The mia is a rapidly growing association for the conference, meetings and events sector that has been created by a proactive group of hotel and conference centre operators and their booking agent colleagues to "make a difference".
The lunch event in the Assembly Hall was attended by 250 leading industry professionals and the miaList 2014 was revealed, naming 10 of the most dedicated and hardworking individuals from the world of meetings and events.
Being involved in the miaList 2014 event was something very close to Eclipse MD Robin Purslow's heart as an active MIA Council member just re-elected for the second consecutive year. Eclipse is also one of the sponsors of the MIA's AIM accreditation - a process which ensures that venues and industry suppliers are fit for purpose and operate as decent and ethical organisations.
"The association is something I am passionate about," states Purslow, "As a supplier, the MIA can help add clarity to the buying process, and by hearing client feedback via the MIA relating to their needs, we can help make venues and the industry more attractive to users, encouraging them to continue using those spaces."
One of the big challenges of the production for the Eclipse team - led by project manager John Gibson and production manager Tim Pennington - was the pressure of delivering fantastic looking and sounding results to the top practitioners and companies in the meetings and events industry.
The brief included designing and building a stage set that complimented the aesthetics of the Assembly Hall and facilitated the awards being presented onstage proceeded by short VT paybacks introducing each member of the 2014 list.
Taking the striking red of the MIA's branding and the architecture as starting points, the clean, contemporary styled, curved stage set was fitted to the contours of the room, complete with its own elegant back-lit 'light-box' pillars.
There was a central integral projection screen and a lectern and table to house the awards were also part of the set. The whole area was carpeted in red.
The set was additionally lit using JTE PixelPARs as uplighters, and more of the same fixtures highlighted various structural features around the space.
Further lighting and set texturing was provided by six Martin MAC 700 Profile moving lights, and these also threw rich, colourful gobo looks onto the domed ceiling.
Eclipse hooked into the venue's in-house video projection system, using laptops to store and programme the video payback content - awards stings, winners VTs, etc. - all of which was created by MIA.
Artwork was created for sponsor's logo slides which were projected across onto the set during the lunch. The venue's sound system was utilized with Eclipse running the show and playing in all the relevant musical stings for presentations and awards, working with the Church House technicians.
(Jim Evans)
