4 wayfinding signage solutions for event venues

Large crowds and big events usually go hand-in-hand. Use effective signage and wayfinding solutions to ensure positive visitor experiences. You wouldn’t want your venue to become infamous for a poor customer experience.

Using signage in a queue space will help unlock a normally untapped stream of revenue generation. Occupied time is preferable to unoccupied time: give your visitors something to read while they wait. Some ways to maximise queue flow using signage solutions are:

• Advise guests what to expect and how to prepare for when they reach the front.
• Safety messages.
• Any promotions or marketing messaging.

Utilising safety signage and wayfinding signage in a business is an easy way to improve a customer experience by helping visitors navigate your event venue easily. Alongside promotional signage (such as the Tensamedia Eco Mediablade), you can unlock the revenue potential of your queue spaces. Custom signs complete with your own artwork are perfect for highlighting clear marketing messaging to your queueing visitors.

Signage Solutions

66% of queuers out of 1000 have had a poor opinion of a business because of its signage

There are many forms of company signage available for event venues. Signage solutions can potentially be a visitor’s first impression of your venue. Especially during big events where staff are unable to greet guests at the door.

Help visitors navigate through your building using intuitive wayfinding signage products. Customised signs complete with your own signage designs can help provide clear guidance which minimises navigation frustration. Alternatively, you could print bespoke signs with unique artwork to ensure promotional activity is seen quickly upon entry.

Effective use of display signage solutions can provide:

1. Increases in staff utilisation as visitors require less assistance.
2. Improved pedestrian flow and reduction in accidents thanks to clear walkways.
3. Uplift in brand recognition and awareness.

Printed and digital signage is an easy way to enhance marketing and wayfinding in large event venues. This blog piece will highlight 4 different types of signage which can help you evolve your venue.

1) Totems

Almost 85% of consumers out of 1000 indicated they found themselves drawn to bright and colourful signage.

Implement highly visible guidance and messaging in large crowds by using totem signage. An effective wayfinding tool, there are 3 different types of totem available with Tensator. Each one can be used to meet different needs in your business.

1. InQ-Totem®.
2. Fluted InQ-Totems®.
3. Digital Signage Totems

These metal signage products are designed to be a robust addition to your current queue management system.

InQ-Totem®

• Fully customisable.
• Manufactured from lightweight aluminium.
• Built-in webbing cassette and receiver clip to connect onto existing Tensabarrier® products.

Make venues easier to navigate with these custom metal signs. Highlight food vendors or merchandise point locations clearly to prospective shoppers. When used as a focal point in visitor wayfinding, the InQ-Totem can improve navigation to important facilities like ticket machines, information desks and toilets. Indoor signage products are ideal for helping find important locations.

Alternatively, a custom metal sign like this can be used to organise large crowds and queue spaces. Display clear messaging and queue guidance to pedestrians and improve crowd control while easing frustrations.

Fluted InQ-Totem®

• Fully customisable.
• Simple Velcro closure.
• 2m tall and highly visible.

Highlight the beginning of your queues with this towering totem which fits over any existing Tensabarrier®. Where large areas gather, use the Fluted InQ-Totem® to catch the eyes of pedestrians in walkways when they are searching for the correct queue. Customisable and versatile. Incorporate brand designs for vendors or use the display sign to highlight important queue messaging.

For example, advise spectators in music venues to prepare their tickets early in their wait. This will improve queue flow as they move swiftly through the checkpoint and take their seats.

Digital Signage Totem

According to the survey conducted by Millward Brown (commissioned by digital POS provider Impax Media), digital signs are 34% more effective at promoting items than their static equivalents.

Digital signage solutions integrate well with products like our eQ™ Single Line Queue call forward systems. Plus, digital totems are stylish additions to your venue. Indoor digital signage displays will ease staff strain and maximise queue efficiency. Staff won’t need to wave or shout across in busy locations to catch the attention of their next customer.

Customisable and adaptable: add vinyl graphics for maximum impact. Use for advertising, providing customer instructions, or to raise brand awareness. The 19 inch HD LCD screen can also play media while customers wait. Visible multimedia exposure! This makes your indoor digital signage screen effective for trying to boost impulse purchases at a food vendor or merchandise point.

The digital sign display screen sits at your average customer’s eye level. The playing media becomes more effective as queuers don’t need to strain to see what’s on the screen. This bespoke digital signage option helps increase staff efficiency regardless of what type your eQ™ call forward system is. Manual. Automatic. Self-checkout.

A bespoke digital signage solution can integrate into your queue management system with ease. This will then help maintain a positive experience for visitors and guests.

In the survey conducted by Millward Brown (commissioned by digital POS provider Impax Media), 84% of customers said watching content on the displays helped the time spent waiting in the checkout line pass more quickly.

2) Post Top Signage

Use visual signage products to free-up staff to assist visitors with their more detailed queries. Utilising display signs incorporated directly onto your existing queues are ideal in small venues and venue interiors featuring limited floor space. Versatile and inherently customisable, printed signage is an easy solution to highlight messaging.

• Freedom to change marketing messaging quickly.
• Use as wayfinding signs or for promotional activity.
• Quick to produce and replace when needed.

At Tensator, our array of products makes it easy for events venues to create bespoke signage based on the acts and productions.

Incorporate bespoke imagery and designs into your queues while excited ticket holders wait. For example, large live music venues may have frequent gigs from popular musicians. By incorporating custom imagery and artwork in your queues, you can easily immerse crowds and build up excitement. Alternatively, you could use the signage to draw an attendee’s attention to merchandise available for purchase. The custom signage helps ensure guests won’t miss these vendors so they can snap up a branded hoodie or album.

Sign Holders

Sign holders are a simple and effective indoor signage solution. Slide your printed bespoke signs into the acrylic holders with ease. When ready, just add them directly onto your existing queue system. Simple and effective, sign holders are an indoor signage solution which allow you to quickly slide printed bespoke signs into the acrylic frames. Tensabarrier® Post Top Signage, for example, is an easy add-on to your existing queue system.

• Robust steel frame.
• Clear acrylic pocket.
• Tool-free.

Add or remove sign holders from your queue layout with ease. This allows you to incorporate signage to queues even if you have an existing retractable barrier posts set up. Sports venues and music venues alike can benefit from this. Adapt to activities and events when needed.

Alternatively, Tensabarrier® Telescopic Posts are an ideal signage solution for businesses. Raise marketing messages above normal eye-level and catch the eyes of passers-by in large crowds. Depending on requirements like crowd sizes, the sign display can be adjusted to different heights to suit your needs.

• Equipped with a heavyweight, Universal base for added stability.
• 4 receiver splines on the post to allow webbing to connect from other Tensabarrier® posts.
• Low leading edge reduces trips hazard risk.

An effective sign display, you can incorporate the Telescopic Post directly into your existing queue. As it features a Universal base like many of our other Tensabarrier® posts, this interior signage holder will not increase the potential for accidents. The base allows wheeled objects, such as wheelchairs and buggies, to roll over without issue.

Tensamedia® Eco Mediablade

Plastic-free and fully recyclable, this signage solution was developed as part of Tensator’s drive to develop environmentally friendly products. How are these custom made signs environmentally friendly?

• Made from 100% recycled cardboard.
• Sourced from FSC® certified sources.
• Disposable through kerbside cardboard collection.

Attach the innovative print signage to Tensabarrier products easily. When they are no longer needed, simply dispose via your standard recycling methods. No need for cardboard recycled centres, as they are just included with standard cardboard waste recycling. As a result, you can regularly update queue advertising with new promotional activity while saving staff time on set up and disposal.

If you need a quick promotional highlight, you can print them as single-sided signs. However for maximum impact, we recommend double-sided printing. This allows queuing visitors to see the messaging as they both enter and exit the queues. Plus, you can fully customise the personalised indoor signs with your own artwork and designs. Create bespoke signage with designs created by your own marketing teams. If that isn’t an option, we can work with you to produce unique artwork.

• Environmentally responsible.
• Customisable.
• Tool-free integration onto existing barrier posts.

3) Barrier Webbing

All our Tensabarrier retractable barriers feature military grade webbing. Reliable and robust, the barrier webbing is designed to resist wear and tear in areas of high visitor footfall. This allows the webbing to last for longer than our competitors’ webbing.

For example, we recently remove a 15 year old British Airways tape cassette from an airport. The cassette was still functional, but the customer wanted to completely refresh their passenger queue areas. You can read more about the project here.

Webbing is viewed regularly by visitors. Therefore, if you want to make the most of your internal queue system, ensure you are maximising one of the most frequently seen aspects. Printed and customised webbing is a common sight in many businesses. For instance, “no-entry” messaging embedded on webbing material is a regular example of printed webbing universally understood to restrict access to certain areas. Any webbing with brand logos and names on is an example of custom webbing: perfect for increasing brand recognition.

Customising barriers gives you the tools needed to better manage large crowds at your venue, while helping to create the right atmosphere to raise revenue.

There are many options open to you. Cost-effective promotional sleeves which wrap around your barrier tape are an ideal short-term solution. Alternatively, printing designs and logos directly onto your webbing will increase your queue area’s effectiveness for years.

Tensamedia® Promotional Webbing Sleeve

Another environmentally friendly solution, the Tensamedia® Promotional Webbing Sleeve highlights promotional and brand marketing messaging quickly.

• Designed for short-term, temporary use.
• Fully customisable.
• 100% recyclable and eco-friendly.
  
  

  Promotional Webbing Sleeve

Add to your existing queue by simply wrapping the sleeve around the barrier webbing. When in place, manually seal the single adhesive strip. Once the promotion or event is over you can just remove and recycle.

Quick. Easy.

The fast set up times for the promotional sleeves will save your staff time and effort when preparing your venue. Maximise your staff efficiency.

Customised Webbing

Just over 76% of survey respondents had previously visited a store or business due to attractive signage.

Create an attractive location to provide a positive experience for visitors. Use bespoke webbing to make areas more inviting and efficient simultaneously. A long-term solution, this solution is ideal for creating a customised queue system to reinforce brand messaging. Choose from a wide collection of colours to suit your venue. Customised webbing is the perfect choice for both inside and outside venues alike.

Manufactured from 0.8 military grade fabric, Tensator® webbing is significantly thicker when compared to other suppliers’ barrier webbing. Even without your own unique designs and logos, there are numerous colours and graphics to ensure you are maximising your queue space. However, a bespoke design is an easy way to evolve your queue.

Reduce the possibility of injury to staff and visitors when your barrier needs to retract. Every Tensabarrier® barrier cassette features our originally patented braking system. This technology causes the webbing to wind back to the post slower than any other retractable barrier in the market. For added safety, the button lock must be located and pressed before the barrier can be released. The button lock is inconspicuous to avoid mis-use by the average visitor with no prior product knowledge.

We recently wrote an article regarding barrier webbing. Click here to read the article fully.

4) InQ-Portal

Educate customers using business signage to maximise queue flow in your venue. When it comes to wayfinding solutions, something as simple as aiding navigation can help clear key walkways. To really catch the public’s eye, the InQ-Portal® is an ideal choice.

When heaving venues are full of large crowds, the InQ-Portal® allows visitors to find their correct queue with ease. Use the customised signs to create a large, or defined entrance or exit in your queue. Ideal for larger spaces. This wayfinder signage product can be fully customised with your venue’s branding, which allows helps raise brand awareness throughout your queue management systems.

Eliminate multiple pain points possibly found in large venues:

1. Easy to spot and locate the correct queues.
2. Incorporate clear guidance on aluminium signage to optimise queue flow.
3. Improved queue-finding allows key walkways to remain clear.

Guiding The Way

Ensure your venue is prepared during peak. As the event season starts in earnest, large crowds will inevitably descend. There are a variety of high-quality signage products ready to help your venue maximise your queue space while easing visitor frustration. Evolving your queue system will help provide a positive experience for all.

Signage products help:

1. Reduce hazard risks.
2. Improve wayfinding and venue navigation.
3. Maximise revenue opportunities through promotional signage and marketing messaging

The 4 types of signage solutions mentioned in this post can evolve your queue to enhance your venue. Clear navigation and promotional highlights are perfect ways to ensure visitors enjoy coming to your venue.

What’s more, Tensator’s array of customisable signage solutions can be easily incorporating into your existing Tensabarrier® queue systems.

Fast. Efficient. Useful.

Our specialists are on hand to help with any questions you may have.

Get in touch to start enhancing your venue queues now.

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