Tag: eventindustry

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.

Realistic CGI

EVENT INDUSTRY

We do our best to keep on top of current trends in the industry. CGI is one that is constantly making improvements, but always seems to stay a touch away from reality. Thanks to Alex Roman (of The Third and The Seventh Fame) for the video and to our friends at Gizmodo for sharing the example that breaks the barrier. The film below is completely composed using CGI. Amazing indeed.

FILM GOES HERE.

The Future of Event Planning on the National Mall: 2013 Guide to New Event Rules & Regulations

EVENT INDUSTRY, PERMITS

The National Mall has just completed their first renovation of the grounds in 30 years. To protect the new grass and the new irrigation systems, new event planning rules have been issued governing where on the National Mall events can be held, and where tents and structures can be pitched. The Decibel team has created a comprehensive chart to clarify the new regulations for the event planning community.

The New National Mall Grid: Mall Turf Panels

Under the new system, the National Mall is broken up into numbered panels. Each panel has been assigned a designation of turf area or non-turf area . Turf areas are panels covered by grass, while non-turf areas are covered either by trees, or by gravel or cement, like walkways and hardscape panels.

Each panel is assigned its own rules in terms of event capacity and event type. If you re planning to hold an event that involves structures, such as exhibits, tables or tents, be aware that these may not be set up on every panel, and you ll need to book a panel which allows structures.

The below numbered chart shows which panels are considered turf areas and which are considered non-turf areas . Click on the chart to see a larger version.

Turf-Area Events: Assessing the Event Location

The National Mall prefers that events are held on non-turf areas, especially if you plan to pitch tents or use other structures in other words, they d really like it if you d keep off the grass. That doesn t mean that grassy areas cannot be booked for events, just that there are additional rules and costs associated with holding an event on the turf. Before any event begins and after any event is over, the event planners must walk through the event site with a turf manager who will evaluate the pre- and post-event condition of the grass and the irrigation systems.

Event planners will be held responsible for:

• Putting up enough protective turf covering (like a deck) to keep the turf from being trampled.
• Fencing off unprotected areas.
• Paying for new sod if there is a damaged area larger than one square yard.
• Trash removal.
• Paying for damage to curbing and irrigation.

Holding a Turf-Area Event: What s allowed on the grass?

The below items are never allowed on the turf:

• Vehicles of any kind shouldn t be driven or parked on the grass
• Back of house, trailers, generators, boneyards, portable toilets, etc.
• Vehicle-mounted equipment such as signs, LED screens, media towers and light towers
• Plywood or landscape fabric material

The below items are sometimes allowed on the turf, with approval from the National Park Service:

• Seating, pedestrian surfacing, bike racks, cardboard recycling or trash containers
• Equipment that does not exceed 10 pounds per square inch in weight
• Structures less than 500 square feet
• Structures more than 500 square feet, if weight does not exceed 10 pounds per square inch

Non-Turf Area Events

Even if you hold your event in a non-turf area, the traffic your event generates may effect the turf. For this reason, the National Mall will require that:

• While setting up the event, you keep set-up equipment five feet away from the curb
• Tents, stages, tables, exhibits and other structures set up on non-turf areas must not be so large that vehicle and foot traffic is forced onto the curb or turf.

The Active Wear Index

The Turf Manager will assess your event on the Active Wear Index , a scale designed to assess how much wear and tear your event will place on the turf, and how much recovery time the National Park Service should allow before permitting another event to be held in the same spot. If your event s Active Wear Index exceeds 250, there may be additional fees associated with your event.

Letting the Grass Heal: Recovery Times

Grass must be given an opportunity to rest and recover. For that reason, not all panels will be open at all times.

Weather conditions & Seasonal issues

Certain weather and environmental conditions can make the grass temporarily more susceptible to long-term or permanent damage. Because of this, the National Park Service reserves the right to cancel any turf-area events during times where weather forecasts or soil moisture indicate the turf would be more likely to sustain damage.

During winter (November 15 March 14), only one event may happen per turf area for the whole season. During Spring (March 15 May 15), Summer (May 15 September 14)  and Fall (September 14 November 14), each turf panel will need a period of rest between events, depending on how many attendees your event.

If your Spring, Summer, or Fall event had:

• Less than 25 attendees, no recovery time is necessary.
• 26-199 attendees, recovery time is 3-5 days.
• 200-4,999 attendees, recovery time is 5-10 days.
• 5,000 50,000 attendees, recovery time is 2 weeks.
• 50,000-249,999 attendees, recovery time is 3-4 weeks.
• 250,000+ attendees, recovery time is 4-5 weeks.

Recovery time from structures (stages, tents, etc.)

If your event included structures, like tents, stages, booths, or mounted signage, additional recovery time may be needed. There are also restrictions on how long you can leave structures up (this includes set-up and take-down time) times vary per season.

• In Spring, structures can stay up 5 days. Recovery time is 5-10 days.
• In Summer, structures can stay up 2 days. Recovery time is 2-3 weeks.
• In Autumn, structures can stay up 5 days. Recovery time is 5-10 days.
• In Winter, structures can stay up 7 days. Recovery time is 5-10 days.

Where to Pitch Your Tent: No Stake Zones

In the new renovation, the National Park Service is detailing where the irrigation system will be buried. For the center turf panels, there is a 10 no stake zone setback around the entire panel, and a 20 zone going east-west in the center of the panel. On the tree panels, there is a 10 no stake zone on the interior path side of the panel. These are detailed in the image below.

Closing Thoughts:

These are just a few of the many new permitting rules that govern events on the National Mall. We have done our best to highlight the biggest changes, but there are many more details not covered here. Feel free to call or email with any questions on the details.

Sesame Street Event

COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS

Just finished a great event for CL Productions and Sesame Street in Washington DC. Follow the link for some fun photos. We were thrilled to help out Chris and the entire CL Production team onsite for the load in and show. Decibel was onsite to help facilitate the computer and iPad demos, as well as call the show. Thanks to Abby Cadabby and Gordon for the photos!

Glass Packaging Institute 2013 Spring Meeting

COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS

We just wrapped up the Glass Packaging Institute s (GPI) Spring Meeting in Washington, DC. 

The meetings last week were held at the Law Offices of Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius. Not only do they have fantastic conference and meeting facilities, but also one of the best views of Washington, DC. They are located on Pennsylvania Avenue just blocks from some of the most famous Washington DC landmarks.

At registration Tuesday morning the members and guests received their name badges as well as a custom Moleskine notebook as the take home gift for this meeting.  Registration for the members, guests, and staff are one of our roles for the GPI meetings.

Meeting topics this week ranged from Government Affairs to Member meetings as well as Congressional Office Visits on Capitol Hill for some of the GPI Members. Branded handouts and printed packets as well as the organization of agendas and other meeting documents were also handled by the Decibel team.

The members experienced the beautiful view on the 13th floor Rooftop Terrace at the Member s Reception on Wednesday night. The members were able to enjoy hors d oeuvres while they took in everything Washington DC had to offer.

Decibel Management executed many other aspects of this meeting including hotel accommodations at the St. Regis for the members and visiting guests, online and onsite registration, and all banquet and catering needs for the various meetings and reception.

Decibel Online Event Registration

COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, EVERYTHING ELSE, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS

Over the past few months, we have been hard at work on our new custom online registration system, and wanted to share a quick behind the scenes photo of our IA process flow. For the past few years, we have been using our current online registration system for a number of clients and it has absolutely served us well on some very unique and intense registration scenarios. As we began to build a new site for one of our clients, we decided it was time to also build a more functional and user friendly system. We decided for the new version it was time to start from the ground up. This involved intensive planning with our design and development team, as well as heavy IA work and prototyping.

IA (Information Architecture) has been a major focus for the new registration system. Our goal is to make a very intricate and complex system as user friendly and simple as possible. The more time we spend planning and developing the IA, the easier it will be to navigate an intensely complex registration function. We have also included a very unique and inventive process for buying a companion ticket to the process. This may just be the best feature that we are including.

Once we complete the development and testing and it is ready for launch, we will post additional information with more in-depth details. We are looking forward to using this for our upcoming events in 2012. Stay tuned for more info!

NFC Integration for Mobile Tours and Event Environments

EVENT INDUSTRY, EVERYTHING ELSE, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS

One of the best parts of the event production and management world is getting to see cutting edge and new, emerging technologies. This is especially true when companies get together and produce a field ready unit that can be rolled into our current event mix.

As it happens, we had a great afternoon with the team from GEMATouch and Telepathic Graphics show us what they are working on in the NFC world. GEMATouch has developed a NFC circuit enclosed in a fully brandable and printable card.

This has great potential for our mobile tour clients and brands as they are looking to find new ways of engaging their audience.  It also has multiple applications for meetings, conferences and events. The programming and usage also tracks real time analytics.

Function:

Once we determine what we want the end product to be, the system is programmed, and the card printed. This can be a coupon strategy, content delivery, gaming, or any other mobile activation that the client requires. The card is branded with multiple touch points and placed in the activation area. From here, the attendee activation is simple,

1. A guest places their NFC enabled phone near the interactive print

2. Then they touch the desired areas of the print

3. Content is delivered instantly to the phone (no apps, cameras, QR readers or texting needed)

Example:

One of the great and simple examples of execution is deploying these readers for a cocktail function or gala setting. In these types of events, we usually see long lines at the bar throughout the evening. We can reduce and potentially eliminate these lines by utilizing this solution.

To begin, we program the chip to select up to 5 different beverages (e.g. White Wine, Red Wine, 2 Beer selections and the specialty cocktail). At each cocktail table or low round, we place a NFC enabled phone and printed reader. As guests finish their drinks, they can use the system to order additional beverages. An iPad or other computer is set up to receive the order and the server assembles the drink order and takes it directly to their table.

There are a host of other uses, but this one easily demonstrates the idea. For a quick look at the interaction, check out the video below.

Thank You Steve

EVENT INDUSTRY

Steve Jobs has changed our daily lives and also made a huge impact on our industry. He will be missed.

From our iPods to iPhones, iPads and MacBooks, our lives are integrated with products that Steve envisioned. My first computer growing up was an Apple IIe, and I am writing this on a MacBook Air. We have spent hours watching Pixar films. We have controlled multi-screen events using a single MacBook Pro and Keynote. For our political events, the walk-in, walk-out and rope line music has come right out of an iPod.

There are many tributes popping up online and massive trending at #thankyousteve via Twitter. Still, the commencement speech at Stanford stands out to us as one of the most inspiring that we have seen.

Exhibitor 2013

COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, TRADE SHOW

We had the opportunity to travel to the Exhibitor 2013 show this year, and it did not disappoint. This is a trade show and conference for trade show and conference builders and planners. Many of the manufacturers bring their best new concepts and technologies for display, and we were able to spend quality time with some of the best of the best. It was also great to see the show growing again this year- with a host of new exhibitors, and some that have come back from a few years away. Below, we have included some of our favorites.

Here is what Exhibitor Magazine has to say about their trade show floor at the 2013 Exhibitor Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada:

EXHIBITOR2013 s New Product Showcase delivers the industry s largest collection of new trade show and corporate event products and services making their public debut. The spotlight is on innovation as exhibitors vie for the coveted Buyer s Choice Awards selected from the field of New Product Showcase entries.

AVFX

AVFX is a staging and technology vendor out of Boston. They built out a video wall with NEC monitors that looked great, but the tech that made it stand out was the control surface. This was a clear touchscreen monitor in front of the display wall. When you stepped in front of the controller, it frosted over and allowed a user to select a video for playback on the wall. Very cool execution.

Armodilo
We have been using and building in iPad kiosks on our tours and mobile media activations for years now. We have used Bounce Pad, and have quite an affinity for Lilitab, but Armodilo was able to capture our attention. The product is quite simple- something easier said than done. We can utilize various tablets in the same enclosure, and it is a very simple and quick setup. We are excited about getting in our test units and if all goes well, folding them into our new tours moving forward.

Brandstand
Brandstand debuted their new, all in one, digital signage. It is very clean and simple, needing just a flash drive to show movies or graphics on a loop. There are limited features and options, but a great price point. These are brand new items in their portfolio, and we look forward to evaluating them in earnest when we have the chance.

GES
GES let their case studies speak for themselves, as they built out an all white booth and environment for Exhibitor. What really got our attention was a small, simple, but very cool graphic technique. QR codes seem to be everywhere these days, but they took it a step further and created a design around the QR code itself. Simple, but a great technique to incorporate.

Czarnowski
We have come to expect great, creative activations from Czarnowski on the exhibit floor, and this year did not disappoint. Their main tech showcase was a photo/light booth. Built in the middle of their exhibit, their guests entered the booth and a photo was taken, then you had 15 seconds to make a light-design as the aperture remained open capturing the movement of the light sticks. Great tech, great execution and a great end product. This is a rentable solution as well, so look for it out on the road.

Blue Telescope
It is always a treat to get to experience what Blue Telescope brings to Exhibitor. Their interaction started pre-show with a great online interaction where you build out your personalized digital flower. From there, the tech and story continued on the show floor, and included a section of questions about the individual attendee. They also displayed graphics and motion sensors with the Microsoft Kinect interface. At the end, we received a flower to plant to close the entire loop. Always fun to see their new activations.

Elements Exhibits
We have to give it to Elements for a great fully immersive experience on the floor. They featured ice sculptures and themes throughout the booth, but topped it off by working with Icebar to include an onsite walk in freezer, ice, and a bar built into their booth.

Panphonics
In many build outs, booths, and mobile activations we are asked about directional audio. Many times we use audio cones, speaker placement and volume control to accomplish the task at hand. It was great to see the solutions from Panphonics. They developed a square and very, very thin directional speaker for these applications.

National Book Festival Team

COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS

We just want to share a few photos of the great team we had onsite for the National Book Festival. We couldn t pull off an event of this size without a stellar team.