More Facade Projection and Mapping
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS
Another Lyon Festival of Lights (F te des lumi res) has concluded. I am a big fan of the festival as well as the fa ade projection and fa ade mapping that has become ubiquitous with the celebration. Each December, I look forward to seeing the displays and designs that are produced for the 4 day event.
This year, it was an experience, rather than breakthrough content that we were most excited about. The installation and design was from a French company called CT Light Concept. In the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon a square called Place des C lestins is home to the theater in the video below. (Quick aside, the square is located on lands once owned by the Knights Templar). Instead of simply having festivalgoers watch a presentation, CT Light Concept took fa ade projection and fa ade mapping to an interactive level, a pinball game that users can control. The only piece that would have been great to see added was a high-score list on the fa ade, but I am sure that folks had a blast nonetheless.
I thought this was a very unique and interesting installation. You can view the video by following the link here.
Political Debate Production
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
Recently, we were invited to assist a campaign with advance work for the CNBC debate in Michigan. We spend a lovely week in Detroit advancing the debate at Oakland University, as well as various smaller events throughout the week. We love debate production and what goes on behind the scenes. This one was particularly well produced and we have some great shots of setup. The first few are of the hall itself, as well as backstage. The final shot is from the filing center and spin alley.
2013 The Special Event Chicago, IL
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS, TRADE SHOW
Do you remember that feeling when you were a kid and your parents let you walk through the toy section of a store? The pure joy and excitment of the latest and greatest thing? That is exactly how it felt to walk through The Special Event in Chicago a few weeks ago.
The Special Event is one of the largest trade shows and conferences for event professionals. Vendors bring their A-Game to show the industry what they are capable of. Thousands from around the country and world come together to see the best of the best in our industry.
The trade show floor had a little bit of everything. Different types of lighting to cater to any event, linens of every fabric, software for anything from layouts to registration, and much more in between.
We found quite a few potential vendors within the trade show and look forward to working with them in the future. Here are a few pictures from the tradeshow floor.
The conference portion was both interesting and informative. We learned a lot about the trends and issues in the event industry and are excited to bring the knowledge back to our clients.
We were also able to attend one of the extra events during the show. The ballroom was setup by some of the best vendors in the industry to resemble an upscale reception. Some of the best aspects included the ice DJ Booth by Nadeau s Ice Sculptures, the live music from the Becca Kaufman Orchestra, and modern furniture from Cort Event Furnishings and AFR Event Furnishings.
The Special Event was a great experience that every event professional should have at some point in their career. We learned a ton and met a lot of great people. Cannot wait until 2014 when the conference will be held in Nashville, TN at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center.
Decibel Vendor Spotlight: Rose Brand
BACKSTAGE, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
We have been using Rose Brand for years at Decibel (dB), and our partners have been using them for much longer. For those that don t know, Rose Brand provides custom fabric and draperies, as well as production supplies and rental equipment. At dB, we use their equipment on what seems to be every show that we produce, and some of this hardware literally holds up each and every sign onsite.
In the last few weeks, we have seen a couple amazing videos highlighting the great work at Rose Brand, especially with their custom sewing and fabric. We have included them both below. If you are interested in other projects from them, head over to their blog, Know-How.
United Nations for World Humanitarian Day
The first example is the fabrication and construction of what turned out to be the largest compound curved indoor projection screen. The screen weighed in at 1,000lbs and was 46 high and 224 wide. This was built for SuperUber in the General Assembly hall at the United Nations for World Humanitarian Day. In addition to the video, they have some great behind the scenes photos on the Rose Brand Facebook page.
I Was Here United Nations World Humanitarian Day Video
Pan American Games
Another very cool example from Rose Brand is their work on the center halo and projection screen from the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. The surface for the projection was a 350 long and 104 tall screen. Rose Brand included their plans for the projection screen and halo on their blog. It is a great example of how they accomplished the build.
As with many shows of this size, the production credits are quite extensive and involved many partners. Five Currents, LLC, produced the Games while the design and automation of the halo and curtain was headed by PRG. Great work all.
National Small Business Week Conference and Meeting
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
Just wrapped up the 2012 National Small Business Week Conference and Meetings in Washington, DC. This year s event featured a number of great sessions at the Mandarin Oriental, along with offsite events at the U.S. Department of State and the White House.
Along with these events, we also rolled out our touchscreen kiosks for the Microsoft Lounge. These were fully wrapped with graphics and networked for both internet as well as printing. Be on the lookout for these at future events, they were a huge hit both with the client as well as the attendees!
As with all of our events, it takes some great partners to produce an event of this caliber. Thanks to the teams at EventEQ, Legacy Scenic, Radium, the staff at the Mandarin, and countless other folks that all came together to build out the event.
Decibel Red Carpet Premiere Event
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
Fleishman-Hillard DC and their ONDCP team tasked Decibel to create a red carpet entrance for a press event. This was for the winner of the MTV Unwasted Weekend Challenge. Decibel traveled to Essex Junction High School in Vermont to turn an Auditorium into a traditional red carpet event. It was a privilege for the team at Decibel to be part of this amazing evening dedicated to the members of the Essex CHiPS program for high school students that stay above the influence of drugs and alcohol. The evening started with the students, parents and speakers having pictures taken on the red carpet. The evening also included speakers from the Essex CHiPS program, the director of the Above The Influence Campaign and the students that created the winning video. Take a look at the video they produced.
Decibel Management Custom Interior Signage Design and Build
BACKSTAGE, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TRADE SHOW
Decibel Management was hired to design, develop and install custom graphics, signs, trade show pieces as well as custom paint to complete the Marketing Center at 555 12th Street in Washington, D.C. We worked with a great team at Legacy Scenic and Productions, as well as Matrix Frame USA to complete the install. The original concept was from the architecture firm Gensler, as well as Cushman & Wakefield, along with the construction team of HITT Contracting.
555 12th Street Marketing Center- Behind the Scenes with Decibel Management from Decibel Management on YouTube.
Behind the Scenes with Decibel Management: How an Experiential Event Comes Together
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TRADE SHOW
If you have ever wondered what goes into a technical and experiential event build, take a look behind the scenes with Decibel Management and our amazing production team for the building of the H&R Block- Get Your Billion Back experience.
The development, programming and construction was challenging, complex, and delivered on a lightning fast timetable. We were truly only able to succeed because of the great team we assembled. This included our partners: M1 Interactive, CGS Premier, Greenroom Communications, and EventPro Strategies as well as great clients in Ketchum Public Relations as well as H&R Block.
It s the most wonderful time of the year . at Decibel!
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, EVERYTHING ELSE, LIVE EVENTS, PERMITS
Decibel Management has been very busy since September and we are happy to finish out 2013 with an exciting amount of events we were fortunate to be a part of during the fall months!
National Book Festival, SHIRE Mobile Tour, National ATI Day, Glass Packaging Institute s Annual Meeting, Clorox Caroling with Busy Phillips, NextGen Climate Action Summit, Raleigh Christmas Parade, London Financial Forum, just to name a few.
We have already told you all about the National Book Festival in our last post, but we have lots more to share with you.
We worked with SHIRE to produce a mobile tour that went to two different cities to promote awareness about ADHD. Both the client and the participants had great feedback and we are looking forward to travelling again in 2014!
National ATI Day took place at the Newseum in October. We worked with our longtime client FleishmanHillard to produce the event that focused on the Made by Me National Challenge which brought a student made video idea to life with a professional video producer to create the new Above the Influence commercial.
Of course we loved working the 2013 Glass Packaging Institute s Annual Meeting- especially because it was held in Sonoma, California. Attendees participated in an Annual Golf Tournament, association meetings over three days and of course, a Wine Tasting Reception. Really, when in Rome!
Earlier this month Clorox launched their new campaign Bleach it Away for the Holidays. Clorox selected Busy Phillips to endorse their campaign. She joined the Clorox Carolers at two locations in New York City to sing about holiday s bleachable moments to people passing by.
NextGen Climate Action gathered at Georgetown University to host a summit discussing the Keystone Pipeline. Decibel assisted with registration, production, and logistics behind the summit to ensure a successful event for the client.
WRAL TV in Raleigh, NC gave us a call about a week before the Annual Christmas Parade with a potential rainy weather situation. Since we couldn t change the weather they asked if we could provide a tent for their on-air talent to be covered in case of rain during their broadcast. We provided a custom tent that fit perfectly on top of their scaffold and everyone remained dry throughout the parade.
Decibel also went international this year! Dave Sonntag was tapped by Linder and Associates as the producer for the Financial Inclusion 2020 Global Forum in London. We worked with a great team to produce a great event.
Phew. We have a few weeks to enjoy the holiday season and then we are gearing up to launch a tour in January! Stay tuned for Blog posts, Facebook Updates and Tweets about everything happening at Decibel.
Life of an Event Prof: #NatBookFest Breakdown
BACKSTAGE, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
Last week, we wrapped up one of our flagship events, The Library of Congress National Book Festival. It was our eighth year managing this event, and while we re veterans, we re always looking for new ways to accommodate a bigger audience and out-do ourselves from the year(s) before. With an expected 100,000 guests and a couple million more viewing the livestream at home, we couldn t afford to disappoint. Plus, our mantra is, Yeah, we can handle that .
It s true that the majority of the blood, sweat and tears goes into the planning leading up to our events. But we re still on our feet the day of, making sure everything runs smoothly. It s a small part of what we do in the event management business, but this is the day in the life of one of our event crew members: NatBookFest livestream style.
5:00 AM
Wake up call. Suit up, festival style. Means we get to wear a Decibel t-shirt today.
5:01 AM
Two shots of espresso, hold the sugar, hold the cream.
6:00 AM
Pile in the crew and Uber over to the the Washington Convention Center. All the gear from the day before is still in place. Grab checklist.
Radios charged.
Power bricks charged.
Boot up the laptop.
Get to work.
7:00 AM
Call time for second wave of crew. Find a place to order 30 breakfast sandwiches from STAT.
7:30 AM
Overheard on Radio: Where s Waldo? Seriously. Someone lost the Where s Waldo costume day of the event. Waldo could not be found. If we made this up, you wouldn t believe it.
8:00 AM
Quick team meeting. High fives out the door.
8:30 AM
It s show time. Book lovers start filing into the convention center.
Set up camera for timelapse, because who doesn t love a good time lapse.
9:00 AM
Reading Cat in the Hat to test captions for livestream. Appropriate for the National Book Festival. AV and livestream team at the table, in position for the first keynote.
9:30 AM
It has been confirmed from a crew member on Floor 2 of the venue. Waldo has been found.
10:00 AM
Start first livestream of the day. David McCullough takes the stage. People from all over the world are giving shout outs to the popular two-time Pulitzer Prize winner.
11:00 AM
Bring our AV crew lunch. With an all-day livestream, they can hardly get up for a bathroom break. Extra dessert for their dedication.
11:30 AM
Celebrity Sighting #1: Found Waldo.
12:00 PM
If it s 12 PM, and we re eating our third meal of the day because we ve been up since 4. Is it lunch? Dinner? Who knows, but every meal is now called a dinner break. #EventProfProbs
1:00 PM
Our team member, Chris, is leading the team in the most steps, so far. 7.1 miles.
2:00 PM
Escalator stopped? No problem, we take the steps.
2:30 PM
Insert fourth cup of coffee.
3:00 PM
People start lining up for Condoleezza. Two hours before she s scheduled to speak.
3:30 PM
As heard over Radio: Our crew requires back-up at the lines for the Condoleezza book signing. Send in reinforcements.
5:05 PM
Condoleezza Rice takes the stage. 2,500 people make for a packed house. No surprise there.
6:00 PM
While Condoleezza is speaking, there s still book signings and children s stage activities going on. Some of our crew is at those stages making sure everything is running as planned.
7:00 PM
Final livestream wraps up.
7:30 PM
Start counting livestream stats. There were over 60K views and reached over 1.2 million users who weren t able to attend National Book Festival, but were able to watch their favorite main stage authors. That s how we handle that.
8:00 PM
As things wind down, we sneak a spot at the Teen Poetry Slam. Every year, this is a team favorite. Those kids are talented beyond belief.
8:30 PM
National Book Festival comes to an end, crowd piles out. Dismantle begins.
9:00 PM
Counting more livestream stats, giving our client updates, uploading last minute photos, and wrap-up meeting with the crew. That s a wrap.
10:00 PM
After a group selfie, we head out to Ebbitt Grill for a post-game dinner and a few well-deserved drinks from P.O.V. We couldn t have done any of it without our awesome client, Library of Congress, our hardworking crew who flew in from all over the country, and the sponsors that made #NatBookFest possible. Cheers, NBF 2017.