We look forward to your comments and suggestions.

The display shows the latest events and school announcements to keep teachers, students, and parents abreast of the latest happenings within the school.

If you are interested in learning more about display technology for high schools check out the following blog posts:
Emergency Alerts at a High School Level
Why High Schools Are Building Trading Rooms
Digital Menu Boards for High Schools

We have created some free templates incorporating the brackets for each round, the latest scores, and basketball news at a variety of resolutions.  If you would like a copy of the free template please contact us.

“We wanted another avenue in which to display our print promotion ads,” says Emily Bogle, who works in ATCU’s marketing department. “We thought they were crowding up our lobby. We wanted another way to get our message across to members.”

In March 2009, ATCU began looking into digital signage. Along with Ms. Bogle, marketing director Candi Elrod and research and development coordinator Charly Young spent significant time researching different vendors and digital signage options.

“We looked at other financial institutions that had digital signage,” says Ms. Bogle. “One in particular offered the Rise Display program. We liked what we saw, the entire package, from pricing to the hands-on experience that we get to have as far as implementing changes; you can do it right there at your desk.” 

Today, each branch has an LCD screen located either behind the teller line or directly beside it. Each screen relates information ranging from marketing promotions to products and services to regulations. According to Ms. Bogle, ATCU is also using the digital signage to “reach out to our community and offer assistance by getting word out about . . . nonprofit organizations that are having community events, different things like that. We’ve gotten a great response.”

Another benefit of the digital signage is that members are more comfortable as they wait to process transactions. “We have found that people are drawn to television,” says Ms. Bogle. “So, members are standing in line and making their transactions and they don’t notice the wait time because they’re drawn to the look of the LCD.”
The team also related that the digital signage has “cleaned up” ATCU’s various lobbies by removing the need for as many paper ads.

“We’ve had several comments that the LCDs look professional and add a lot to the lobby,” says Ms. Bogle. “I absolutely love it. Any credit union looking for something like this, we would recommend Rise Display.”

“The Trading Center was the first of its kind in the country,” Mr. Fisher says.  “It has been a model for other institutions.  We do tours all the time for other schools that have since implemented similar programs.”

The Center is divided between a fund room and classroom/lab.  The fund room is used exclusively by the 17 to 20 MBA students who are accepted each year as fund managers.  On a daily basis, these students manage a $14 million privately held fund, seeded with investments from UT alumni and others.

Meanwhile, the classroom/lab seats approximately 40 people and is a fully equipped media room.  The space features all high-definition displays, video conferencing for distance learning, 40 computer stations equipped with a variety of finance applications, and four Bloomberg stations.  The room offers a state-of-the-art space for mostly undergraduate financial classes.  When class is not in session, the room operates as a lab for finance students, who use the computers and different data feeds for their research assignments.

Naturally, the Center also utilizes digital signage:  A ticker is strategically placed outside the fund room, where it serves as a focal point in the business school, and an LED tracker is used in the classroom/lab.

In January 2010, University of Texas staff approached Rise Display about upgrading their software packages for both the ticker and LED tracker. “It came down to an expense issue,” says Mr. Fisher.  “We found out about Rise, who offered both the data and the software at a much more economical price.” According to Fisher, the software also had additional functionality that made it very enticing for UT to make the change. 

Chief among that functionality is the ability to incorporate news headlines into the ticker, the ability to display corporate logos on the ticker, and include rotating information on the LED tracker. “I can display one set of information on the board for 20 to 30 seconds and then it will rotate and display another set of financial information for another 20 to 30 seconds,” explains Fisher.  “I think the display draws people’s attention because it’s not just static information.  It’s always changing.  A lot of our professors really like teaching in there because . . . they will refer to the information up on the board.  With our previous software, I was limited to what I could fit on the screen at one time.”

Of the software’s usability, Fisher says, “The software has certainly been easy for me to maintain.  It pretty much runs itself.”  He adds, “I’ve been very pleased so far with Rise’s customer service.  They’ve been very responsive.  They’ve also been proactive in contacting me to make sure we’re satisfied and that things are operating smoothly.  It’s been a very positive experience.”

At the University of Tampa’s John H. Sykes School of Business, a select handful of senior students call the shots with a $115,000 equity portfolio. The Bailey Student Investment Fund, designed to give business students hands-on investment management experience, includes individual stocks and exchange traded funds.

Marcus Ingram, associate professor of finance and faculty advisor to the Bailey Student Investment Fund, explains his objective. “I’m always looking for ways to increase the visibility of this program inside and outside the university—Inside the university, to make our students more aware of the program so that they’ll try to make it onto the team their senior year, and outside, to let people in the community know how hands-on our program is.”

The specialty class, worth four credits, is conducted in the university’s Huizenga Trading Center. Also held in the space are graduate and undergraduate Economic Forecasting courses, as well as a capstone finance class for graduate students who use the Center to gain their Bloomberg certification. In addition to serving as a classroom, the trading center is equipped with large LCDs, computer stations, and a Bloomberg terminal; it serves as a computer lab for students managing the Bailey Student Investment Fund, in addition to MS finance students who are seeking Bloomberg certification.

“It just seemed very natural to us that having some sort of live ticker would enhance that room, like something we needed in this space,” says Professor Ingram.

Electing to utilize Rise Display as the vendor, the university moved forward with implementing the ticker. It was installed at the beginning of the 2009 fall semester. The ticker is located is located outside the trading room above a long bank of windows allowing visual access to the space. In addition to welcome messages and news headlines, the ticker displays data related to the Bailey Student Investment Fund.

“The hope was that, by putting the specific securities that the students have selected for the portfolio on the ticker, it will make more of a connection with the rest of the business school community,” says Professor Ingram.

The ticker is also impressive to potential students and their families. Thanks to the university’s aggressive marketing campaign, hundreds of people per month attend campus tours—and the trading center is a key stop. Having the ticker, says Professor Ingram, enhances the appearance of the facility to everyone passing by.

“People notice it,” he says. “It’s a nice feature; they think it’s cool. It helps raise our visibility.”

“There are a couple of finance courses and an international business course held in the Centre,” explains Michael Meth, the Centre’s director. “The management program is one of our biggest supporters, but because of our location in the library, we reach a lot of people on our campus.”

Because of this reach, it was important to the University that the Centre offered cutting-edge communication solutions. Enter Rise Display.  “The service level, the pricing, and the fact that our needs were met were the factors in choosing Rise,” says Mr. Meth. “We were told that we were Canada’s first eight-color stock ticker. That was a neat thing that Rise got to innovate with us.”  In addition to the stock ticker, the Finance Learning Centre is equipped with three LCDs. All three are located near the entrance to the centre: two on one wall, and the other on the opposing wall. The ticker also runs on a wall near the entrance, and a wall of windows lets library patrons see the technology at all angles.

“The digital signage lets us push through market news, North American Exchange stock quotes and index data, and a live video feed from the Business News Network,” Mr. Meth says

Mr. Meth has also found an effective way of utilizing the ticker at night, when the stock market is closed but the library is still open. “We keep the closing prices running, but we also start running sports scores,” he says. In addition, the Centre uses the ticker to scroll customized welcome messages for special guests of the university.

“I think people are pretty impressed by the digital signage,” says Mr. Meth. “People will often stand by the window and watch what’s going on the ticker and displays. Overall, they’ve been very favorably received.”

The displays show the latest stock quotes and headline news to keep students apprised of changing market conditions.

If you would like more details check out our Technical Drawing or for pricing contact one of our regional sales consultants.

“I had had some experience teaching in a trading room,” says Professor Merrick, “and wanted a room that would serve as a financial market lab and, at the same time, and really foremost, as a superior, technology-enhanced lecture space. I think that’s the difference in our room versus other layouts that I’ve seen: It is first and foremost a superior lecture space.”

The Acuff Financial Markets Center now holds both undergraduate and MBA finance classes. In addition, the Center houses the school’s student-run Batten Investment Fund. To simulate a live markets environment, the room incorporates nine Bloomberg terminals—the leading professional system to monitor and analyze financial market data—among its thirty-six student workstations, as well as eleven state-of-the-art LCDs, provided by Rise Display.

“I knew that Rise Display was the premium provider of these displays because I saw how things had worked out at Baruch College, where I formerly taught,” Professor Merrick explains. “I had also caught up with Rise at an academic conference . . . so I introduced them to our building team . . . to see if they concurred.”
They did, and the results of the installation, says Professor Merrick, have been phenomenal.

“In terms of teaching in that room, what you end up with is a very exciting environment,” he says. “You’re getting [students] to work in an environment of routine visual distraction . . . where they have to learn how to absorb what’s coming in and only be attracted by the important stuff, rather than distracted by the changing displays. The second part of the benefits,” Professor Merrick adds, “is being able to put data into our playlist that’s relevant for the topics we’re teaching that day.”

Among the information presented on the nine LCDs lining one side wall, and the two LCDs flanking the front of the room, are CNBC feeds, a news ticker, stock prices, money market rates, bond yields, foreign exchange rates, commodity prices and historical stock and bond market graphs.
“Everybody loves the digital displays,” says Professor Merrick. “Not only our students, but our alumni who come back, especially those who are connected to Wall Street, are duly impressed. Some of our more recent alumni are a little bit jealous,” he adds with a laugh. “They wish they had had these facilities when they were here.”

If you would like to learn how to set this up to work with Display Wire check out this 5 minute demo.

With each new donor it is important to show how much their generosity means.  If you would like to learn more about interactive donor walls, we encourage you to visit the following links:
  * PDF Brochure
  * Video Example

The enclosed picture shows one of the executive meeting rooms at Marywood University in PA.  In addition to utilizing displays for their trading lab, they also choose to implement signage in this conference room to provide a business setting for meetings with guests.

The message doesn’t have to be complex or change constantly.  To make a first impression sometimes all you need is the technology and a very simple elegant message to greet your visitors.

One data provider that is working closely with universities is Telemet Orion.  Telemet provides their real-world application complete with financial market data, investment analysis and portfolio management tools to educational facilities at a discounted rate.

Several leading business schools (click on link to see a photo of their trading room)such as: Seton Hall, Miami of Ohio, High Point University, Indiana State University, North Carolina A&T and Winthrop University all use the Telemet real-time data platform to educate their students. 

Some schools such as Virginia Tech and Georgia State University use the same tools to manage real money in their the student-managed investment funds.  Does it work?  According to Genna Brown, faculty advisor for the student managed equity fund at Georgia State University “Our student portfolio managers are beating their benchmark and doing professional analysis now that we have a sophisticated database at their disposal.”

If your trading lab is looking for real-world trading tools I would encourage you to learn more about the Telemet Orion Education Package.

What better way to attract attention to the specialized finance trading room that is completely enclosed in glass.

All of the videos have been updated in the last week to cover the latest updates and installation examples so if if you have viewed them previously you may want to check them out again.
Video Walls
LED Ticker Displays
Digital Signage Overview
Interactive Digital Signage
Content Management

The entire library of video overviews can be found on our website in the Resource Center.

The Robert A. Dempster Hall is the home to the Donald L. Harrison College of Business and the Computer Science Department. Hundreds of business students attend classes and it is also where special guests are brought to give presentations. For these reasons, it was essential to find a solution that would communicate quickly, effectively, and in a technologically advanced way to students, staff, and guests.

“We wanted to do something that would make a positive statement about the Harrison College of Business and the quality of our programs,” says Dean Gerald McDougall. “We wanted to highlight different aspects of the college and its activities to students, executives, and guests of the college.”
To meet these goals, Rise Display installed a LED ticker above the main elevator banks and near the elevators a LCD screen built into the wall displaying news and announcements as students pass by.

“Installing this type of equipment not only helps us communicate with our students and the public, but it also makes a statement and brands the college,” Dean McDougall explains.

Five years later, Dean McDougall says that the LCDs and ticker continue to “get very positive reactions and comments from visitors.” However, it recently became time for an upgrade: a switch to Rise’s web controller for the LED ticker. The web controller allows staff to easily upload information from any computer with Internet access. This means that Dean McDougall’s two administrative assistants, who manage the content, no longer need to be on-site to perform the task—a crucial benefit.

There are the stock quotes, of course, including the holdings in the $600,000, student-managed investment portfolio. Then there are the special messages that advise students of event dates, while greeting guests; and thanking donors. Part of the appeal of displaying this information is the immediacy, which makes the ability to upload via the web invaluable.

“It’s just a very effective way of saying you are coming into a very high quality business program when you come into Dempster Hall,” Dean McDougall says. “It’s a statement about the college.”

If you would like to evaluate your options use our online quoting tool located in our Resource Center.  Simply put in your email address and the amount you are looking to finance and within a few seconds you will get a quote in your email with several options for $1 or 10% buyouts from 24 to 60 months.  Example of the results is shown in this post.

If the quote fits your budget answer a few online questions and you can be approved the same day.

While pictures are great and can help you get a feel for the room, video gives you even more of a perspective on how the displays can create a dynamic atmosphere.  Several of our university clients have created short promotional videos for their college of business including the trading room. 

Below are the ones I found after a brief You Tube search. 

Hofstra University

North Carolina A&T

Temple University  a second video on Alter Hall.

Seton Hall 

University of Houston

Texas A&M University

McIntire School of Commerce (U of VA)

New Mexico State University

If you are one of our clients and have a video of your facility or displays please send us a note, we would love to share it with our followers.

If you would like to learn more about digital signage for banking and credit unions check out the following link.

With their MBA program ranked in the top 20 in the nation by US News and World Report the ticker should help attract attention to their commitment to excellence in business education.