Define one activity and a clear finish
A temporary interactive zone works best when a passer-by can understand what to do, decide whether to join and see when participation ends. Start with that activity before choosing a large screen or a collection of devices. State the intended result: a completed challenge, an explored product comparison or a created visual, for example.
The brief should describe the active campaign period, staffed hours and the state shown outside those hours. Agree the location and operating conditions with the shopping-centre team. Include delivery, setup, daily access and removal in the plan, because the public experience is only part of the job.
Example route through a temporary activation
Imagine a hypothetical weekend product-discovery activity. One visitor group chooses a use case on a touchscreen, compares two options and sees a result. A staff member explains the start and resets the activity. No purchase or personal-data entry is required in this example.
| Stage | Visitor question | AV or operating requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | What happens here? | A short visible invitation, understandable without sound |
| Decision and waiting | Can I join, and where do I wait? | A staff-led entry point with the queue contained in the agreed area |
| Participation | What should I select? | A touchscreen with clear steps and an easy recovery from a wrong choice |
| Result | What did I discover? | A concise result on the interaction display or a separately agreed result screen |
| Departure | Where do I go next? | A clear return to the public route, separate from the next group's start |
The route is approach → decision or bypass → waiting → activity → result → departure. Draw accompanying people and the staff position as well as the device footprint. A monitor showing the result may attract onlookers; include their stopping place rather than assuming they will remain invisible to the floor plan.
Worked example: session time and the queue
Suppose the hypothetical activity takes two minutes per group and staff need one minute to explain the handover and reset. One occupied position therefore has a three-minute cycle. With continuous operation and no pauses, the arithmetic is 60 ÷ 3 = 20 groups per hour.
This is a theoretical planning figure, not tested throughput. If 24 groups arrive during an hour and all want to participate, demand exceeds that figure by four groups even before breaks, slower choices or technical interruptions. A burst of arrivals can create a queue even when the whole-day average appears manageable.
Possible changes include shortening the activity, offering scheduled sessions, adding a separately staffed position or providing a brief demonstration for people who do not join. Test the revised cycle and confirm the space and staffing implications. Do not treat an extra touchscreen as proof that practical capacity automatically doubles.
Agree who pauses entry when the waiting area reaches its approved operating limit, where new arrivals receive information and how participation resumes. The HSE crowd-control guidance separates arrival, circulation and departure; those phases are useful questions for the venue plan. It does not provide a project-specific queue limit here.
Give each display a job
An attraction screen and an interaction screen serve different viewing situations. The first needs a quickly understood invitation from the agreed approach; the second needs readable choices and comfortable operation at the device. A separate result screen is justified only if it improves the experience and has an approved audience position.
Define idle, active, result, unavailable and closed states for the app. Check that the next group does not see an unfinished previous session. If the commissioned experience later includes contact details or personal results, separately agree what is collected, displayed, retained and removed; those features are outside the no-data example above.
Plan opening, operation and closing
Before opening, staff walk the public route, inspect the zone visually, start the approved content and complete one full session. They check picture, touch response, required sound, connectivity and return to idle. Cleaning follows the equipment provider's method. Problems go to the named technical contact with a device identifier and clear symptom.
During operation, one person owns queue decisions and another responsibility is explicitly assigned for technical escalation, even if the same trained person performs both. Agree breaks and handovers. A working screen with nobody authorised to start sessions is not an open activation.
At closing, stop accepting new groups according to the agreed procedure, finish current sessions and show the closed message. Secure equipment and content access as agreed with the venue. Record faults and changes so the next shift starts with the correct information.
Final planning checklist
Approve the activity, finish state and full visitor route.
Time a realistic session including explanation and reset.
Agree waiting space, pause-entry responsibility and an alternative for nonparticipants.
Test all app states, required connections and recovery after an interrupted session.
Assign opening checks, shift handover, closing and fault escalation.
Common mistakes are budgeting only interaction time, using the main walkway as overflow and leaving yesterday's app state for the next shift. Bring the route drawing and activity sketch to interactive installation planning. Discuss the application with event app production and select touch equipment and any additional displays against the agreed roles.