Projectors are a staple for many events, allowing you to present images or videos at a size not easily achieved with TV screens. While people generally put a great deal of thought into the projector itself, the screen is often overlooked. This is an unfortunate oversight, as even the best projector will let you down if it doesn’t have the right surface to project onto.
How Many People Need to See the Screen?
The last thing you want is to not have a big enough screen for everyone gathered to see.
Small events of up to 100 people can easily get away with a tripod screen. These come in 6’ and 8’ options, are portable, and give you good flexibility in an event space. You can screen 4:3 and 16:9 content, and best of all, you don’t need a technician to set them up.
Between 100 and 1000 people, you’re better off with a fastfold screen. These provide large screen space for everyone to see — but beware, the screens need a lot of room. The feet on a fastfold screen add around 5’ to the total height. A 7’ by 12’ screen needs at least 12’ of ceiling height, and even then that will be a tight fit. This is a good 2-4’ more than your average event space, so plan accordingly.
Over 1,000 people, you’re looking at either a truss screen or a custom video wall setup. They require technicians to set up, but they give you the flexibility to make large-scale screens which can be fit into spaces a fastfold couldn’t.
What’s Your Aspect Ratio?
Aspect ratio is given as the relationship between the width and height of an image. 16:9 is the standard for widescreen format (such as 1920X1080), while 4×3 is the size for standard or “square”
format (such as pre-widescreen TV).
It’s best to match the size and shape of your screen to the aspect ratio of your content. Projecting
16:9 onto a 4:3 screen wastes screen size and leaves you with black bars on the top and bottom.
If your content is in a non-standard aspect ratio, consult your AV team for a custom screen size.
How Much Space Is There?
As we touched on with the fastfold screens, some screens require a lot of overhead clearance —
sometimes more than a venue has. If you don’t have enough height in your venue for your screen,
consider going with several smaller screens to project the material onto.
Throw distance is also important — the space between the projector and screen necessary to project a sharp, full-sized image. If the throw distance is too short or long, you’ll get a blurred,
unpleasant image.
Is The Screen Compatible With The Projector?
It’s all well and good to worry about the size of the screen, but how big an image can your projector actually create? The larger the screen, the brighter the projector needs to be. Make sure the screen size you end up choosing is appropriate for the strength of the projector you have access to.
