Case studyOmaha Performing Arts
Omaha Performing Arts runs its screens from live data.
The team used to build content by hand for every event, every week, one screen and schedule at a time. Working with Wallboard, it rebuilt the workflow around live data and got more than 20 hours a week back.
- More than20hrs a week
- Back for the video team
- 3to5hrs a week
- Back for the food team
- 4venues
- On one platform
- 438files
- In 10 OneDrive folders
Omaha Performing Arts brings Broadway tours, concerts and arts education to Nebraska across four venues and hundreds of events a year. Every one of those events needed content on screen.
01The challenge
Every event, built by hand.
Before
Four hours for one week
Programming the Patron Welcome Center took about four hours and covered one week of playlists. Menu changes meant designing in Canva, then downloading, uploading and scheduling by hand.
After
Checking in on the data source
Content builds itself from the Event List, OneDrive and Toast. Menus update directly from the point of sale, and the Tenaska Center went live with no new build.
Especially with that patron welcome center screen, it would take me four hours sitting there to program it, and I would only make it through a week’s worth of playlists.
Chapter 02Workflow one
Event promotions from one list.
A single Event List and OneDrive folders managed by Marketing feed the Patron Welcome Center, the three venue marquees and in-venue signage. The welcome center spans 8 screens at 8640x1920; the 6 inner screens rotate the next 6 events, with up to 24 events in overflow.
The result
Instead of spending half my day on it, I’m just popping in, looking at the data source, checking that everything’s connected, and then I can focus on the rest of my job.
Chapter 03Workflow two
Menus that come straight from Toast.
Each of the three venues runs its own Toast POS. Wallboard maps the menu data with JSONata into drink menus, food menus and ads, and items drop off the screen when they sell out. The Steelhouse 1x3 menu carries more than 120 data points.
The result
I would say probably around three to five hours a week. Now it’s just in the moment on Toast.
Chapter 04Workflow three
Doorcards built by the venue team.
OPA built its own doorcards on iPads as a web app, fed by 12 Momentus iCal feeds, one per room, and an Excel sheet. At Holland that covers Dressing Rooms A and B, Guest Suites A to D and the Star Suite.
05How it came together
One principle: enter information once.
Each team keeps working in the tool it already uses. Wallboard reads from it.
Event promotions
The Event List and Marketing’s OneDrive folders feed every venue.
Toast menus
Three venues, three Toast systems, menus and ads built from live data.
Doorcards
Room calendars and a spreadsheet drive the backstage signs.
06The people
Who made it work.
Isaac Neiman
Advanced Video Production Manager
Karina Ibarra
Director of Information Technology
Hope Pena
Director of Food and Beverage and Event Rentals
Kyle Muller
Food and Beverage Office Manager
07In their words
From the interview.
I think that just our organization, having the departments that we do, and having people be able to focus on learning something new, has been really helpful.
You can just grab a screenshot and drop it in the AI assistant instead of writing out a long prompt. That has helped me so much.
I really wasn’t aware how much time it actually is saving them. That’s very cool.
Thank you for everything. We really appreciate it. Everyone on this call has worked hard to get this done.