Ok, that lead me to find online the Draper Rear Projection Portables

The 120" x 69" portable looks like a decent size and price. Anything larger and the spaced needed in a room for the projector behind the screen may start to become an issue.

The valances they have look sort of coffin-ish with their multiple folds whereas a smooth matte black cloth mike look a little more contemporary.

You guys are putting me on the right track.

Dave there are points to consider if you really want it done right.

1. How many people watching the presentation determines the size of the screen. The general rule is 1" per person (diagonal measurement of the screen). So basically if there are 100 people watching, the screen size should be 100 inches diagonally. Is there enough ceiling height? Note that 9'x 10 feet is just the screen size, the screen legs can make the height 14 feet.

2. If your are going rear, do you have enough space (throw distance). Throw distance= projector lens (1.2 0r 1.5) x diagonal size of the screen, determines the distance you need. And as Don Mentioned, short throw lens (.8) can minimize the distance. Please note that not all projector have interchangeable lens.

3. Lastly, brightness of the projector. Does brighter means better? Not 100 percent of the time. If the room brightness can be controlled you can't differentiate a 2K projector from a 5K projector.

4. Steve Jobs presentation at the very minimum would have 2 Projectors converged at the rear, if one fails you won't notice coz the other projector will be there to save the day. The reason they use black drapes is it absorbs light, white would be hard on the eyes.

Renting would be the way to go, and I don't think your client will spend more than 1K for renting the screen/projector/cart.

My 2 cents.

The major manufacturers, so far as I know:

http://www.draperinc.com/index.asp
The Screen Works
Da-Lite Screen Company
WELCOME TO STEWART FILMSCREEN (this co. does lots of custom work, if you need bits and pieces)

They all do fast-fold style, front, rear, drape kits.

Rentals highly recommended, available in all major cities.

As Don said, very difficult with less than 2 people. Most sizes take 2 people about 20+ minutes. New screen surfaces are particularly hard to snap.

If someone has an idea as to how to build a portable screen for less, more power to them!

Another commonly overlooked front screen type is the roll-up screen, in a cradle. You put it on a table, usually, really good in 6-10' widths. 1 person setup in 2 minutes.

Transportation can be an issue - you start getting into pieces that are 6 feet longer or more, and you'd better have a van or truck.

Fast-fold is an industry standard for good reason - it mostly works pretty well.

I will check out all those links., thanks, and same for the formulas.

As to audience numbers, it is going to vary throughout the country, from maybe 20 to 150. Slightly too large is better than too small. Most rooms are convention center rooms, so ceilings are high.

I found a few rental places, and they want about $300 for everything, which is about 1/3rd the cost of buying one.

It looks like even the large ones use an extruded aluminum runner system that folds into something about 4' max. As long as it all weights less than 50lbs for airlines....

The people I will be doing these presentations for will probably want me to use their convention center in-house vendor to provide their customary regular roll up telescoping top front projection screens with no valances. That is my issue; the presentation production is a reflection upon me so I am more concerned with the wow-factor the first few times around. If I can get them to spring for the rental cost, I might as well buy it all and have them pay me the rental fee.

I don't know that any of this is flyable on an airline as checked luggage. Even a 5x7' lightweight weighs in at 42lbs, and that's without a dress kit or 2nd screen surface. Probably just a bottom skirt takes you over 50 lbs, on a small-ish screen.

Another way to deal with this is to spec something like:
"7.5'x10' fast-fold style screen, with full dress kit to include top valence, side bars, and bottom skirt" for your client's dealings with hotels and convention centers. They (almost) all have this gear. A quick phone call will confirm.

Seth is right. The fastfold is generally in 2 cases and I have never moved one that's less than 50 pounds or at least they all seem like they weight in at about 60+, I must be gettin' old.
As for flying you can fly with them but today be prepared to pay some money and honestly, there's no reason to take them with you. All major cities have AV rental companies which is where 99% of hotels and convention venues get their gear from so what I've done in the past is one of two things. I either talk to the hotel and have THEM rent it and add it to the clients bill or I call my contact HERE and have them contact their contact THERE, rent it and add it to the clients bill. Either way the client pays of course.
I forgot about the fold in cradle screens, I used to have one and they are great for smaller groups but I found the size limitation to be a real problem so I got rid of it and when I need one I either rent it back from the guy I sold it to OR rent the fastfold in the right size from one of my AV contacts here.
Lately though there hasn't been a lot of call for either. [sigh] :-(

Sounds like you guys are really pushing me to buy my own! lol ;)

I have a call in to my people for the contact info of the convention center AV people.

As to projectors, if there is material shot in HDV 1080i that is deinterlaced into 16:9 footage within a presentation program, what resolution projector would you recommend can handle presenting that with no resolution loss of the video footage?

Ok, the projector people tell me it needs a 1920x1080 projector to properly display 1080 content at full resolution.

It amazes me how many audio/visual houses that do trade show and convention presentation gear that do not have 1920x1080 projectors.

Right they don't because most of the presentations are not being done in HD AS OF YET! Many companies are still using stuff that was done a couple of years ago so it's still SD but slowly it's coming around as new stuff is shot for the companies. Even when just doing IMAG most companies feel that they don't need HD, "after all, who can tell the difference from the back row". At least that's their thinking but again, it's coming around a little at a time.

OH yeah, let's not foget the economy and the cost of those little gems. Right now business is slower for even some of the big AV houses so they're watching their nickles and dimes.

I will be using Apple's Keynote presentation program, but I am beginning to think, if the maximum resolution in pixels of an Apple Macbook Pro laptop screen is 1440 x 900, doesn't that mean that is won't reproduce 1920x1080 on a 1920 x 1080 projector anyway?