Hanging an LED Wall Over a Stage: How We Plan It

An LED wall hung above a stage is one of the most striking things you can put in a ballroom, and one of the most involved. Here is how we plan one, and what to ask any AV company that proposes one for your event.

1. Start with weight and rigging points

LED panels are heavy. A wall that fills the back of a ballroom stage can weigh well over a ton once you add the frame, truss and cabling. Before we quote a flown wall, we get the venue's rigging plot, calculate the total weight and how it spreads across each point, and send the plan to the venue for approval. If the ceiling can't carry it, we build the wall on a ground-supported frame instead.

2. Pick the right pixel pitch

The closer the front row, the finer the pitch needs to be. For most hotel ballrooms, a 2.5mm wall looks smooth from about 20 feet back. Finer pitches cost more, so we match the pitch to your room rather than defaulting to the most expensive option.

3. Plan power and signal with a backup

An LED wall needs its own dedicated power, which has to be arranged with the venue in advance. We also run a backup signal path to the wall, so a single failed cable doesn't take the screen dark in the middle of a keynote.

4. Build time into the schedule

Hanging, leveling and color-matching a large wall takes several hours before rehearsal can start. If your load-in window is short, tell us early. It may change whether we fly the wall or ground-support it.

5. Test your content on the real screen

LED walls are rarely 16:9. We send you the exact pixel dimensions early and load your slides and videos during setup, so layout issues get fixed before the audience arrives, not during the show.