liveevents - Decibel Events

Unique Event Formats: BarCamp, the Unconference

Let s get the basic Wikipedia introduction bit out of the way: BarCamp is an international network of user-generated conferences primarily focused around technology and the web. They are open, participatory workshop-events, the content of which is provided by participants.

But BarCamp is not for pansies that just want to show up and soak it all in. Oh, no. BarCamp has rules. Fight Club rules:

The Rules of BarCamp

1st Rule: You do talk about BarCamp.
2nd Rule: You do blog about BarCamp.
3rd Rule: If you want to present, you must write your topic and name in a presentation slot.
4th Rule: Only three word intros.
5th Rule: As many presentations at a time as facilities allow for.
6th Rule: No pre-scheduled presentations, no tourists.
7th Rule: Presentations will go on as long as they have to or until they run into another presentation slot.
8th Rule: If this is your first time at BarCamp, you HAVE to present.

As you can see, the primary goal of BarCamp is to increase participation in a democratic event environment. The 8th rule is flexible: not everyone has to present, exactly, but everyone has to be engaged. That might mean volunteering as part of a presentation, or even helping out with event logistics. As with most democracies, this is a blessing and a curse for organizers. In many ways, BarCamps can move themselves along with less oversight by managers once they re rolling. In other ways, well, that s a lot of cooks in the kitchen, so some problems can arise there. But typically, BarCamps are just good fun.

Another perk of the BarCamp format is that attendees can be the keepers of their own event experience. There are no set tracks , no pre-set scheduling, and no one feels looked down on if they re just there to hang out and have beers in the hallway.

Plugging into an Existing Conference Brand

BarCamp already has a pretty solid name for itself within the tech community, so not only does the name BarCamp need little introduction to techies, there is already a Google Group for worldwide BarCamp organizers that will provide you with the support network you need to get your first BarCamp going.

Thing is, you don t have to be doing a tech conference to use the BarCamp format. As organizer, the topic is really up to you. Though BarCamps are often tech-related, they can really be about anything. Don t expect to capitalize on tickets for this one, though: BarCamps are free to attend.

Event Production Reviews & Trends: 48th Annual CMA Awards Wrap-Up

The 48th annual Country Music Awards went down on November 5th in a flurry of big hair, big hats, and big white smiles. We turned our event production eye to some of the show s breakout moments of fabulousness and folly.

Tribe kills it again

The set was masterful but that s hardly a shocker, considering that the industrial-style exposed-fixture staging was created by the talented folks at Tribe Inc., arguably the best live design team in America. If you re not familiar with Tribe s work, these are the guys behind the 2013 Super Bowl XLVII halftime show (check out this interview with Tribe s Bruce Rodgers for a look into the vastness of that skillset), some DNC and political conventions, stage design at the Olympic Village WINNING!

Dimensional Sets

Really excellent job with the dimensional set designs. This is a high-impact trend we re seeing throughout the industry, one we expect to continue to see, and one that can be executed inexpensively. I m not sure who did the design for the CMAs specifically, but the style was at least reminiscent of the work done by Atomic Design, one of Decibel s set creation partners.

Projection on Fog

When Carrie Underwood took the stage to perform Something in the Water , she was backed by an ethereal waterfall created by projecting abstract swirling rain patterns onto a wall of fog. The effect was isolating (I mean that in the best possible way) and a little unearthly the world collapsed inwards and placed the singer at the center of it. Thumbs up for an appropriate and interesting pairing of song content and visuals.

The Drums. Oh, the Drums.

Just because you can doesn t necessarily mean you should. Little Big Town and Ariana Grande s collaboration on Day Drinking generated some buzz less for the actual content of the show and more for the candy-cane explosion of lighting effects that accompanied the set. Little Big Town began, dressed in LED-piped Tron-inspired outfits, flanked by a stacked wall of drummers playing drums trimmed with that s right LEDs. When Ariana emerges, she s wrapped in (say it with me now) an LED-edged plastic Barbie dress. Eye-popping, yes. And yes, people talked about it. But we re gonna go ahead and say that this could have been executed with a tad more tact.

LED Video Walls

You might have caught a look at the background behind Dierks Bentley while he did Drunk on a Plane see those squares? That s an LED Video wall, and if you look closely, you can see the same effect being used on the floor to create an LED runway that changed to accommodate the song. A little bit of blur on this video and we don t have the best angle on the floor, but you can get a look at the vertical face of the wall good stuff:

Audience Engagement: Chevy Partnership

Three cheers here: the 2014 CMAs took a holistic approach to audience engagement that encompass. Leveraging a sponsorship by Chevy, the CMAs asked Instagram users to post pics in answer the question What does country music mean to you? (hashtag #chevycmasweeps). The best pictures were posted on stage. This worked a whole heckuvalot better than live Twitter integration does in terms of getting your attendees involved.

It s (way past) That Time: Don t Forget to Get your Super Bowl XLIX Activations Rolling Now

We know that four months in advance is an unchristian amount of lead time to need for anything, particularly when most of us aren t 100{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} sure what we re doing for dinner tonight, but we feel like we ought to put the reminder out: If you re planning on doing any promotional activity, event, activation or advertising for the Super Bowl XLIX in February, now is the time to start scraping your campaigns together and making your bookings.

Wait, what?

This is an all-purpose call-to-action. The Superbowl will be hosted in Glendale, Arizona (yup, same place as the 2008 Super Bowl) and competition for sponsorships, permittable locations and area marketing resources will be fierce. Plus, it s not just the Super Bowl itself you ll need to prep for: the entire Phoenix region will be hopping with football mania and the Super Bowl support events will be big draws. That includes the NFL Tailgate, Super Bowl Central, and a ton of other pre-, during- and post-game events. If you re planning any sponsorships, brand activations, advertising, campaigns or events in the area, you should know that at this very moment, locations are scarce (but still findable), models and emcees will be taking bookings, equipment rental slots and ad space will be filling up. If you wait until December or January, you not be able to get in on the action.

Event Production Company DC: Super Bowl Event Production

Okay, who do I call and what can I get?

Call us, naturally. We work with the NFL directly, as well as local Arizona businesses and our great partners Event Pro Strategies to help you get all your Super Bowl necessities squared away. Here are just a few of the on-location services that are possibilities:

Selecting a site for your event and overseeing permitting and audits
Mobile attendee check-in software that allows you to check guests in from your phone or tablet from anywhere in real-time.
Interviewing, hiring and managing event and marketing staff
Training centers for field teams
Equipment storage
On-site event supervision and quality checks

And not to sound like a late-night infomercial, but time really is a-wastin , so get us on the horn and we ll help get you pointed in the right direction.

Unique Event Formats: Silent Disco

Heard of this trend? Silent Storm, a dedicated provider of silent disco sound equipment, describes the format as a unique way of experiencing live music whether it be a DJ or even a live band. Guests wear wireless headphones and a silent atmosphere instantly transforms in to a high energy musical performance.

Event Management Blog: Silent Disco Sound Equipment

If you wanna get thoughtful about it, the idea is fascinating in that you re essentially creating a kind of duality: two wholly separate experiences in the same space. To guests wearing the headphones, they feel like they re participating in the real party , that their voices and words are masked by the volume of the sound. To guests with headphones off, it s almost as if they re looking beneath the veil created by chest-thumping noise. The result of combining these two parallel experiences in the same space is fascinating to watch, but you don t have to be a social scientist to throw one of these shindigs.

Check out a couple of these videos to get a sense of the look-and-feel.

Uh, why?

Lots of reasons:

1) Amped-up bass carries a lot further than the buzz of human voices. Particularly in densely-packed urban areas, you very well may have the perfect space that can handle the noise created by guests speaking to each other, but isn t soundproofed for powered audio.

2) You may be able to get your hands on a crate of headphones more easily than on projective sound equipment, or your space may not be rigged up to handle amplification.

3) Even the guys in the back can hear the music perfectly.

4) The format opens the door to creative variations, like different performances happening in adjacent rooms at the same time, with a different broadcast channel for each.

5) Guests can get out of the noise without going outside. Anyone who wants to speak to each other at normal volumes can just take off the headphones without being separated from their

6) The real reason, though? It s something different. It s a new experience, and people like new experiences. People flock to these things for the same reasons they love launch parties and restaurant openings: doing something new means something to talk about on Monday.

4 Weird Conferences You ve Never Heard Of

It takes all kinds to make this wild world, and if you can imagine it, someone has already rented the Las Vegas Convention center to celebrate it. We ve collected a list of some out-of-the-ordinary annual conferences.

VapeMania

Never heard of Vaping? Neither had I until some of my close friends made the decision to quit smoking the ciggies. Vaping is a term used to describe the smoking of products that are inhaled via water vapor rather than via burning and actual smoke: e-cigarettes and e-pipes, basically. As awareness of the dangers of cigarette smoking rises, vaping s popularity continues to increase, and we re seeing a ton of conventions crop up dedicated to bringing vapers together to try new products and inhalant methods: think fancy e-cigarettes, flavored and scented oils and liquids, blah blah blah. Vapemania isn t the only Vapecon on the block, either check out this list of all the vape expos in 2014.

PUA Superconference

You remember that scene in Magnolia where Tom Cruise is up there on stage screaming Respect the C*ck ? Ahem. That is a real thing, and it happens in Vegas every year, except with fewer leather vests and more chest waxing. Pick-Up Artists are students of the ancient mysteries of wooing the laides, and they converge once a year at PUA for several days of, ahem, results-oriented dating help . Heh. Results-oriented .

Enjoy this exciting preview by the Venerable Adam Lyons, the World s #1 Pickup Artist , at the (very similar) 21 Convention. Not even mildly SFW, people:

Florida PirateCon

Though we were sad to see that MerPalooza, a mermaid convention last held in 2013, didn t resurface this year, we re slightly mollified by the scheduled return of Florida s PirateCon in 2015. Weird? Maybe, but c mon, who doesn t secretly really want to go to this dressed in a buccaneer s coat and carrying a brace of pistols, huh?

Oregon Ghost Conference

And you thought ghost hunting was dead (HAR!). Get out your geiger counter and plod on over to the Oregon Ghost Conference, where attendees learn ghoul-tracking techniques, get their fortunes told, explore haunted areas and listen to hair-raising lectures. Oregon not near you? Check out this list of ghost hunting cons.

Whatever

We have been watching with fascination the Whatever USA advertising campaign, event, experiential activation, promotion and commercial film shoot from Anheuser Busch. Most of us have seen the commercials from Bud Light about the fictional town Whatever USA. The brand marketing team launched a series of commercials about the town, and held a contest for 1,100 lucky winners to visit for three days of fun- all expenses paid.

Permitting:

Whatever USA was built in the actual town of Crested Butte, CO. From the beginning, there were challenges reported about the permitting process. The Town Council ended up approving the event, but it was after heated debate from the citizens of the town. The standard permitting fees start at $10,000 here, and to secure the special event AB originally offered $250,000 to the town. After the debate began to build in late August, Bud Light upped the offer to $500,000, including a promise to fix any damage and restore the town to its original condition.

The Controversy:

The controversy began with the build of the event. The event team began construction of the fences and infrastructure prior to getting the official approval from the Town Council. After an 8.5-hour debate at the town council, the meeting ended with a temporary permit for construction to begin. Once locals began seeing the extent the complaints started rolling in. Citizens felt a lack of communication, even though the marketing firm and Anheuser Busch have been working with the town since last spring, including producing a 100 page operational plan, however residents did not learn about the extent until weeks before the event.

The Build:

So what did the build include? In addition to the full concert build, the main avenue in Crested Butte was painted blue, the iconic avenue was adorned with blue paint, blue light poles, Bud Light branded fencing, custom archways and signs, as well as a host of other branding elements. This also included a giant blue gorilla, Bud Light Blue busses, oversized props, etc. In addition, local retail establishments were only serving Bud Light throughout the event.

Issues and Cleanup:

Many issues were compounded when Bud Light ran out of wristbands for local residents to attend. In fact, they had to distribute permission slips for people to go to work. After the event, heavy rains caused the paint to run, and plans had to change for the resurface. In fact, they had to spend an extra $40,000 to remove an 1/8 of the road to re-pave Elk Avenue.

Final Thoughts:

I am a fan of this event, and applaud the marketing team and the client for pushing the boundaries with this event. Were there issues? Could communication be better? Will there be a host of key learnings coming out of this activation? Cost overruns? Yes to all, but it looks like an overall win, especially for content and the advertising that will come out of this activation for the next year. As always, content is king.

Unique Event Formats: Pecha Kucha Night What it is and how to host one

Pecha Kucha (also called Pecha Kucha 20 20), is a nifty presentation format in which speakers have a very short, controlled period of time in which to introduce a series of Powerpoint slides. Traditionally held after work hours, Pecha Kucha was first conceptualized by expat architects based in Tokyo as the perfect event format to allow chatty architects to showcase their design work without rambling on too long. The event genre has since outgrown its architectural roots to accommodate a wide range of disciplines

Event Management Blog: How to Organize a Pecha Kucha

The Pecha Kucha website features videos of past Pecha Kucha events and a global map of upcoming PK nights.

The presenter themselves is not in control of the rotation speed of the slides, and can t advance the slides on their own. The presenter stands in front of the presentation, and is granted exactly 20 seconds to speak about the content of each slide. The 20 second rule is sacrosanct: even if the presenter is done speaking before the 20 seconds is up, the current slide remains on the screen until the 20-second timer runs out. If the speaker over-shoots the 20 second mark, the controller will change the slide regardless. The 20 slide rule is treated with the same rigidity: presenters must show 20 slides, no more, no less.

The tight timeline and tight restrictions of this highly structured format makes for some excellent creativity.

What you ll need to organize a Pecha Kucha:

A projector and large screen
Laptop or computer loaded with all presenter s slides
Ideally 2 microphones, one for the presenter and one for the slide controller
An easy-to-reset timer for the slide controller
Seating area for attendees

Presenters should submit their presentations to the organizer before the event so that organizers can run a quick compatibility check with the Pecha Kucha guidelines, and can predict how each event will go.

It might be wise to check out a local Pecha Kucha before you host one of your own. The official Pecha Kucha site has a mapped listing of events, so check out this page to find the Pecha Kucha nearest you.

Music Festival Month: Underground and Sustainable at Gottwood 2015

It s Music Festival Month on the Decibel Blog, and today we re turning the lens on the boutique festival scene with a quick intro to Gottwood, one of the UK s most interesting summer events. The Gottwood festival is an intimate slice of hippy-sci-future held in the forests of Wales, a woodland rave that aims for maximum sustainability.

Gottwood 2015, now in its sixth year, ran from June 11-14, and true to their underground roots, accepted no corporate sponsorship. According to an interview with one of the three Gottwood founders in the London Evening Standard:

Here s a little overview from the organizers:

And a bit more of the vibe:

The festival is held on the Carreglwyd Estate grounds, on a wooded stretch of coastline that was named Lonely Planet s Greatest Region on Earth in 2012. The estate itself has a history stretching back 400 or so years.

The 2015 gallery hasn t hit stands yet, but keep an eye on the Gottwood gallery page for more stunning photos of the event, like this one from photographer Roo Lewis:

Event Production Blog: Gottwood Festival

Music Festival Month: Video Outtakes from Bonnaroo

June is Music Festival Month on the Decibel Blog, and today we take a quick gander at the best videos from Bonnaroo. Held in Manchester, Tennessee, June 11-14, Bonnaroo is the only multi-day music festival where events and shows run 24-hours, non-stop.

First, the Stats

80,000 attendees, and a 24-hour event schedule to manage? How many acres? HOW many tons of waste? Respect.

Speakers in the Shower

What s the worst thing about having a scrub-down at a music festival? Missing your favorite songs, natch. But Bonnaroo is remedying the problem with pretty sophisticated shower technology, including speakers built into the shower heads that play music from festival artists. If you re curious about the process, this is what it s like to shower at Bonnaroo.

Because Yes Please: Earth Wind & Fire

The silver pants, the silver pants!

The Domestic Weirdness Video Backdrop

Leave up to Belle & Sebastian to turn the weirdness factor up to twenty with a minimalist video backdrop of bizarre vintage Americana. Check it out start at 28:54:

The Dome (Again)

Hey, look, it s electronic wonderdude Deadmau5! We were just talkin about this guy. The Bonnaroo videographers produced a much better video of the producer s brand new Thunder Dome lighting cube, which debuted at the Governor s Ball in New York only a few weeks ago. Check out this A/V madness:

Odesza Brings the Tuba-Driven Tripiness

A perfect pairing of light and sound at Odesza s Bonnaroo set, which is almost prettier to watch than it is to listen to.

Music Festival Month: Best Instagrams from the State of Trance in Mumbai

June is Music Festival Month on the Backstage Pass blog, where we take a twice-a-week peek at highlights from the biggest summer concerts worldwide. This week, Dutch producer and DJ Armin Van Buuren linked arms with the promoters at Sunburn in Mumbai to bring party-goers A State of Trance, a music festival headlined by Van Buuren and named after his weekly radio show. We dug through the social media melee and fished out our favorite shots of the throwdown. We re loving