I used an iPad to display animated media in a convention trade show table this past weekend.
Usually we use a medium sized LCD monitor. But it’s a such a pain to travel with. This time I wanted to try an iPad at the booth table. I could easily carry it in my case with my laptop and I figured it would look cool.
I was very pleased with the results. The animation looked awesome on the tight small screen of the iPad. And as you might imagine it was quite a conversation piece for passers-by. “Ah cool, I see you have an iPad” or “Is that an iPad? I want one for Christmas!” were some of the comments. But in any room of people you’re going to have some anti-Apple folks. I had one guy stop and explain that I should have gotten a Google “Hi-Pad” instead. How it was half the price and twice as good. I had a hard time believing they would call a table a “HiPad” but after googling it, evidently there are some out there. Anyhow, I do believe the part about them being half the price as an iPad but twice as good? And certainly not as cool looking on a trade show booth table.
I wasn’t sure if we were going to have power outlets or not at the booth so I also purchased a HyperMac Stand to display the iPad and keep it charged during the exhibition hall’s 9 hour days. That device was great. It kept the iPad playing ALL day long with no need to plug it in. I even used the HyperMac stand’s USB out to power my TomTom GPS for the ride home (I broke the car lighter plug a long time ago).
All in all the iPad was a great way to easily display video and animation media at a trade show booth.