The sales conference for Harveys, the furniture retail chain, was produced for McKendrick Associates, and accommodated 250 sales managers in the Kings Suite in the Metropole Hotel, Birmingham. Two live camera feeds were mixed with PowerPoint and video presentations on two large projection screens. A 24ft x 12ft main stage was erected, along with four 12 x 12ft product display stages, and a large red back wall set backdrop. Lighting comprised Strand Coda floods, Strand SL zoom profiles, Strand fresnells, Source Four Pars, Celco dimmers, an Avolites Pearl console, and CM ProStar motorised hoists for suspending the lighting truss.
Audio was supplied with a Meyer Sound system, comprising six self powered UPJ-1P speaker cabinets flown from the lighting truss, and two USW-1P subs. A Klark Teknik DN9848 system controller was used to EQ and time align the system, and a Midas Venice 160 console was used to mix feeds from six Sennheiser 3000 series lavalier wireless microphones, two Audio-Technica 4041 lectern mics, and a Marantz PMD331 CD player.
For the second project, the company was commissioned directly by Provident Financial to produce an awards ceremony in Bradford Hilton, City Centre. The event, with an Oscars theme, was staged for 500 employees in the hotel's Bronte Suite.
Lighting employed Mac 250 and Mac 350 moving head lanterns, plus Strand and ETC conventional fixtures, Light Processor Paradim dimmers, an Avolites Pearl console, and CM Pro Star motorised hoists for suspending the lighting truss.
Audio was again a Meyer Sound PA, consisting of two UPM-1P and six UPJ-1P ultra-compact full-range, self-powered cabinets, and two USW-1P sub-bass cabs. Klark Teknik processing provided EQ and time alignment for the speaker groups, while a Crest XR20 mixing console, mixed audio from microphones, a Marantz CD player, the PowerPoint, video and multi-media content. Sennheiser 3000 series wirelesss lavalier systems and Audio-Technica lectern microphones were used.
(Lee Baldock)
