30 Years of OBI: Three Networked Devices, One Shared Picture – the Anniversary Party at the Salzburgarena
Thirty years is not an anniversary you mark with a single device tucked into a corner. When OBI invited guests to the Salzburgarena for its jubilee, we were there with three stations – and with one idea that held the whole evening together: every device was networked, and all of them fed into the same overall picture.
That sounds like a technical detail, but it was the actual point. Anyone who had their photo taken at the photo booth found it in the mosaic on the wall minutes later. The same went for the mirror. By the end of the night there was one picture that everyone had helped build – without anyone having to queue up for it.
Why a venue like the Salzburgarena needs its own plan
In a room with a hundred guests, one device is enough. In an arena the maths changes: guests spread out, there are several zones, and nobody walks across the hall to join a queue. So instead of putting up one large device, we distributed three stations around the room – each with its own character, all working towards the same result.
That is exactly why we recommend at least two photo sources for a mosaic as soon as an event runs longer than six hours. At OBI there were three. It spreads the guests out, keeps a steady flow of images coming in, and makes sure the picture on the wall isn’t finished only minutes before the night ends.
The Photo Mosaic Wall at the centre
The Photo Mosaic Wall assembles one large picture out of many individual guest photos. Every photo becomes a tile, and while the event runs, the motif fills in piece by piece. The appeal is in watching it happen: only minutes pass between “my photo was just taken” and “my photo is on the wall”.
Three versions are possible. Physical: the photos are printed as stickers that guests stick onto the board themselves – the version that creates the most movement, because everyone walks over to the wall at least once. Digital: the same mosaic grows live on a screen or projector. Online: the same thing under its own event URL that stays reachable after the event – useful if the picture is still needed for internal communications or a recap. You can also combine them.
You choose the motif: company logo, anniversary number, campaign artwork. We need it in advance in landscape format at 300 dpi. An attendant is always included with the Mosaic Wall, and the standard package runs six hours.
Fotobox Classic with our mirror backdrop
The second station was our Fotobox Classic, combined with our mirror backdrop. The backdrop throws light, colour and movement back into the frame and turns a straightforward group photo into a shot with depth. Under event lighting in a large hall the difference is noticeable: the image picks up highlights instead of sitting flat against a plain wall.
Technically the Classic is our workhorse. It shoots with a DSLR and studio flash, and prints on the spot. You choose the format: photo strips at 5 × 15 cm or prints in postcard format at 10 × 15 cm. We design the print layout in your look – from over 1,000 templates or as a custom design. Every image also goes to guests digitally, by QR code or e-mail. The setup needs roughly 2 × 2 metres including room to move, and an ordinary household socket.
Magic iMirror: compact and self-explanatory
The third station was the Magic iMirror, the most compact of our three photo mirrors: 180 cm high, 68 cm wide, 60 cm deep. Guests see themselves at full height, tap the mirror surface, and are guided through the session by animations and voice prompts. No briefing needed – and that matters in a space with constant foot traffic, because nobody has to be told what to do first.
Inside the housing sits a Canon DSLR with studio flash. That’s why the images still work once the lighting in the hall has long since switched to evening mode. After the shot, guests can sign the photo directly on the mirror with a finger or add emojis before it comes out of the printer.
If you need more stage presence, the Classic Line also holds the Magic Mirror X with its 70-inch surface and the Magic Mirror Retro in a gold frame – at OBI the compact version was the right call, because it blends discreetly into the space.
What “networked” actually means
Three devices at one event don’t make a network. The difference is that all three stations fed into the same mosaic database. For guests that meant it made no difference where they were photographed – their image ended up in the same motif. For OBI it meant one result instead of three separate photo sets.
It also solves a capacity problem along the way. Three parallel sources fill a mosaic far faster than one, and because guests spread across three points, no single one of them develops a queue that puts people off. Anyone who just wants a quick photo goes to the mirror. Anyone arriving as a group and wanting a print to take home goes to the photo booth. And anyone curious about how far the picture has come goes to the wall.
If you’re planning something like this for your event
A mosaic is the format with the longest lead time in our range – booking around four weeks ahead is ideal, because the motif, tile count and wall size are matched to your room. For the physical version, allow about four metres of width plus roughly one metre of space in front, so guests can comfortably stick on their tiles.
For photo sources the rule is: at least two from six hours of event duration onwards. Alongside a photo booth and a mirror, the AI Guest Booth is also an option – guests shoot with their own phones, it needs almost no floor space, and any number of people can join in at once. All large-format installations are in the Premium Line, the proven classics in the Classic Line.
Conclusion
What made this evening at the Salzburgarena work wasn’t any single device – it was the interplay. Three stations, one motif, one shared result – and a picture that in the end didn’t come from us, but from the guests themselves.
