ViewSonic ViewBoard Interactive Displays Bring 21st Century Presentation Capabilities to the Greater LA Council of the Boy Scouts of America

Nov 29, 2022

CASE STUDY

ViewSonic ViewBoard Interactive Displays Bring 21st Century Presentation Capabilities to the Greater LA Council of the Boy Scouts of America

COMPANY

Founded in 1915, the Greater Los Angeles Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America is dedicated to preparing young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. The program presents fun, engaging, and valuable experiences directed at the maturity and interests of the young people at their appropriate age and ability levels. The purpose of the Greater Los Angeles Area Council is to meaningfully and proactively offer leadership for the delivery and quality of the program, to assemble and train volunteers, and to gather resources to implement and promote the program to parents, youth, and the general community in the Greater Los Angeles Areas.

"The 4K images are beautiful and the ViewSonic ViewBoard displays are so easy to use. They’re great for hybrid as well as in-person meetings, when some participants can’t be there in the room with us.”

— KEVIN BURTON, GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA COUNCIL IT ANALYST

PROBLEM

Effective meetings are critical to the operations of Boy Scouts of America Councils across the country. Regularly scheduled volunteer training sessions, as well as staff and Scout and Board of Directors meetings, keep the Councils on track and achieving their youth service goals. At the Greater Los Angeles Area Council building, the main training space was in clear need of an upgrade. Dating back to the building’s grand opening in 2008, the wiring was becoming glitchy and the presentation technology was more than outdated.

“We were making do with screens and projectors that were arleady old when they were donated,” said Charlie Wilson, the Council’s Director of Finance and Performance Management, who noted that as thrifty Scouts, they rely heavily on donations. “By the time we were thinking about upgrading, it was a very old system. The wiring was going bad. The colors were going bad. The mic wasn’t working. It was, to put it simply, a disaster.”

The disaster cleanup plan called for an up-to-date mobile solution that could be used throughout the facility, in addition to the large main meeting and training space, which itself could be bisected into two smaller spaces.

“We wanted to achieve an upgrade that would meet our needs now and for a long time coming,” said Kevin Burton, the Council’s IT Analyst. “At minimum we needed a new screen and a new sound system, so we looked to a third party for help.”

SOLUTION

Wilson, Burton, and the Council’s Director of Support Service, Steve Smith, reached out to AV expert and Eagle Scout, John Brown, to provide that assistance.

“John is a big fan of Scouting and he’s CEO of The Showpros, an AV company that’s donated a lot of work to our Council,” said Burton. “It turned out that he’s also a big fan of ViewSonic and their products, and with his connections we were able to receive two donated ViewSonic® ViewBoard® displays and mobile carts.”

Set up, said Burton, was fast and easy.

“Our ViewSonic rep offered to come help,” he said. “But we didn’t need it. John and I just got out our screwdrivers, assembled the stands, and had the ViewBoard interactive flat panel displays up and going in no time.”

RESULTS

Since the deployment of the new displays, the Council has used them for every training, staff meeting and board of directors meeting.

“The 4K images are beautiful and the ViewSonic ViewBoard displays are so easy to use,” said Burton. “They’re great for hybrid as well as in-person meetings, when some participants can’t be there in the room with us.”

Flexibility, the Council team agreed, is another valuable feature of the new presentation equipment.

“Not only can we deliver outstanding meetings and presentations, but these displays are also terrific when used like a whiteboard,” said Burton. “For example, the Board members like to put a PowerPoint presentation on one screen and take notes on the other screen.”

Annotating directly onto presentation content also comes in handy, he added, noting a recent website redesign meeting where the team was able to highlight and draw directly on the proposed designs.

Beyond the flexibility of features inherent to the ViewBoard displays, the ViewSonic mobile carts enable the Council to use the displays in a number of ways, extending the value of the resource.

“We can use one in each of the main training rooms, or use them together as mentioned,” said Burton. “Then, when they’re needed in another space in our facilities, it’s simple to move them there as well. It’s also handy to be able to reposition them within a room, depending on the seating arrangement and goals of the meeting. We could even use them outside in our pocket park.”

The team looks forward to finding additional ways to leverage their new cutting-edge presentation technology.

“We are so grateful to ViewSonic and The Showpros,” said Burton. “We are getting so much use out of these displays, and we know we’ll keep finding ways to use them, including having more Scouts themselves use them to give presentations.”

The capabilities of their new presentation system outshine anything any of them have seen at other regional Council meetings. While maintaining the humbleness of Scouts, the team is clearly pleased with being a trailblazer in Scouting presentation technology.

“These presentation capabilities are a first for the Scouts,” said Smith. “I’ve worked at several Councils and have been to many Scout meetings. This is the first one to have this level of AV equipment available to its staff and volunteers.”