Friday, February 26, 2010

HeliExpo 2010 ideas: video

This past weekend I was in Houston for the annual HeliExpo trade show. Over the next few posts I'll feature a few trends and ideas I saw there.

Video presentations.

The biggest and most prominent use of video was at the Eurocopter exhibit. These flat-panel, touchscreen units were intriguing and informative. At first glance, they appear to be flat and self contained. However, upon closer examination, there is a projector hidden near the tailcone of the helicopter staged near the plex station.

In the same booth, the overhead screens worked well and used both live and created content. There were at least three large 9-foot by 12-foot panels accepting projected images. During live events in the booth, the images were broadcast on the screen. A superior audio system supported these screens. At other times the content varied but were generally overview-type images of products, people and their helicopters at work, music-video style.

BF Goodrich was a bit more traditional, but used video in clean package. The images seemed to alternate from video to doubling as computer workstations. The green plex surrounds made the image space fit into the theme and look of the rest of the booth.

Over at Universal Avionics, this 2x4 set of monitors had some great transitions. John Hamby, the marketing manager from their Tucson, AZ, headquarters, told me he originated the content. Still images alternated with video and major areas of interest and content were separated by animated transitions of a jet flying across the multi-screen field.

Good ideas to emulate or build upon.

TTSG