Nomadic Display Instand Pop Up
COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, TIPS & TRICKS, TRADE SHOW
We just heard some great news from Nomadic Display and wanted to pass it along. They are reducing the price of some of their most popular Instand Pop up display units for Q1.If you are in the market for a new Instand, Pop up, or table top display, this is a great time to pick one up.
It looks like the prices will hold until April 30, 2013. We love the 8 Fabrimurals, and many of our clients use them for small events, press conferences and fund raisers. There are actually three of these fabric ones included- the 8 , 5 and a table top version. Take a look at the models and pricing below and drop us a line if you are interested.
Freebie: Scaled Advance Diagram Icon Set and Powerpoint Template Pack
TIPS & TRICKS
We designed, assembled and released this pack in the hopes that it will help others in the event production industry (and particularly the political event production industry) by making the tedious task of creating political advance flowcharts a little easier.
The idea was to create a ready-made Powerpoint and icon set that allows anyone to quickly construct professional, correctly scaled advance diagram Powerpoints without spending ages tracking down icons and trying to relatively size each piece.
(5MB download)
We hope to expand and improve this set over time. If you have any requests for new icons to add, questions about the set or how to use it, or suggestions for improving the next version, please drop us a note in the comments below.
Click for full preview
The Set Includes:
1 Powerpoint file: Scaled_Advance_Diagram_Template.pptx, the main working document in this set. This includes car icons for creating motorcades / car plans, indicators for calling out important locations, such as the press room or green room, seating chart graphics, lighting, sound and electrical icons, and a stage builder (more on that below). All icons in the template are provided in both black and white color schemes for dark and light backgrounds.
1 folder of images: Contains all the source jpg and png icons that can be imported into the powerpoint or into other document formats.
1 Photoshop document: Contains the original, editable icon design files in vector smart object layers you can use this if you are familiar with the Adobe creative suite (Photoshop / Illustrator) and you want to change icon colors, shapes, or base grid sizes.
Preview jpg: Shows each of the icons with descriptive names
Readme: This here how-to guide.
Quick Start Guide
- Copy the Powerpoint document entitled Scaled_Advance_Diagram_Template.pptx, renaming it whatever you like.
- Open your newly created document, and delete any icons you don t need or won t use.
- Select all your icons at once, and re-size them to the right scale
- Arrange your advance diagram
- Use powerpoint default arrows and shapes to mark out walking paths between the diagram objects
- Enjoy!
Scale and Grid
The icons were created on a scale of 8 pixels = 1 foot. We ve done our best to preserve and re-create this scale using Powerpoint guides, which are hidden by default. To turn on the scaled guides, open the Powerpoint, go to the View tab, and click the checkbox next to Guides in the top panel. By default, each box created by the guides represents 1 square foot.
You can also use the 24 scale graphic to help proportionally size diagram elements.
Any time you resize an icon in the Powerpoint, it s a very good idea to select all the icons on the page and re-size them all together at the same time, so all your page elements stay the same size in relation to each other.
Stage Builder
There are two main stage building block icons included with the powerpoint and icon set. The smaller block represents an industry-standard 4-foot by 8-foot riser, the larger block an industry-standard 6-foot by 8-foot riser. Duplicate these blocks as many times as necessary to make an appropriately-sized stage.
You can stack multiple elements on top of the stage risers. For example, use the light background microphone icon on top of the dark background stage risers icons to indicate a podium.
Other Notes & Tips
- The pipe and drape icons will tile horizontally if you align them next to each other.
- Use the indicators and markers to create a pathway of events start and end of a motorcade or walking path, stopping point for a press bus or security locations.
The Photoshop Document
If you re familiar with the Adobe design suite, you can use the included Photoshop document to modify the original icons in the set, re-export the icons in different formats, change icon colors, or add other effects.
The Photoshop file includes each of the icons saved as vector smart objects. If you have Adobe Illustrator installed, you can double-click any icon layer in the layers panel to open that icon in Illustrator for vector-level editing.
The License
The Scaled Advance Diagrams are released under the Creative Commons license, Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivs. You can read the full text of the license by visiting the link below, but in non-legalese, that essentially means that:
- You re welcome to freely share this set with others, as long as you credit Decibel Management as the source of the file. You do not need to put Decibel Management s name on actual advance diagrams that you produce for your own clients using this set, but if you give the icon pack to someone else, you must include a credit to Decibel.
- You may not re-sell this icon set either on its own, or as part of another program or document for sale.
- You may not modify the set and re-distribute the modified version.
- In other words, we love sharing! But we also put a lot of work into this, so please don t be a jerk.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Go nuts! And again, do let us know in the comments if you d like to see any improvements in the future we d love to hear your input.
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.
Flash Mob
EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS
I love to highlight events that just work. A simple, yet focused idea that is met with seamless execution can have great results. These don t have to be expensive, or overly planned. I also like to give recognition to my hometown when I can.
The Winston-Salem Symphony pulled off a great promotional event a few days ago by performing a piece in the Belk s Department store. While this was not your traditional flash mob, it still holds as a great example. I am sure they worked with the mall and Belk s prior to the flash-mobbing as it would be quite hard to sneak in a piano AND a timpani. Even though they tipped their hand to the location, it was on message for their group (to promote their upcoming performance of Handel s Messiah) and brought attention into the store itself. This is a great example of using a flash-mob event to reinforce your brands message.
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!
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.
National Book Festival Power and Rigging Day
COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS
Today we started both signage rigging and power for the 2011 National Book Festival. The day started with rain that moved through, but luckily didn t slow the crews down too much.
As you can see from the photos, this is where we start to see the signage and branding come to life. We will continue the power and AC basics as well as the signage throughout the week.
Multi Axis Camera Jib
EVERYTHING ELSE, TIPS & TRICKS
So it may be a foregone conclusion, but it seems that some of the event work we do at Decibel does follow us home. Check out the multi-axis camera jib after the jump
As you can see below, Asher developed his own hybrid of the typical camera jib by including a bucket for the mini-fig camera operator using a fire truck ladder, camera, and custom stage.
Royal Wedding
EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS
There are thousands of pieces that go into an event this size, and from the coverage, it certainly looked as if they nailed them all. Instead of focusing on the overall event, there was one piece that really did stand out in my mind, the floral, and more specifically, the trees inside the Abbey.
According to Professional Florist, Shane Connolly designed the arrangements from flowers to the trees throughout Westminster Abbey. Instead of a lavish design with out-of season arrangements, the flowers were all seasonal and British.
The article from Professional Florist below gives the detail.
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, eschewed ostentatious out-of-season flowers in favour of a simple bouquet made mainly of lily of the valley for her wedding to Prince William.
The seasonal British flowers, designed by florist Shane Connolly, were a nod to the less than lavish wedding that the couple said they hoped to plan. Although a reported 50,000 spent decorating Westminster Abbey with field maple and hornbeam trees suggested the couple didn t have things all their own way.
All the trees and flowers were selected by the Middletons and arranged by Shane Connolly s team. Each choice came with a reference to the language of flowers. Lily of the valley is associated with trustworthyness. Maple suggests humility and hornbeams are linked to resilience.
Shane Connolly s web site bears the By Royal Appointment to HRH The Prince of Wales crest, and promotes the florist as constantly striving to delight its clients.
Physiological Branding
TIPS & TRICKS
In the event world, experience is King. Over the last few years there has been a concentrated focus in the industry to move toward a full brand experience, rather than simply hosting a event or gathering for a target audience. Full immersion, sensory activation and user experience are considered when planning and executing events.
With that in mind, this is a fantastic behind the scenes look at a BMW advertisement and screening. Here, they are taking an advertisement and have gone beyond the experiential aspect. They have included a physiological effect called an afterimage. Towards the end of the ad, they flash a projection of the letters BMW and ask the audience to close their eyes. The image will float in front of you when you close your eyes.
Look for more and more companies and clients moving toward tactics that elicit a physiological response. And look for some to begin to push the line. In reading the comments for the video and other blogs, some people already think this goes too far for an advertisement. I personally can t wait to see where this trend goes.
How it s Done: Afterimages
In the video above they don t include the flash, so I have included a quick example below from a University of Toledo Web site. Stare at the dot over the eye in AFTERiMAGE in the diagram below for 10-20 seconds. Then shift your vision over to the black dot on the plain gray part of the diagram. You should see a negative version of the square and word. It doesn t show up instantaneously, but emerges after a second or so. More detail on this and other examples can be found here.
