Events United delivers for CNXN with Chauvet
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It was at that point that he fully appreciated how well the team at Events United had achieved the seamless connectivity they were after for this ambitious four-day conference, which involved extensive use of broadcast and communications technology, as well as 111 F2 video tiles and 185 LED lighting fixtures from Chauvet Professional.
“Everyone at our company, from our CEO Tim Messina on down, didn’t want this to feel like a choppy zoom meeting,” McConchie said of the event, which was an annual sales kick-off for Connection, a Fortune 1000 IT Solutions provider. “Our goal was to create the kind of look that made everyone feel like they were in the same room, regardless of if they were in New Hampshire, Florida, or watching on their computer. It was very gratifying to see that we achieved that level of consistency in this simulcast.”
CNXN Live, took place on two stages at once: the one in Florida measuring 56ft by 16ft with varying heights, and its New Hampshire counterpart, coming in at 24ft by 12ft with a 24-inch trim. Tying the two stages together in real time was the result of detailed logistical planning along with some very hard work by 36 Events United crew members; 24 in Florida and 12 in New Hampshire.
Providing a big assist was Bitfire Technologies. “We used Bitfire to send video, audio, and com signals back and forth from the two sites in real time,” said McConchie. “We had 16 channels of audio in each direction, via Dante (consisting of direct microphone signals, and subgroups of playback, band, and audience feeds), along with five video signals in each direction. From our main hub in Florida, we were able to switch all nine camera shots to the livestream as if they were in the same room.
Key to creating an immersive look at both locations were the F2 video wall backdrops. The Florida site had a “blown-apart,” abstract LED wall, that displayed content in different pieces to create a powerfully engaging visual. For that design, 48 tiles made up the abstract background, while 14 tiles were used in the ground supported back wall, 16 in the LED ceiling, and 33 on the stage skirt. The design also had scenic set pieces, and 20-foot projection screens on either side of the stage. Video content was provided by the client as well as by guest presenters, a group that included representatives from Apple, Microsoft, Lenovo, and DreamWorks.
Lighting colour palettes were selected to compliment the video content. The majority of the fixtures delivering colour were hung on pre-rig over the audience. “Our venues, especially the one in Florida, had very limited rigging capacity,” said McConchie. “So, with the LED design on and around the stage, there wasn’t much room left for lighting fixtures
“We were able to get creative with more ground supported fixtures and LED tiles and added some Rogue R1X Spots in behind the LED with lifts to get some great colour. We also added some ladders stage right and left that we filled with 12 Strike 4 and 12 Color STRIKE M fixtures, and throughout the room we used Maverick Force 2 profiles in Florida.
“The fixtures on the ladders, along with the eight COLORado PXL Bar 16 fixtures on the floor gave us amazing visuals for walk-ons and speaker transitions,” continued McConchie, who notes that at the New Hampshire site, the rig consisted of five onAir IP Panel 2, 12 Maverick MK1 Hybrids, 12 Maverick MK2 Spots, 10 Maverick MK2 Washes, six Ovation F-265WW Fresnels and 12 Ovation CYC 1FC fixtures.
