation class. Typically, these would be mounted as a permanent fixture in a large auditorium. They are brighter and heavier than the other classes. A projector lamp would need to be replaced after about 2,000 hours use and the cost of around £350 is a significant running expense. When choosing a projector and comparing prices, the purchaser should also enquire about the cost of lamps and factor this in to the decision. However, anyone upgrading from an OHP projector can look forward to the savings on transparencies, toners and inks. Interactive whiteboards For most companies, a projector bought for business presentations will double up nicely to cover their training needs. For larger companies or those with a passion for training, an interactive whiteboard is well worth considering. Over 90 per cent of whiteboard sales go into education, having originally been designed with that sector in mind. Can business learn a lesson too? What is an interactive whiteboard? It's a large screen from 45 inches measured diagonally to over 100 inches. Used in conjunction with a data projector and PC, information from the PC is projected onto the screen (either by front or rear projection) and those images can be overwritten with annotations, which can be saved for future reference if so wished. As with projectors, the information displayed could be anything from multimedia CD-ROMs, web pages, PowerPoint slides or images from still or video digital cameras. Electromagnetic or infrared surfaces require the use of a special 'pen' for the interactivity. Resistive surfaces simply require touch from any object, usually the finger of the teacher or other participant. Colours and widths of the pens are configurable. Additionally, the movement of the pen over the screen can be used as a mouse for the PC. Interactive whiteboards lend themselves very well to software training, and could be a useful tool for brainstorming. Good for business? Finally, new AV equipment can be made available to companies under a leasing agreement. The reader will be well aware of the advantages of leasing, which won't be expanded upon here - it's tax efficient, retains capital and offers improved budgetary control. It's also flexible allowing for upgrades during the term of the original agreement. Introducing or upgrading to some of the latest AV equipment has the potential to benefit your bottom line - either directly from cost savings over traditional methods, or indirectly through improvements in staff training and customer communications. Graham Godfrey, Southsea, Hampshire, UK First contact by email: g@g-marketing.biz