Digital signage for offices puts a welcome screen in reception and internal communications screens in corridors and break rooms: announcements, KPI dashboards, news and the cafeteria menu. Screenbird shows Power BI, Excel and Google Sheets data on a TV and keeps screens playing offline, from EUR 12 per screen per month billed annually.
What the screens do
An office has three kinds of audience, and each gets a different screen. Visitors need a welcome and directions. Staff need news, targets and notices they would otherwise miss in an inbox. A team may need its own numbers in front of it all day.
- Welcome screen: the company name, a greeting for today's visitors, Wi-Fi details and who to ask for help.
- KPI dashboards: sales, support queue, production or project numbers from Power BI, Excel or Google Sheets.
- Announcements: policy changes, new colleagues, safety notices, birthdays and events.
- Meeting schedule: the day's bookings next to a meeting room, only when a calendar is the source.
- Cafeteria and break room: the menu of the day, opening times and company news.
How to set up office digital signage
- Choose the audiences. One screen in reception for visitors and one in the break room or corridor for staff is a good start. Add a team screen when a department wants its numbers on display.
- Choose a player per screen. A small stick suits screens that run all day. Windows, Mac, Linux and Raspberry Pi players also run Screenbird, and recent Samsung and LG smart TVs run it in the built-in browser.
- Pair the screens. Open the Screenbird player on each screen and link it to your account with the code it shows.
- Connect the data. Link the Power BI report, Excel file or Google Sheet that holds the numbers. Where possible, keep one source of truth so the screen and the spreadsheet never disagree.
- Design the screens. Use a template from the designer. Keep the text large enough to read from across the room and limit each slide to one message.
- Make playlists and plan them. Put a welcome slide in the reception playlist, rotate announcements with dashboards in the break room, and start and end notices on set dates.
- Switch off after hours. Use a power schedule (HDMI-CEC on supported players) so screens sleep overnight and at weekends.
- Agree who edits. Name one or two people who may change content, so the screens stay accurate.
What to show and where the data comes from
| Source | What it shows | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Power BI | Live reports and dashboards for sales, operations or support | How to display Power BI on a TV |
| Excel | Tables, targets and charts from a workbook, including files on SharePoint or OneDrive | How to display Excel on a TV |
| Google Sheets | Simple KPI tables and lists that a team edits | how to display Google Sheets on a TV |
| Designer templates | Welcome screens, announcements, new colleagues, safety notices | Internal communications screens |
| Google Calendar | The day's bookings for a meeting room or event area | how to display Google Calendar on a TV |
| Any dashboard on a web page | A dashboard from another tool | How to display a dashboard on a TV |
How to put a KPI dashboard on an office TV
A KPI screen only works if the numbers are current and readable at a distance. Choose three to six measures that the team can influence. Show each as a large number or a simple chart with a label and the period. A cluttered report built for a laptop is hard to read from five meters.
Screenbird includes Power BI, Excel, SharePoint, OneDrive and Google Sheets, so a dashboard or workbook that already exists can go on a TV without being rebuilt. Workbooks on SharePoint or OneDrive are covered by the Excel integration for digital signage. The step-by-step guides in the table above cover Power BI, Excel and other dashboards.
How to run internal communications screens
Internal communications screens work when they carry news people want and nothing stale. Keep announcements short, give each an end date and rotate them with other content such as KPIs or the cafeteria menu. A slide that has been on the wall for a month stops being read.
Planning matters here. Screenbird includes playlists and planning, so a notice starts on Monday and leaves on Friday without a reminder. The AI assistant builds playlists and schedules from plain-language instructions, and changes go live after you confirm. A typical setup is one reception screen and one break room screen.
How to show a meeting schedule or a cafeteria menu
A meeting schedule is accurate only when it comes from a booking source. Where a team books rooms in a Google Calendar, the screen next to the door can show that calendar. Without a calendar source, leave the schedule off the screen and show a floor plan or a welcome message instead.
A cafeteria menu changes daily. Keep it in a Google Sheet or an Excel file that the kitchen edits, and let the screen read it, or make a weekly design in the designer and plan it by day. Screenbird's split screen can place the menu beside a company news slide.
How Screenbird handles this
- Business data on a TV: Power BI, Excel, SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Sheets, Slides and Calendar are included in the one plan.
- Every feature in one plan: planning, split screen, proof of play, the designer and the AI assistant, from EUR 12 per screen per month billed annually (EUR 15 billed monthly), excluding tax.
- Designer with more than 250 templates for welcome screens, notices and news.
- Keeps playing without internet: screens continue when the network drops.
- Screens on and off on a schedule through HDMI-CEC on supported players, so screens sleep when the office is empty.
- Trial: 7 days, credit card required. Cancel within 7 days and you are not charged.
More examples are on Screenbird's digital signage for offices page.
What do offices show on digital signage?
Offices show a welcome screen in reception, internal announcements, KPI dashboards, the cafeteria menu and, where a calendar exists, the meeting schedule.
Can I show a Power BI dashboard on an office TV?
Yes. Screenbird includes Power BI in its single plan, and its guide describes how to display a Power BI dashboard on a TV.
Can Excel or Google Sheets data go on a screen?
Yes. Screenbird includes Excel, SharePoint, OneDrive and Google Sheets. The team edits the file and the screen shows the current data.
What are internal communications screens?
Internal communications screens are TVs in corridors, break rooms and reception that show company news, notices and numbers to staff. They reach people who do not read every email.
Should the meeting room schedule be on a screen?
Only when it comes from a booking source. A Google Calendar can feed the screen beside a meeting room, and without a calendar a schedule goes stale and misleads.
How many screens does an office need?
A common start is one screen in reception, one in the break room and one for a team that wants its numbers visible. Add screens as the use proves itself.
Sources: Screenbird: digital signage for offices · Screenbird: internal communications screens · Screenbird: how to display Power BI on a TV · Screenbird: how to display a dashboard on a TV · Screenbird: how to display Excel on a TV