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Let There Be Lighting, Part 2 of 2- CRE Rentals

January 21st, 2010

In Part 2 of “Let There Be Lighting” (read Part 1 here), we will give you some suggestions when setting up lighting for a presentation in a mid-size room (conference breakout, company meeting). Of course, if you don’t feel comfortable with lighting, CRE Rentals’ technical staff can assist to get you what you need for your particular situation.

Scouting locations and lighting needs

When movie makers scout locations, they check more than just “look and feel,” and immediately assess the place, inside or out, in terms of lighting. This is what light meters are for – a great all-purpose tool for checking light levels, and assisting in developing lighting setup plans.

Depending on the meeting type – screen presentation or speech, a dais up front or a podium – you will set up lights in a particular way. If you can’t hang lights from the ceiling to illuminate a podium, you can use freestanding spots from the sides. If the focus of the audience is a presentation on a large-screen, then you would keep that area dim and perhaps throw a small spotlight on the speaker.

Interactivity needs light

If you are using an Audience Response System rentals, your challenge is to keep lights low enough not to interfere with the screen image, and high enough for people to see their handheld response devices. This can be accomplished, somewhat counterintuitively, with more, not fewer, lights. With sideline lights every few rows, keep the rear lights a bit higher than the middle ones, the middle ones a bit brighter than the near-front ones and create a “lighting gradation” to achieve your goal.

Alternatively, you can use an indirect approach, such as illuminating the room walls with bottom-up spots, even colored ones (choice of color matters). All of these maneuvers, of course, will depend on what the built-in room lighting offers, but if they are not “dimmable,” it is better to leave them out of the equation entirely.

Speaking of control…

Today’s lighting components, from ceiling-mounted spots to colored ones on stands, all connect to central control panels that can also run the audiovisual equipment – including a high lumen projector rental if you need one.

The basic lesson is that more lights means more control, and greater flexibility in directionality, brightness, color and other variables. You don’t have to believe in Feng Shui to know that such room characteristics as size, paint and carpet color, seating arrangements and ceiling height affect your lighting plan – and mood, too.

Our expert Account Executives can put you in a good mood by helping you put together a great meeting, so give a call, send an e-mail or fill out the Quick Rental Quote right now. CRE is in the solutions business, and we have one for you, too.

Let There Be Lighting, Part 1 of 2 – CRE Rentals

January 19th, 2010

Whether it’s a presentation, seminar, conference or trade show exhibit – in small rooms, large halls or a stadium – good lighting can make or break an event. As a leader in trade show management and convention rentals, CRE knows the importance not only of good equipment, but good information. Here’s some on basic lighting.

Good lighting gives presenters a more dramatic, more impressive stage presence, and also ensures that video or film recordings are clear and usable. Armed with a PowerMac G5 with Kona card rental from CRE, an artist could adjust lighting and contrast “in post,” but you always want to capture the best possible original image.

Different strobes for different folks

Lighting Rental There are many leading specialty lighting makers offering a world of lighting products for every situation. Event lighting can include fluorescent, incandescent, strobe and LED lights, and are available in banks, spots, tubes and other shapes, in all sizes and wattages. No matter what type of lighting you need, there is a light that will meet your needs.

For large meeting halls or dinner events, theater-style lighting adds color and drama to the atmosphere, and can transform “the usual thing” into something truly memorable. Many of the new, smaller, integrated systems can be controlled by computers available to rent from CRE.

Let there be light

Consider these basic lighting tips as you plan your next event:

Color is proven to influence audience mood, and it’s fascinating how it works, so do a little research before your next big meeting.
Different colors and textures can attract or redirect people’s attention.
You can project graphics across the stage or wall using gobos, etched disks inside the light fixtures.
Make sure presenters suffer no distracting facial shadows. Do a dry run.
Stage “washes” keep presenters well lit as they walk the stage
Follow spots will pick out award winners or notables from an audience.
Powerful psychological effects can be achieved by lighting the entire room.
New, “intelligent lighting” can be programmed to sweep the room, create effects and change colors.

In Part 2, we will show how to set up lighting for a press conference or presentation in a mid-size room (think conference breakout or company meeting). In the meantime, if you’re planning an annual shareholder meeting or exhibiting at a trade show, CRE is the one-stop shop. Our experts can help you with everything from lighting to computers, audience response system rentals to kiosks– just request a Quick Rental Quote today. We can definitely throw some light on the subject for you.

Tech Resolutions for the New Year

January 5th, 2010

2010 is upon us, and it’s likely you are considering yet another list of New Year’s Resolutions. These usually concern losing weight or changing careers, but smart computer users should resolve to keep their computers in good working order.

One step before basic

This may seem silly to you, but it really isn’t. You need to check your power cords, USB/FireWire cables and so forth. It’s possible for cables to “go bad,” particularly when they are bent into 90-degree angles or squished under heavy printers. With LCD monitor rentals, for example, you get the cable in good shape and ready to work.

It is important to keep sufficient airflow around your high-tech equipment, so check out your “office ergonomics” to ensure enough room between devices. Layers of dust can build up on internal PC components, too, sometimes causing overheating, so have some canned air handy for a quick “spray” every month or so.

Backing up

You simply must back up your files. This means the system files, work files, everything. Your primary drive is likely internal, but if you save files to external or online storage, back those up, too. Windows Backup in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is a good tool. You can also clone your drives and make “disc images” with ImageX (free from Microsoft) and other applications.

Macintosh users also need to back up everything. The Mac OS boasts Time Machine, which automates the process in a lot of customizable ways. Naturally, when you use a Mac Pro rental you should save all your work to an external drive, which means that you should back it up to an online service, another hard drive or to DVDs.

Security

Always “okay” the Windows and Mac automated system updates. This will ensure you have the latest security fixes for your OS as well as updates for installed programs. On the Mac, Software Update can also be started from the Apple menu. The Windows Update application in Vista or Windows 7 can even recommend settings for folks short on time, expertise or both.

In addition to using your firewall, get a good anti-malware and anti-virus utility – or two or three, since not all programs can defeat all types of malicious code. Since e-mail continues to be a primary method for spreading Trojan horses, viruses and other destructive malware, check that your antivirus program will scan your e-mail. Also use anti-spam software like MailWasher or a mail-checking service.

Other tips

Consult a more thorough article on maintenance if you need to, then create a schedule for taking care of things regularly. Actually, if you are doing a comprehensive backup for the first time, it may be a real time- and money-saver to rent a computer to act as “command central” for copying, duplicating, deleting and moving files around your network.

CRE employees know their way around technology, so we’re the ones to call when you need help. Send an e-mail, fill out the Quick Rental Quote form or use the phone. Whatever your business goals for the New Year, we’re here to help you achieve them. That’s our resolution, each and every year.

Happy Holidays from ComputerRentals (CRE)

December 24th, 2009

Cost-Effective Training Options from CRE Rentals

December 10th, 2009

With the pace of technological change seeming to accelerate all the time, how can SMBs (Small and Medium-sized Businesses) hope to stay current? It’s not just a matter of getting the latest equipment. You also have to keep your employees updated, trained and equipped. It’s not easy, but online education of various kinds may help you.

There are companies that run well-structured, highly organized online schools, and you might want to look into these. However, there are also many low- and no-cost ways to keep your employees up to date. If you work in digital media, with audio and video applications like Final Cut or Vegas—on powerful quad- and eight-core desktop computers like the Mac Pro or an H-P XW 8400 workstation—then you already know how much time it takes to stay current.

Training Class For your other employees, perhaps working with continuously upgraded software like office applications and operating systems, you can save money by locating some free tutorials online. Get a Macintosh and/or PC desktop like CRE rents, set it up in a spare office or corner of the break room, and establish a training schedule. This way none of your regular workflow is interrupted and you can upgrade skills without downgrading your firm’s productivity.

Use it or lose it?

Remember, too, that the software packages you’ve invested in usually come with tutorials, online help files, sample documents and other training aids. It may be that you are well covered for software training without knowing it. In that case, extend your horizons a bit and you will discover that there is as much, or more, business and marketing training available to help you grow and expand your company.

It should go without saying that most companies need a strong, compelling and (hopefully) original Web presence or “online strategy” in this day and age. Check out these excellent online webinars and seminars featuring search engine marketing topics that will help your organization “conquer” search.

Low-cost training/research station

One of the lesser-advertised benefits of a computer rental is training and research. In SMBs, most computers (like their users) are dedicated to certain daily tasks that are interrupted at your peril. Renting a wifi-enabled tablet PC, laptop, or desktop from CRE will keep your own assets invested in ongoing work, and allow you to keep skills updated as you rotate your computer users through a new training workstation—outfitted with free lesson plans that you’ve just learned about.

Fill out our Quick Rental Quote form now and our expert Account Executives will help you set up whatever you need to keep you on the cutting edge. Let the training begin!

A Turkey’s View of Thanksgiving

November 26th, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving from CRE Rentals

Business Sense from CRE Rentals: Company Credit Cards

November 24th, 2009

You’ve started a business and now you need everything from phones to office supplies. Plastic in hand, you run full steam ahead toward—debt! Instead of watching your dreams come true, you are watching dollars go out the door for credit card payments and interest. One day, thousands of dollars down the road, you may suddenly turn around and ask yourself, What happened?

For one thing, until you have your business plan worked out, it may be smarter to rent a Mac Pro from CRE Rentals than buy one. You won’t know that, of course, until you’ve crunched all the numbers, including the ones related to your company credit cards. Look into low APR’s (Annual Percentage Rates) and annual fees, and aim for the best deals on late charges and other penalties. Also look for a card that accrues points that you can use for travel, rebates on products or supplies, and other benefits of real value.

Simple rules

Corporate Credit It is easier to borrow money on a credit card than it is to go get a bank loan—easier but costlier, of course. Do not risk your credit rating by getting caught up in a vicious circle of debt. After you’ve had your cards for awhile and have been making payments on time, call the credit card companies and negotiate for lower interest rates (if current rates are high). Also be careful with introductory offers. Many cards offer interest-free periods to bait you, but once that period ends the rates may then rise to (or past) the 18.9% national average.

Just remember: Don’t mix business dollars with personal ones. And that goes for mixing your computers, fax machines and printers, too. If you don’t have the money to buy, keep your personal things personal (like the IRS wants you to) and rent your office equipment from CRE—along with whatever else you need.

Use it, don’t abuse it

Try to make the most of your credit card. If you qualify for a low-interest “rewards” card that earns cash back at the gas station, get it. Small businesses can save a lot of money by using their rewards correctly. It all adds up—if you are paying attention. If you get an LCD monitor rental from CRE, you can use the ongoing rewards to offset some other expenses. Of course, if the items that you are considering are not necessities, then rent, pay by cash or go without. Remember, every time you swipe that card you are incurring debt, and debt can become a beast to maintain.

You cannot charge your way to success, or borrow your way into better revenues. Your credit cards, of course, can finance your good ideas and help you advance toward your goals, just like a computer rental from CRE. If you end up making bad decisions that get you financially stressed, remember the old saying: It’s a poor carpenter who blames his tools. Credit is a tool, so use it—don’t abuse it. If you need help crunching those numbers to see how renting can make sense until you can afford to buy, call one of our expert Account Executives toll free at (877) 266-7725, send an e-mail or fill out our Quick Rental Quote form. CRE is ready when you are.

Build a Site, Build Your Business, with CRE Rental’s Help

November 19th, 2009

Whether your business involves manufacturing, distribution, a profession or a service, you can build it up by creating a plan to expand your online presence.

09_11_19_Site We recently ran a series on Web design tips (Part 1 and Part 2), so now it’s time to put your new knowledge to good use. Even if you don’t launch a state-of-the-art site, you can help your customer service staff out big time if you put up a site with FAQs, parts manuals, solutions to common problems and perhaps an online chat page.

Don’t worry about it!

Web sites can cost a lot in both time and money. If you don’t have a large monitor, consider renting a LCD monitor (or two) so you or your designer have plenty of screen real estate to handle all the pages, menus, art and tools that need to be right at hand. It might be easier to start with something a tad less complex than a full-blown site, too, since you can “scale up” gradually.

Glamorous corporate Web sites can cost a lot to develop. Do you really have to have a site in the first place? Probably. Does it need to cost a lot? No. Web presence is going to be important to your customers, but start out easy. You can get budget hosting plans for as little as $5 a month, and most of the offers today include everything you need, including shopping carts.

If you are considering getting new software and embarking on a Web project, you might consider a computer rental (Mac and/or PC) so you can dedicate a workstation or two to the job without interfering with other work. If you anticipate having a lot of photos, audio or video material, consider some extra storage like a Xserve RAID rental. You can never have too much storage—ever!

Now go get the customers

Now, you need to drive traffic (customers) to your Web site. Let’s face it, if customers don’t know you’re there, you won’t have a business, no matter how nice your site or how great your product or service. You need to invest what you can, which will mostly be time plus whatever money you can allocate, in promoting your site and your business.

You should devise an e-mail campaign, send press releases to print publications and online services, get trade links, create a Facebook Page, use twitter, post comments on online forums and generally sing a “one note song” about what you are doing. If you need wireless laptops for a “mobile campaign,” or plasma screen rental for a digital signage program, CRE rents all sorts of technology equipment.

Whatever you need, our expert Account Executives are here to help you. You can call us, send an e-mail or fill out our Quick Rental Quote form, and the solutions you need will be on the way. That’s what we do, after all—provide the solutions that keep you going and growing.

CRE Rentals: More Tips on Web Design (Part 2 of 2)

November 12th, 2009

In “Web Design Tips Part 1,” we talked about communicating clearly with both words and images, helping your site visitors find things and employing common sense. Those of you working in both print and Web publishing know the importance of getting the colors right, too, so CRE also has advanced color laser printers for rent. Don’t take your site online without getting good color proofs of your work, and learning how to calibrate your “device chain”—computer, monitor, printer—with “Web safe” colors.

Again, you can’t just push a button and get great art automatically (no, not even on a Macintosh). You will need to study up a bit or hire some professional help. You may not realize it, but many modern desktops and laptops support two monitors right out of the box, so you should really consider one of CRE’s LCD monitor rentals to get a large-format, color-accurate view of your site for you (or your professional assistant) to work with.

Web Design Tips - Part 2

Part 1 had 10 tips. As promised, Part 2 has 15 more great tips (11 through 25) to help you create and host an effective Web site.

11. Blinking or “Times Square scrolling” text displays are completely passé, and hard to read, too.

12. Keep your navigation options easy to spot, right out in the open—and not hidden in a lot of drop-down menus.

13. Since it is faster and much more reliable, use text links for navigation.

14. Settle on a single, consistent navigation scheme. Keep it simple.

15. Don’t use “beginner” or “online interactive” Web site makers. They can be buggy, and won’t deliver consistent, standardized code. HTML is a “markup language,” after all, so the language should be understandable to all browsers…

16. …because your Web site needs to work with all popular browsers, on all platforms.

17. Always insert anchor text on links so visitors know where they’re headed, and so you get the SEO benefits.

18. If you “cloak” links and keep the user from seeing where they’re pointed, you (and your company and your site) can lose credibility.

19. Considering the spread of “popup blocking,” just forget the popup windows. Really.

20. If a link takes visitors to a PDF file, tell them so. Safari and a few other browsers will handle them internally, and well, but others will force Adobe Reader to launch.

21. Do not require people to register for your site unless it is absolutely necessary, such as for a company or legal purposes. People are hesitant to hassle with it.

22. Never—that’s “never, ever”—subscribe site visitors or e-mail correspondents without their consent. If they receive something they didn’t ask for, you’re a spammer.

23. Don’t make new browser windows open, or move or resize existing ones. Control should remain with users. That’s where it belongs.

24. Never link to blacklisted or questionable Web sites. Google, Yahoo, AOL and other large portals are getting very strict about this.

25. Ensure that visitors can search your whole Web site. Make it easy for people to find the information that they want.

Whatever business you are in, CRE has the technology you need to keep forging ahead, flattening out those bumps in the road and empowering you to meet all challenges. Whether you need our ”render farm toolbox” that includes the high-performance graphics capabilities of the 8-core Mac Pro rental, an additional 16 gig of RAM and 23″ Apple Cinema Display, or a dozen laptops for a marketing meeting, CRE has you covered. Our experience Account Executives know how to get you just the right solutions, so call, write an e-mail or fill out the Quick Rental Quote form right away for a swift, courteous reply.

CRE Rentals Offers Tips on Web Design (Part 1 of 2)

November 10th, 2009

There are a few types of businesses that don’t need a Web site—really!—as well as a growing number that do business only over the Internet. Whatever business you are just starting—with a few computer rentals from CRE and a dream—you may be tasked with building a site yourself. Just how do you go about it if you’re not a design pro?

Keep it simple

World Wide Web Your site needs to communicate your business’s mission and “value propositions” clearly—and cleanly. Give visitors what they need to make the decision that you want, whether it’s to purchase a product, engage your services or donate to your nonprofit. Although Flash animations are entertaining, they are no longer cutting edge. Minimize the “eye candy.”

Whether you are testing your new company intranet with an Xserve rental, or refining the site you already have, some basic design rules will help. It is easier to warn you about common “Web site woes” than teach you good design in a couple of blog posts. We will give you 10 great tips today, and 15 more next time around, to get you thinking (then doing).

1. Some Home pages make visitors click “Enter” or “Continue” to get to the real Home page. Home should be, well, Home!

2. Don’t waste space with an array of badges, Good Housekeeping seals or other certificates. If they are important, include them on your About page.

3. Be sure to include contact information. You’d be surprised how many sites leave out the most important details, like how to reach them or store location.

4. Visitors will leave in a nanosecond if they can’t figure out, immediately, what your site is about. Tell them clearly.

5. Do not “auto play” your favorite tune. If you really do need music, put “mute” and “off” buttons in plain sight.

6. Everybody speed-reads on the Web. Use short sentences, headlines, bullet points and lists to assist readers in “finding and filtering” your site’s content.

7. Forget fancy fonts, six different typefaces or eensy-teensy 5-point type. Don’t make visitors use the zoom control (which many don’t even know about).

8. Limit the Flash animations and video clips. Pages take longer to load, and overuse can irritate people.

9. Don’t go crazy with the color scheme. Super bright or very dark colors take some skill to use correctly, so stay in the “muted middle.”

10. This is your company’s “virtual face,” so no spelling or grammatical errors are allowed. If you’re not the best writer or editor, get professional help.

Above all, don’t let the Web work worry you. Just keep your cool, do some research, look at what good sites do (and don’t do) and do your best. CRE is here to help businesses, with everything from comprehensive office equipment rentals to high-powered workstations for exacting work in science, IT, the visual arts and audio engineering—as well as your bookkeeping and e-mail, of course.

Whatever you need, from laptop to computers (including Mac Pro rentals), our expert Account Executives are here for you. You can call us, send an e-mail or fill out our Quick Rental Quote form online, and the solution is on its way.

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