Start with the farthest viewer, not the stage
The most common mistake is sizing a wall to the stage. Size it to the farthest person who needs to read it. Two rules of thumb do most of the work:
- Text and slides: the farthest viewer should be no more than about 8 times the screen height away. Beyond that, 24-point bullet text turns to mush.
- Video and graphics: comfortable out to about 15 times the screen height, because motion and color read long after text does.
Pixel pitch sets the closest comfortable distance. Our tiles are 3.9mm, which means the image looks like a continuous picture from roughly 12 feet and sharp text from a few feet further. A DJ-booth wall is fine with guests dancing in front of it; a trade-show booth wall is fine with someone standing at the counter.
The four sizes, and how far they read
| Wall | Slides read to | Video reads to | Best for | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8' x 5' | ~40' | ~75' | 10' and 20' trade-show booths, sponsor loops, small stage backdrops, product reveals | $1,000/day |
| 12' x 7' | ~55' | ~105' | DJ-booth walls for weddings and private events up to about 200 guests, small conferences | $2,000/day |
| 16' x 9' | ~70' | ~135' | Ballroom keynotes for 300–750, church services, award nights, viewing parties | $3,000/day |
| 23' x 13' | ~105' | ~195' | General sessions for 750+, festival stages, car launches, outdoor viewing parties | $7,000/day |
The distances are rules of thumb for a dark room with normal-sized text. Daylight, small fonts and dense spreadsheets all shorten them; big type and video lengthen them. All four walls are close to 16:9, so standard slides and video fill the screen without stretching, and we send the exact pixel dimensions for your wall with the quote. The full wall is built from 112 tiles; the others are built in tile increments, so if your stage is 14' wide we can match it.
Pick by event
Wedding or private party, 80–200 guests
The 12' x 7' behind the DJ booth is the standard. It is wide enough that your monogram reads from the back of the ballroom and short enough to fit under a 10' ceiling once it is on its ground-stack base. Couples who want the room to feel like a show step up to the 16' x 9', which is what the Full Production wedding package includes.
Conference keynote in a hotel ballroom, 300–750 seats
16' x 9'. A typical ballroom is 60–90' deep, which is right at the slide-reading limit for a 9'-tall screen. Rooms deeper than about 80', or rooms where the back half is tables rather than theater seating, are where the full wall starts to earn its price.
General session, 750 seats and up
23' x 13', flown if the room has rigging points and the height, ground-stacked if not. For very wide rooms, two 16' x 9' walls flanking the stage can cover sightlines better than one center wall; tell us the room and we will render both.
Trade-show booth
A 10' x 10' booth takes the 8' x 5' with room to walk around it. A 20' x 20' island takes a 12' x 7' as a back wall or an 8' x 5' on each open side. Show rules often cap height at 8' for inline booths and 16' for islands; we build to the exhibitor kit.
Festival, outdoor stage or viewing party
23' x 13' ground-stacked on its own structure for the main stage, or a 16' x 9' for a side screen or a fan zone. Outdoors, brightness matters as much as size: our tiles are suited to daylight-shaded settings, and a west-facing wall at 4 PM wants shade or a later start regardless of its size.
Church, graduation or school assembly
16' x 9' for lyrics, video and a camera feed in a sanctuary or gym that seats a few hundred, in a room that often has daylight to contend with.
Car launch or product reveal
The 23' x 13', because the car is 15' long and the wall should dwarf it. For a single product on a plinth, the 12' x 7' or 16' x 9' frames it without swallowing it.
Check the ceiling before you fall in love with a size
A ground-stacked wall sits on a base, and the top needs clearance from the ceiling, lights and sprinklers. As a rule:
- 8' x 5' fits almost any room with an 8' ceiling.
- 12' x 7' wants about a 9–10' ceiling.
- 16' x 9' wants about 11–12'.
- 23' x 13' wants 15' or more ground-stacked, or rigging points to fly it.
Hotel meeting rooms around Irvine and Costa Mesa are often 10–14', which is why the 16' x 9' is the workhorse there. Convention halls and the big Downtown LA and Anaheim ballrooms have the height for the full wall.
Content changes the answer
A wall showing a monogram, a logo loop or a music video can be smaller than a wall showing a spreadsheet, because viewers only need to recognise it, not read it. If your keynote is dense slides with 18-point text, go one size up or ask the presenter to use bigger type; the second option is free. If you are feeding a camera (IMAG), the full wall makes the speaker's face readable from the back of a 1,000-seat room, which is the whole point of IMAG.
When in doubt
Tell us the room dimensions, the ceiling height, the seat count and what is going on the screen, and pick "not sure" on the form. We will recommend a size, and for productions we render it in your venue's layout so you can see the sightlines before you commit. Pricing for each size is on the LED wall rental page, and the cost guide walks through what gets added to it.
Not sure which size?
Send the room, the seat count and what is going on the screen. We will recommend a size and quote it within one business day.