In smaller conference rooms it seems like there is never enough room for the white board and the projection screen. One option is to use the white board as the projection surface. While a white board that can be projected on may be just the solution you are looking for, there are some limitations. The typical material used for white boards is either melamine or porcelain. When an image is projected onto a these surfaces, there is a definite “hot spot” or glare that makes viewing by the audience difficult, or unpleasant for lengthy meetings or classes.
A number of companies have developed wall coverings that can be used as both a white board and as a projection surface. These products are typically applied over primed drywall and can provide wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling coverage, similar to any other wall-covering product. They combine the features of a projection screen (wide angle viewing, reduced glare, reduced image fall-off) with a dry erase surface. In the right situation, and when used with solvent-based dry erase markers, these products work well.
That being said, we do not recommend these products for large rooms because the impact of handwritten notes on a properly sized image is usually ineffective. In many situations the projected image is so large that for someone to “fill in the blank” of a sentence or math problem they would be trying to draw foot-tall letters or numbers. In smaller rooms this becomes less of an issue. To protect the longevity of any projection white board surface, using solvent-based dry erase markers (like Sanford’s Expo 1 series) will help reduce the residual build up seen from wax-based dry erase markers (like Sanford’s Expo 2 series).