hen Renaissance Learning Inc. wanted to instruct attendees at the Florida Educational Technology Conference in 2007 about its interactive hardware and assessment software for schools, it decided to offer recess instead of rote learning. Along with its design agency, nParallel LLC, of Minneapolis, the Wisconsin Rapids, WI-based company created an exhibit using gigantic props to evoke a sense of wonder.

Stepping into the 20-by-30-foot island exhibit (including an adjacent 10-by-30-foot inline component) was like entering “Land of the Giants.” Attendees marveled at the 16-foot-high plywood-laminate pencils in each corner topped by pink-foam erasers rotating on turntables hidden inside their bases. Overhead, gargantuan fabric facsimiles of report cards hung from a truss.

Moving to the booth’s center, visitors entered a theater made of an aluminum frame and fabric. While visitors rested on vinyl eraser-shaped benches, staffers flashed images from the company’s programs on a page-like screen from an overhead projector. After the theater presentations, attendees graduated to a secondary theater where staff tutored them on its Responder interactive test-taking device. As attendees lounged on molded-plastic seats shaped like keyboard keys, staffers showed them how to work the hand-held device. Near the theaters, attendees learned more at four kiosks where they got hands-on with the software.

Finally, the company earned extra credit with a supersized version of its Neo, a laptop with specialized programs for reading, writing, and math. The adjacent keyboards and 42-inch plasma screen allowed educators to type in text to see how it would appear on the Neo’s screen.

By the show’s end, Renaissance Learning proved it brought its “A” game by showing the audience of educators it was a class act. e