Multimedia in a recreation center
Mass digitalization is a sky-rocketing trend, and we cannot but follow it when building and managing recreation centers. To keep up with modern requirements, entertainment parks have to pay great attention to multimedia. What I mean in this case is the sacred union of audio and video equipment, content and quality, and the way in which it all is installed, showcased and perceived in the recreation center.
If we take a look at foreign practices, we’ll see that recreation centers, that have been opened in America over the last five years, are equipped with a large number of screens. Screens are everywhere: from bars to bathrooms. Even the rear panels of bowling alleys, where they used to hang banners, are now giant screens. We adopted these practices for the building of new recreation centers in Russia.
Background music
Welcoming atmosphere is the main premise for Guests’ enjoyment, and music is an integral and important part of this atmosphere. When a Guest enters a recreation center, or any other facility, for that matter, the first impressions they get are generally not visual bur audial. A recreation center is a noisome place: there’s buzzing and humming of equipment, chattering of people, and murmuring of advertisement. The background music is intended to soothe this noise and set the mood of the Guests.
I recommend all managers of recreation centers to mix the background music soundtrack depending on the day of the week and time of the day. One soundtrack for Monday morning, another for Saturday evening, you get the picture, or in this case, melody. Moreover, the volume level and selection of tracks should vary according to entertainment zones. For example, background music in a Russian pool room should be different from that in a bowling alley both in volume and nature, as the bowling requires noisy equipment, and is a completely different game.
In our center, once a certain period of time, a remote employee mixes soundtracks with branded jingles and break bumpers for internal radio. If a company cannot afford such an employee, they can involve radio stations or channels with similar style and minimal amount of advertisement. Those are also better mixed in accordance with the day of the week and time of the day.
There’s no need to say that the sound quality has to meet high standards. Besides, a good acoustic system allows for holding various events, from contests to concerts.
Visual entertainment
Apart from music, the multimedia component of a recreation center includes video materials. There is a plenty of video transmitters in our centers: panels over bowling lanes, large diode screens, advertisement monitors etc. These screens can transmit the owner’s copyrighted materials, purchased materials, and advertisement.
We decided to use video to mitigate people’s resentment from long periods of time spent in lines to attractions. Guests don’t like it very much when have to wait, even if the waiting time is as short as 5 minutes. Everywhere there might be lines, we set up screens, which are transmitting extreme sports videos. Their purpose is to distract and mildly amuse Guests. Fascinated by these short videos, Guests become less inclined to report high waiting time, as it passes by without much notice. This is a simple and efficient way, and one of the best examples, of how multimedia can be used to add quality to quality time spent in the recreation center.
heir purpose is to distract and mildly amuse Guests. Fascinated by these short videos, Guests become less inclined to report high waiting time, as it passes by without much notice. This is a simple and efficient way, and one of the best examples, of how multimedia can be used to add quality to quality time spent in the recreation center.