A $165,000 project to install new projectors in the meeting rooms at the Hot Springs Convention Center is aimed at improving the customer experience and raising the level of service provided to meetings and groups, Visit Hot Springs says.
"We constantly try to upgrade and improve our facilities so that our convention center remains the premier facility in Arkansas for the thousands of guests who enjoy the meetings and conventions they attend in Hot Springs every year," Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison said in a news release on Thursday.
Arrison said the 14 Panasonic RZ-790 projectors were installed in 13 meeting spaces. One projector is being held in reserve as a spare, he said. The total cost of the project was $165,000.
"I can't wait to share the news about these new projectors with our current and future clients," VHS Director of Sales Tammy Clampet said in the release. "Use of the new projectors is included with the room rental costs, and I know our guests will be pleased with the improved equipment."
VHS Director of Operations Jennifer Wolcott said in the release that the new one-chip DLP Laser projectors will not only provide major benefits to the convention center's clients, but also will be much easier for the center's operations staff to maintain.
"The new projectors have a brighter light output than the older bulb-operated equipment, and that makes the images they project brighter and easier to see," she said. "They also produce truer color output and higher quality colors."
Wolcott said the laser technology employed in the new projectors maintains their brightness and clarity regardless of ambient light, whereas the older bulb projectors would lose their brightness in rooms where the ceiling lights were brighter.
"The new projectors maintain their visual brightness as they age," she said, "where the bulb projectors would dim as use increased. This led to uneven brightness in combined rooms, and now that won't be an issue."
There is no need to keep replacing light bulbs and almost no maintenance required on the new projectors, Wolcott said, adding that with a much longer lifespan on the laser projectors, the staff can extend their working lifetime, increasing the cost-effectiveness of the purchase.