Mid-State Technical College: Building an Immersive “Wow Wall” with Interactive Digital Signage

The Challenge:

Mid-State Technical College needed a centerpiece for their new Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Technology, and Apprenticeship (AMETA™) Center. The requirements were demanding:

• Dual-purpose display: A massive direct-view video wall serving as both an intimate exploration tool for students and a backdrop for large community events.
• Complex synchronisation: Simultaneous control of video content, environmental room lighting, and isolated audio systems.
• The “coding nightmare” risk: How do you harmonise all these systems without building a fragile, custom-coded ecosystem?

The Solution:

Brilliant Marketing & Consulting, specialists in AV system design and implementation for educational and commercial environments, designed a multi-sensory AV experience and orchestrated the WOW wall entirely using embed signage.

How it’s used for: Individual Exploration
Students browse career paths on an iPad kiosk. As they interact, they can trigger content on the large LED Wall. With different content being activated, the RGBA lighting instantly shifts to match donor content branding. Finally, Holosonics speakers deliver crystal-clear private audio, keeping the atrium quiet but the user immersed.

How it’s used for: Group Presentations
With one touch on a Q-SYS control panel, the room pivots. Audio re-routes to full-room JBL Professional speakers, and the large LED video wall switches layouts to incorporate source input for live presentations.

The AMETA WOW Wall AV Digital Signage Installation:

Tech Stack Overview

How embed signage was used to orchestrate the solution

Connecting disparate audio, lighting, and video systems usually requires heavy programming. Instead, Brilliant Marketing utilised embed signage for its range of features and UX / usability, perfectly matched to bring the solution together.

embed signage features pivotal to bringing the WOW Wall to life:

• External Comms – for content activated RGBA lighting control and bi-directional communication with Q-SYS AV system
• Device Interactions – allowing the kiosk and LED video wall devices to communicate directly
• Touch layouts – for the kiosk touch experience
• iOS and BrightSign device support – for the kiosk and LED wall
• HDMI source input – to allow HDMI input into a layout for the Group Presentation / Q-SYS AV system switch

“With embed it’s simple to make changes, even under pressure with last-minute changes to navigation, buttons, and sponsors.
Brad DePasse, Brilliant Marketing & Consulting

Using External Comms allowed the team to send command strings directly to external hardware based on specific content playback triggers. Whether triggering the RGBA lighting changes on the LED wall rim or coordinating with Q-SYS automation, embed was able to easily manage the interactions.

The AV build experience was made even smoother using embed’s native touch functionality and the Device Interactions features. The team at Brilliant Marketing and Consulting were able to develop the custom kiosk touch experience and send commands to activate content on the large LED wall.

“The External Comms piece for how embed handles this is really slick and really easy. I could write my own command strings and just drop it in the External Comms and it just works.”
Brad DePasse, Brilliant Marketing & Consulting

The Result:

A stunning installation that serves prospective students and community events equally well.

For the College

Mid-State Technical College now has a truly multi-purpose space that adapts instantly to different use cases:

Private Exploration Mode
Students experience immersive career exploration with Holosonic speakers delivering private audio — keeping the atrium quiet whilst individuals explore 26 different donor stories, each with custom RGBA lighting matching the donor’s brand colours.

Event & Presentation Mode
One touch on the Q-SYS control panel transforms the entire space. Audio routes to full-room JBL Professional speakers, the kiosk is disabled, and the video wall can display content from the community engagement room, including live camera feeds, wireless presentations, or local sources.

Seamless Transitions
When presentations end, the system returns to default kiosk mode automatically. “Like it never happened,” as Brad describes it.

The installation transformed the atrium into a venue where people actively want to host events and large gatherings, leveraging both the impressive visual impact and the comprehensive AV capabilities.

For the Integrator

Brilliant Marketing delivered a complex, multi-device installation without the typical programming overhead:

Speed to Implementation
Changes that would typically take hours were completed in minutes.

Brad shared his thoughts on adding interactivity mid-project: “Five or six minutes later I’ve got the swipe added”

And on adding an additional display mid-project: “As soon as we got the licence… assign, register, publish. Easy peasy.”

External Comms Advantage
Brad’s team programmed 26 custom RGBA lighting commands, one for each donor’s brand colour, using their own command strings. “I could pick the exact RGBA colour that I’m testing with… and they all translate right inside embed and you’re done.”

Moving at Customer Speed
The platform enabled Brilliant Marketing to accommodate design changes without disrupting the entire build, avoiding the “it’s going to take another eight hours to make the change” problem that plagues complex AV projects.

Operational Efficiency
Remote support was seamless: embed’s cloud-native architecture meant the support team could access the account and assist directly without file transfers or complex troubleshooting procedures.

The Bottom Line
As Brad says, “if you can get something done on embed in two hours that otherwise takes six hours on another platform… how much is it really costing you?”

The wow wall has been operating reliably since installation, delivering both the intimate student experience and the large-scale event functionality Mid-State envisioned.