Conference Management and Production Services for Major Sales Conference at Chesford Grange Hotel
In March 2018, our conference management and production services were fully utilised by a major client for a 3-day sales conference and evening awards ceremony. This case study demonstrates our expertise in managing and producing all Audio Visual elements of a large conference, including Set and Stage design, Video, Sound, Lighting and Power, as well as the all-important evening awards ceremony.
The client was delighted:
“Thank you SO much to you and the team, as always I felt like you were part of the group and always trust you guys implicitly with everything we’re doing. I couldn’t ask for better.
Let’s catch up soon, and I’ll try and get a gist of what events we have coming up.”
Details of the Conference
The conference was for 240 people and took place in the prestigious Kenilworth Suite of the Chesford Grange Hotel, Warwickshire. It required 3 days – 2 days for the conference and 1 day for set-up and rehearsals, along with a crew of 11, of whom 7 were technicians. For the conference itself, day 1 featured the sales conference along with the evening awards ceremony, with a live band and DJ. Day 2 saw a continuation of the sales conference, along with breakouts and POD sessions.
A taste of celebrity was added to the event by Alan Dedicoat (the voice of Strictly Come Dancing), who did the live ‘voice of god’ announcements throughout the show, welcoming each presenter onto stage and providing interesting facts about them.
Slido, the audience interaction tool, was used so guests could vote and interact live via the website during the event, allowing results to be displayed on screen as and when appropriate.
Audio Visual Details
When it comes to conference management and production services, it all starts and finishes with the audio visual package. Everything must be right and work perfectly, and there was plenty for us to do at this conference, using a blend of attention to detail and creativity.
- Set & Stage Design
We created a bespoke set design, 4.5m high, as part of a 12m x 3m stage, featuring single screen back projection (3.5m x 2m screen). Client branding was then incorporated into the set design, with the branded lectern being the centre-piece.
We also used LED tape to surround sections of the set design. This allowed back and side lighting to really create a vibrant backdrop, whilst giving us huge lighting flexibility.
- Video
For the video, we used a powerful 20,000 lumens projection set-up, with multiple screens for the presenter, including comfort monitors for the current slide, next slide, notes and timing screens.
All show content was controlled with Macbook pros, and all videos were launched via Qlab all through a Barco switcher. State of the art, as you would expect.
- Sound
It doesn’t matter how good the visuals are if no-one can hear anything, so we used:
- A 10 speaker PA system controlled by a 24 channel digital sound desk
- 2 additional sub-speakers and stage monitor speakers
- 10 on-site radio mics, including tie clip, handheld and headset mics
- Wired talkback headsets so all technicians, front of house or behind set, could communicate throughout the show.
Lighting and Power
And of course, if you can’t see the visuals properly………… here’s how we made sure people could.
- 12m ceiling trussing formed the front line of lighting, as well as the front line of speakers too.
- Up-lighting on set was from a combination of 8 LED battens and 8 zoom par cans
- The stage wash and spot lighting used 14 light fixtures
- 16 moving lights provided beams and moving gobos bringing the room to life for awards and all walk-up stings
- 24 wireless LED up-lighters were positioned around the room
- 2 haze machines allowed us to create stunning lighting effects for the evening awards
All lighting including LED tape on set was controlled through a digital lighting desk
And to make sure the lights stayed on, 2 x 63 amp three phase power distributions were used to support all power requirements for event.
Evening Awards Ceremony Theming
Conferences often cross-over into evening events – in this case a company awards ceremony. Using all of the AV hardware and software detailed above, we also added these element for those special finishing touches:
- Red carpet, ropes and stanchions
- 24 x LED candelabra table centres
- Sweet Cart in foyer