But what does the future hold? How will our methods of audio visual presentation change, and how many current technologies will it render obsolete? How deep does the rabbit hole go?
One of the first new technologies out of the starting block may be laser based display screens, which some analysts believe may be ready for the consumer market in as little as three years. The benefits of Laser displays are threefold. Firstly, everything sounds cooler when you add the word 'laser' to it. Secondly, due to the inherent nature of laser light, the projected image is far brighter and sharper than current LCD and plasma screens. Thirdly, power usage is far lower. A 50 inch TV screen projecting at a light level of 1000 lumens could be achieved with only 8W of laser power. A 50 foot cinema screen could be lit up with only 50W. One of the leaders in this new field is startup company Prysm (www.prysm.com) which has recently announced their new Laser Phosphor Display screens (LPD). At the moment they are concentrating on promoting the technology for large scale audio visual installations such as stage shows, concerts and outdoor screens, so don't worry about having to sell that brand new LCD screen just yet. However, as LPD screens become smaller and cheaper (and you know they will) you may see them turning up at ProVision Technologies.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the real goal of presentation technology is to render the technology invisible. You don't want your audience marveling at all the cool bells and whistles of your seminar, while missing the actual message. One of the new ways of achieving this is a not so much one technology as a method of interaction that was made famous in the film 'Minority Report'. Simply put, this involves manipulating the computer interface directly, not by means of a mouse or light pen, but actually sliding things around on a projected display by using your hands and fingers. This is called a 'Spatial Operating Environment'
It was presented as science fiction, but the fact was that the interfaces in that film were created by actual interface designer John Underkoffler as an example of near future technology. And that near future is even nearer. At the 2010 TED conference Underkoffler unveiled his G-Speak operating system for the first time, moving hundreds of files around across multiple screens. The system is actually already in practical use by some branches of the US government and fortune 500 companies, and pretty soon 'gesture technology' as its also known will make the move into the wider consumer market. Will it catch on? Will we soon be doing all our computing wearing skintight gloves and unintentionally looking as though we're dancing the robot? The answer seems to be that noone knows yet, but its blend of intuitive interaction and visual appeal means that it may find a very welcoming home in the field of audio visual presentation.
Looking further into the future, things become a little more uncertain, but a lot more exciting, and one of the most exciting technologies in development is 3D hologram projection. Not the fake, post produced holograms created by CNN for their 2008 election campaign, but something closely resembling the holograms from 'Star Wars'. Imagine watching the football world cup in 2022, not on a flat screen TV, or a 3D TV or even a LPD display, but on a holographic screen which would look like a large table laid out on the floor. Instead of appearing flat on the screen, the players would appear to move around on your living room floor, allowing you to watch the game from any angle in real time. Japan has included a promise to make this dream a reality as part of their bid for the 2022 cup. One can only imagine the potential of this technology as part of a presentation. Future contracts for audio visual installation may include a holographic platform in the boardroom, so that a speaker can appear in the room no matter where in the world (or galaxy) he may actually be. Sounds like Science Fiction? Well maybe, but as we've seen, that can be the launch point for many other technologies that we may soon take for granted.
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