Thinking outside the box comes naturally for Encore Event Technologies (formerly Staging Connections) and Catch Boxis no exception. Introducing new products that can propel our clients’ next event into an extraordinary experience is part of our DNA. Our innovative team are always on the hunt for the latest technology that pushes the boundaries and delivers a more connected, interactive experience at every corporate event. Imagine giving every event attendee their chance to be heard by simply throwing a soft foam cube-shaped microphone around. Even in the most crowded of conference rooms, your attendees can be heard through the throwable microphone with the same quality as a hand held one. No more awkward pauses while people are waiting for the microphone to be passed to them, and no more event runners slowing down the presentation to get to questions, jilting the pace of the event. Catch Box is a new technical innovation that increases Q&A audience participation – encouraging even the shyest of attendees to get involved, whilst creating a lively and fun discussion. It breaks down the barriers between speakers and attendees, encouraging a more cohesive and collaborative environment. Remember, attendees come to your event to learn, share knowledge and find out more about what interests them – but unfortunately most don’t get the opportunity to participate, and their engagement can be lost. With Catch Box you can hand the attention over to an audience member in the time it takes throw a ball! Participants speak straight into the soft, cubed microphone and then can easily throw it over to the next person in the audience, maintaining the pace of a normal, free-flowing conversation. With wireless technology and the opportunity to own your own with your corporate logo, this addition to your presentation is dynamic and memorable. Everyone loves an interesting, accessible way to participate - it lightens the mood, encourages excitement and the sharing of ideas, whilst elevating the excitement of the whole room. Let your audience speak up and they will continue to be inspired long after the event is over. So, when you’re planning your next corporate event, charity auction, sporting awards, gala dinners or Q&A sessions – Catch Box provides the platform to facilitate questions effectively, comment on the content, or even make a bid. Catch Box creates lively, fun discussions that are entertaining, engaging and stimulating – all you need is good aim! If you want to maximise engagement at your next corporate event, simply send us an enquiry and one of our team members will be in touch! -- ... Read More

The second annual and fiercely competitive, Hilton F&B Masters is a multi-faceted competition that encourages Hilton food and beverage employees to showcase their talents to both management and industry colleagues. With a recent $4 million dollar refurbishment, Hilton Brisbane was the perfect venue to host the prestigious event. As in-house AV and event services provider, the event ...

Around 350 of Sydney’s event industry elite turned out to witness the unveiling of Hilton Sydney's latest multimillion-dollar development, a new conference and event space spanning three levels. Whilst experiencing the new state-of-the-art AV and technology installed by Encore Event Technologies (previously Staging Connections), guests were also treated to a host of stylish extras including entertainment by Opera Australia, MC’ing by singer Rob Mills, a four-course banquet menu, as well as delicious cocktails from their popular Marble Bar and Zeta menus. Working closely with Hilton Sydney as the in-house AV and event services provider, Encore were tasked with showcasing three newly refurbished event spaces designed by Joseph Pang. The purpose of the launch function was to reiterate the hotel’s commitment to providing diverse and world-class event venues and service and demonstrate the countless possibilities the new spaces provide event professionals. Encore's in-house team at Hilton Sydney provided the full suite of AV services for the C&E Showcase and collaborated with the event team to create interactive centrepieces. The team installed high-end audio-visual services to complement the architecturally designed spaces, through customised screens and placeholders to demonstrate what possibilities the new refurbished levels could accommodate. An ultra-widescreen projection blend screen that expanded the full 29.5m width of the Grand Ballroom highlighted the impressive expanse of the space. Customised backgrounds and Hilton Sydney logo were superimposed over the screen, ensuring the projections had a clear quality. Stylish and subtle event styling allowed the architectural and design features of the new event spaces to be fully appreciated by guests. Table settings incorporated elements and ingredients from each course, with the centrepieces swapped prior to dessert to include edible sweets and small petit fours hidden inside the centrepiece, adding an interactive aspect to the styling. Special Touches In a special offering Encore provided Hilton Sydney with a powerful social media platform, Event Feed, allowing attendees to interact with each other and the venue throughout the evening. This added application amplified social media engagement by encouraging attendees to post about their experiences, and allowed for prize winners to be selected at the end of the evening. The Outcome Encore produced a seamless and successful event for Hilton Sydney. Guests were immersed in the hotel’s elegance through a tour of each of the three new levels, before entertainment by the Opera Australia’s two principal artists Julia Lea Goodwin and Simon Kim, accompanist, John Haddock and the Opera Australia Brass, was provided and a lavish four-course banquet was served. The client was impressed and thrilled with the state-of-the-art AV and technology provided by Encore allowing guests to fully experience and appreciate the new spaces. ... Read More

Webcasting is a useful, and easily accessible technology for corporate events; especially those wanting to engage a wider audience and spread the key messages of the event, or the content presented by speakers, further than the in-the-room audience. Recently, the Petroleum Explorers and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ) held their annual conference, NZ Petroleum 2016 for 400 attendees at SKYCITY Auckland. Their remit was to showcase the best and brightest from the country’s oil and gas industry, and around the world, at their premier three day event. The objective of the conference was to celebrate the success of the industry, showcase solutions, and highlight the future potential of the sector. This was the first event that Encore (known then as Staging Connections) had managed for this association, through the event management organisation Avenues Event Management, so the team carefully created an audio visual solution to support the conference plenaries, breakouts, an exhibition and conference dinner for the 400 attendees. To further maximise the value of the content being presented in the plenary sessions and the breakout sessions, the Encore New Zealand webcasting team captured the video footage and then uploaded it to a branded and custom designed webskin for viewers from around the world to watch. The benefits of webcasting your conference or corporate event Having the video of the speakers alongside their presentation content via an on-demand webcast enabled those interested in the conference - who couldn’t attend in person - to still be engaged by the association in the key messages of the conference. How the conference webcast worked: Captured valuable data via webcast login details Maximised the return on investment of high profile speakers in attendance, by securing a larger than normal audience Enabled the event management organisation to use tangible statistics of who had viewed the webcast, how long it was viewed, and provided insight into the most popular topics and speakers Ensured that content was filmed and saved, letting the association utilise pieces of footage in their marketing, on their website and across their social media channels to build hype in the lead up to their next event Continued the branding of the association via the custom designed webcast platform ensuring all the live and online visuals matched The conference’s key objectives: to celebrate the success of the industry, showcase solutions and highlight the future potential, were achieved via live and online audience engagement. The key messages and content shared by global thought leaders reached a wider audience than they would have without the webcasting technology and the event managers utilised the webcasting statistics to further prove the success of the conference and return on investment. Webcasting is a win win for conferences! Find out more about about Encore's event webcasting services. What did the client say? “Following a competitive tender to provide comprehensive AV services to our March 2017 conference at SkyCity in Auckland, we selected Encore. Their proposal was compelling at both a technical excellence and economic level. Our requirements included the webcasting of all plenary and breakout sessions. These needed to be compelling, easily accessible and accurately represent the “feel” of the live presentation. Encore delivered on this requirement, producing a fantastic resource that has viewed many times and received great external feedback. With delivery capability and innovation like this, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Encore for AV services”. Cameron Madgwick, Chief Executive, Petroleum Exploration & Production Association of New Zealand (host of the annual New Zealand Petroleum Conference. Partner with the webcasting experts for your next conference Encore offers Australia's most customisable webcasting platform. Whether you want to simply reach a wider audience, sell access to your event online or host your event during work hours - webcasting may provide the perfect solution. We have partnered with countless local and international brands to deliver webcasting services for all kinds of corporate events. From company announcements, through to educational seminars, conferences and sporting events, our webcasting platform can be tailored to suit your event's needs and objectives. Find out how webcasting can increase your event's return on investment by speaking with a Encore representative today by calling 1800 209 099 or by sending an online enquiry. ... Read More

There’s literally an app for everything these days. As in every area of human endeavour, smart phone applications are used to enhance, improve and connect our event experience to the rest of our digital lives. Your audience can benefit from up to the minute event updates, location-based awareness, detailed information and special offers, all in the palm of their hand. Event organisers benefit from attendees engaging with and promoting the event beforehand, maximising your exhibitors and sponsor’s satisfaction while on-site and accessing useful data from your audience through active links such as Event Poll. Event apps are now an expectation at major conferences, exhibitions and other similar events. Whenever there are multiple sessions, several active rooms and competing options for a delegate’s attention, an app is a welcomed tool to navigate what’s important. If an attendee uses an app to ensure that they see who they are most interested in, hear talks on the topics most relevant to them and therefore get the most out of their time, they’re more likely to return to the event next year and recommend it to others. The app itself can also be the platform by which their recommendation is broadcast to their network via links to social media channels. Make your event app your digital Programme Some of the efficiencies of using an app as an event programme are self-evident. Apps don’t need to be printed, transported, mailed out or stacked in boxes at the event to be handed out. If there are last-minute changes, they can be updated easily and distributed to all attendees instantly. Using an app will drastically reduce your event’s carbon footprint and environmental impact. The economic advantage of a programme to the organiser, namely selling advertising space, is easily retained. In fact, the capacity to advertise in an event application is greater than print – advertisers can run interactive content, link to their websites and even run video. Event organisers can package advertising at multiple price points with varied levels of sponsorship. An event app promoted properly in the lead-up period is a powerful promotional tool in itself. A concerted campaign to get the app used before the event will help increase visitor numbers by building anticipation. Your audience can start using the app to plan out their visit, book into certain sessions or make appointments to meet with specific people. They can then recommend the session they’re attending to others by linking to their social network, share the link for the event, or get further recommendations on what’s hot at the show through in app bulletins. Event apps let you communicate and provide information to all of your attendees instantly Promote your app heavily and widely with a decent lead-time before your event. Links to the app should be included in all of your electronic communications. This includes regular emails to your customers, dedicated mail-outs to your database, frequent mentions and links on your social media platforms and in all print advertising for the event. Aim to have the app users promote the app itself – provide rewards in the form of giveaways, discounts or special ‘access’ to speakers or sponsors as a motivation to share the app with others. An event app is the best way to link attendees with the colleagues, suppliers or speakers most important to them at the event. A professional social network like LinkedIn provides a fantastic tie-in to a well-engineered event app. In the weeks leading up to the event, app users that have tied their LinkedIn accounts to their app presence can see who among their existing connections is also attending, and have other members that are not yet connections suggested to them as valuable business contacts. A user can then build an organised calendar of appointments, catch-ups, seminars, social events and supplier meetings, guaranteeing their attendance and maximising value for time and money. Using the event app on showday Even as the event opens and the audience pours in, keep promoting your app. Make highly visible references to the app and how to download and install it throughout the venue. This can done via lanyards, digital signage, goodie bags, flyers and posters around the room. You can assist people to do this by providing easy instructions on how to connect with the URL and access code prominently displayed. QR codes, posters and mentions in all seminar introductions and speeches will all drive your audience to engage with your app. When your MC or main speaker kicks off the event, ask them to promote the app, explaining what they can access and encourage all attendees to download. While the utility of your app is obvious to you and the early adopters at your event, some of your audience may need another motivation to browse it and then discover its value for themselves. You can increase uptake by offering giveaways, exhibitor prizes or sponsor discounts that are exclusive to app users. Make the announcements prior to exhibitors so they can spread the word. Make it clear how to find the app and how to benefit from the in-app prizes and concessions. Event apps let you upload a variety of useful event information The usefulness of your app to your audience depends completely on the kind of information and content included. Your attendees will expect easily navigable maps of the event, with locations of exhibitors, function rooms and utilities clearly labelled. Real-time location-based services such as Google maps can assist in local area navigation if the attendee leaves the venue. Agendas that can be used to create an event schedule for the user are another must-have. Bios of speakers and abstracts of their presentations should be included as part of the listing. In a tradeshow format, or any other event with multiple suppliers showcasing products, an app offers a broad canvas for information. Exhibitors should be encouraged to include as much engaging detail as is practical, from personnel profiles of who’s on their stand to a video showcasing their products and services. Your mutual aim is to drive as much traffic to their stand as possible. Get them involved with product giveaways and encourage them to promptly respond to emails received by attendees through the app. The more value they feel the organiser provides to their presence, the more likely they are to return to the event. Using an event app gives a streamlined end user experience As an attendee who is using the app, this is your ideal show; you have set up appointments with some of your existing suppliers and some potential new ones on their stands. This saves all of the time-wasting and occasionally embarrassing waiting around at busy exhibits trying to speak with your contacts. Through using the app in the weeks beforehand, you’ve managed to set-up a lunch with some like-minded colleagues from interstate and overseas, which turns out to be the start of a successful project. During your meetings and conferences, you’ve connected digitally with new people you’ve met. This is a stark contrast to the collection of business cards and half-remembered conversations that used to be the aftermath of trade events. During the key-note speaker’s presentation, you participate in live Q&A through Event Poll and see your Selfie on the big screen via Event Feed. Your reaction and follow-ups on social media are read by your customers and followers outside of the event, promoting your brand. Get Appy Deeper engagement from your attendees leads to greater satisfaction, a higher likelihood of participating again in the future, and a greater likelihood of recommending the event to others. Higher foot traffic and deeper customer engagement for your exhibitors means a greater chance of getting their repeat business. Good attendance from interested audiences at sessions promotes your forum as one that leaders want to speak at. Apps help all of this to happen by making it easier to link people with who and what they are interested in, and get them to the right place at the right time. And after the event a platform that can be edited for next year. This article was written by General Manager of Digital at Encore, Tim Chapman. Get your own event app for free! Encore’s event app platform is called Cumulus. We believe every event can benefit from instant communication with attendees so we've made this available for free when you use Encore for your event services. The Digital team have extensive experience to ensure that your message, your audience and your presenters get the most out your app. Talk with the team in the planning stages of your next event to find out the best ways to create your content, distribute your app and use it on-site. Every potential attendee is carrying the perfect platform for you to promote your event and share it with the world – seize the opportunity to help your audience build your event! If you are interested in finding out more about Cumulus, get in touch with an Encore representative by calling 1800 209 099 or by sending an online enquiry. ... Read More

In an Australian first, Staging Connections partnered with Mirvac to bring the spirit of Christmas to one of Central Sydney's largest shopping centres, Broadway Shopping Centre. Mirvac approached Staging Connections with the opportunity to create an unforgettable lighting installation in Broadway Shopping Centre. With the true meaning of Christmas at the core of the project, Mirvac aimed to bring joy to each of the +1.3 million pre-Christmas shoppers who enter the centre during the month of December. Event Brief To ensure the installation created a premium Christmas shopping activation, it was important the project delivered: A unique Christmas experience – never before seen in Australia Innovative use of technology A multi-sensory experience Event Solution Inspired by UNESCO’s Year of the Light, Staging Connections produced the concept of Luminous, a revolutionary kinetic light show featuring a matrix of 39 specially constructed LED light spheres that wowed shoppers, with choreographed movements synchronised to a dedicated Christmas sound track. The show involved a series of six different Christmas themed experiences, including Joy, Love, Giving, Sharing, Hope and Peace. The performances were scheduled to commence every half-hour, rotating through each of the six routines which lasted between 3 to 5 minutes each. The free show wowed shoppers with views of love hearts and Christmas trees that formed from the light spheres. To maximise visibility of the installation by shoppers, the sphere lights were suspended above the shopping centre’s central void, at the entrance, by a 6m x 5m grid of truss which supported the 39 individual 350mm LED lights, each attached to 9m winches which allowed isolated control of speed and direction. The elite software required to manipulate the individual lights was not previously available in Australia and had to be sourced internationally. This cutting-edge technology was utilised to produce the complex patterns and shapes that were core to the show. Using the latest AV Equipment The GrandMA was the primary control system along with a 3D Media Server managing the spheres in the 3D space. The spheres were mapped in virtual 3D space within the 3D Media server, which also generated programmable movement patterns which could be recalled via Artnet DMX from the GrandMA. The movement of each sphere was converted from “Movement in Metres” to DMX values and sent back to the GrandMA, where it was then merged with the colours being triggered from the GrandMA. Using the Agenda item on the GrandMA we were able to trigger the 3D Media server to playback the audio track. Each audio track was converted to Mono on the Left channel and striped with Linear Time Code (LTC) on the Right track. When the GrandMA received the time-code it would execute all cues from that point on. The scheduler ran each show every 30 minutes from 1000-2100 for 29 days. The team also had the ability to ‘remote in’ to trigger shows manually, adjust the volume or change the schedule. In addition, there was a sub system that would send an email if there was something wrong with the system, alerting the team to run a system check. Iconic Christmas tunes played from two dedicated PA systems anchored on level 1 and 2 at either side of the void, creating a multi-sensory experience to capture the magic of the Christmas spirit for shoppers. Mirvac encouraged shoppers to share their experiences of Luminous via social media which resulted in numerous videos and images being shared on Instagram, providing the client with positive online exposure and personal recommendations from shoppers sending their friends and family to the centre to witness the production. Related Articles LED Yo-Yo Ceiling Installation for Million Dollar Lunch Awards night uses projection mapping for WOW-factor stage design Transform your event with these creative stage designs ... Read More

Audiences are no longer spectators, they expect more – to be a part of the action. Immersive marketing techniques will allow you to engage them in every element of the event. Not every event has the Hollywood movie budget to allow a completely theatrical and immersive experience, however there are three easy tools that can be deployed that will boost the audience’s engagement at events. Today, most brands recognise event marketing as an integral part of their integrated marketing portfolio; deepening relationships that have been built in person, online, on devices and through interactive media. And the proven result is that brand awareness skyrockets! Branding an event is about keeping your key messages clear, and in the mind of your attendees. You want them to remember the call to action and the company or product name long after they’ve left, so you can get the best return on your investment. That’s why it’s vital that any logo or naming is prominent throughout the event experience – prior to arrival, through the event itself, and at any other additional events such as dinner or awards presentations. Your options have increased from the standard vinyl banners and signs, to now an almost unlimited palette of tools, so take advantage of the latest physical, social and digital opportunities to engage your audience. 1. Digital immersion Immersive marketing is about creating an experience that totally captures your attention and digital techniques have all the power here. They’ve become the new black, offering a number of high-powered, large-scale projectors, projection mapping and flat panel displays that can catapult brands front and centre. LED walls, pixel mapping and digital signage are all techniques that can surprise and delight your attendees, and leave a lasting impression. See all the latest digital trends featured at this year's InfoComm conference. 2. Social immersion The best way to define what makes an experience immersive is to see how it differs from non-immersive events – does the branding interrupt the flow of the event? Do the messages feel clunky or forced? An immersive event will seamlessly and imperceptibly integrate the brand into every element of the event so capture your audience’s attention and let them create a buzz for you online. Create snap-worthy physical experiences and attendees will be dying to share the content with their friends and colleagues on social media. If you can convince your audience to post the event’s content to their networks using your company or event’s hashtag, incorporating your graphics and spreading your message, then you will have gained some of the most valuable endorsement possible - word of mouth. This sort of two-way communication can be achieved by integrating social integration platforms such as Event Feed, into your event. It encourages attendees to get involved and become an integral part of the event, thus immersing them in the event from a social perspective. What is Event Feed? Event Feed allows you to capture your guests’ tweets, Facebook and Instagram posts via a dedicated hashtag and displays them instantly on screen for all to see and comment. It’s great for encouraging that festive cheer and if everyone is going to be posting anyhow, why not take advantage of that? Private Events: If your event is private and you don't want the posts going public, Event Feed can also provide a closed platform where your colleagues simply upload their images and messages at a secure online location which Event Tweet then pulls from. For more information please visit the Event Feed product page. 3. Physical immersion There’s still a huge range of applications for tangible, three-dimensional objects to support your message, and depending on your event, budget and brand they can sometimes be more effective than their digital equivalents. People absorb and retain information from a book differently than a screen, and different people respond to various mediums, so cover your bases using physical displays as a solid reinforcement of your brand that can be touched and shared in way that an electronic image can’t be. Event Backdrop by Staging Connections is built by stretching custom-printed nylon across a high-tech aluminium frame and comes in a variety of standard sizes so you can surround and immerse your audience in visual displays from $2,500. What is Event Backdrop? One of the hardest things event planners face is striking the right balance between styling and branding. If you go too far towards styling your brand gets lost, but if you go too heavy towards branding your event becomes too corporate 'dry'. So what if we told you there is a simple and cost effective solution to get the best of both worlds? Introducing our latest branding solution, Event Backdrop. Now your branding can be integrated into a stunning custom designed backdrop, printed in photographic quality onto canvas. It's the perfect way to marry your styling and branding and guarantee your branding features in photos. Event Backdrop can be used for all event sizes and types as it comes in 3 sizes and can be internally lit or projected onto. For more information please visit the Event Backdrop product page. Whilst a product launch featuring 3D projected aliens jumping out of caravan may be an immersive experience, consider whether or not your event requires stunt theming, or whether you can tailor these three marketing strategies listed above to create an experience that too immerses your audience in the brand and key messages of the event. Related Articles The Next Frontier: Immersive Conferences Staging Connections is now part of the Freeman Co family - the world's leaders in brand experiences. If you have an upcoming event you need to plan and need ideas for how to best create an impact whilst delivering against your objectives, contact us today. ... Read More

We're excited to announce our beloved Event Tweet, has had an upgrade with a fancy new name to suit - introducing Event Feed. The new name comes as we rebrand the social media platform to more accurately represent the enhanced functionality of the platform. 1. Event Feed pulls in Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Posts Now Event Feed (previously known as Event Tweet) captures not just in-room and virtual event audiences’ (aka via webcast) tweets, but also Facebook and Instagram posts through a dedicated hashtag. Posts are moderated and sent live to screens, on a choice of animated templates. This means no matter where your audience is posting you can harness all the social hype and pull it into one centralised location to display instantly on screen at your event. It's a great way to encourage engagement with your attendees and get them interacting with your brand. Plus, the act of them posting your branded hashtag means your brand is being exposed to all of their social followers. 2. Event Feed allows for a closed social media feed for private functions In an Australian first, Event Feed will now offer companies the option to create their own private social media feeds, ensuring content shared via a private web link is not available to the public. Pictured left is the private Event Feed Staging Connections Group and Freeman used to allow for inter-company engagement to support the acquisition announcement to employees. As Tim Chapman, General Manager of Digital Event Services at Encore (formerly Staging Connections) commented, this feature is set to revolutionise large-scale engagement, whilst ensuring privacy and security for those companies that need it. “With privacy a key concern for businesses, the ability of these exclusive Event Feeds is that only those at the event can view the interaction on the internal event screens. “Building a community through engagement and interaction is the goal of every event. Event Feed boosts conversation if you want to go viral, and now also has the option to keep that conversation exclusive and in the room. “Social media is so heavily engrained as a key method of our daily communication, so it’s fitting that events integrate it as a key method of engagement. People enjoy using social media, and contributing ideas, questions and solutions via this platform at a conference, product launch or sales incentive is informal and unpretentious. Our clients continue to see a wider range of conversations happening, generating bolder and more daring ideas – which are often some of the best! “With recent research showing Generation Y and millennials place higher priority on technology at events, these enhancements to our social media integration platform has been part of the investment we have been putting into event technologies,” Mr Chapman concluded. Event Feed information and pricing Header Image: Event Feed used at this year's Adelaide Football Club's 25th Annual Club Gala Dinner and was used to drive bids and promote the silent auction. Related Articles 25 Reasons You'll Love Event Poll How to get your event trending on Twitter 5 clever ways to use Twitter at your event Bring Your Own Device To Events ... Read More

The venue you choose for your event sets the mood and tone before your audience even steps inside. Its geographical location and reputation convey meaning to your invited guests before they RSVP. The process of getting there is shaping your attendee’s experience before they’ve experienced your message. Then there’s the myriad of practical considerations such as seating capacity, economic factors like equipment inclusions, and intangibles such as quality of service from its administration. With so much to take into account, where do you start? Your event venue location The first is location, where are your audience and what is going to work best for them? Bear in mind that closer isn’t always better – you might want to take them far from their usual places of work or residence to set your experience apart. Remote locations Remote locations such as holiday resorts are great if you have the budget and would like everyone’s attention completely to yourself for a few days, but these kind of events are only practical with large budgets, and are generally used to reward loyal customers or excellent sales staff. Metropolitan areas Back in the metropolitan areas, there’s a huge variety of traditional and non-traditional spaces to consider. For meetings, conferencing and staff training, the hotel function rooms and other dedicated event spaces have a solid offering that you’re probably already familiar with. Packages are standard, they understand the corporate market and they’ll provide a reliable service. Space Is The Place Will the venue you’re considering accommodate the number of guests you expect? Seated or standing, attentively listening or actively networking, you need to realistically assess if your audience will be too tightly packed, look lost in a cavernous space, or fit comfortably. If you're unsure about how you would set up the room then check our article on "how choosing the best seating style for our audience?" Think of their physical comfort as well Is the venue adequately heated or cooled, depending on season? And what’s their physical experience of accessing the venue going to be like? Are there any likely bottlenecks in parking, pedestrian access, doors or lifts? Is there a disabled access? Your event venue should match your message Each venue, whether convention centre meeting room or abandoned warehouse, has its own character and meaning inherent in its architecture and utilisation. The meaning and purpose of your event are best known to you, so choose a venue that can enhance that. Are you trying to get a workforce or group of consumers excited about something new? Then take them somewhere new. This can also work if you’re trying to get them to reappraise an existing product or idea; put it in a new context. If you are going to present material or processes that could be difficult, like how the company is about to be restructured, a familiar and conservative environment is advisable. A proximity thing When considering events with a large amount of attendees, like a major industry conference or exhibition, centrality, access and a well-serviced locale are essential. The venue must be reasonable to commute to from the nearest airport, accessible by multiple modes of public transport and close to multiple hospitality options, including bars, cafes, restaurants and hotels. This enables both exhibitors, sponsors and attendees alike to get the most from their investment of time and money. There are also downsides to well-serviced central venues. They can attract attendees who are there for curiosity only, diluting the value to serious participants. Their proximity to many of your audience’s places of work can also make it more likely for them to either be called away on urgent business or not make it at all due to last-minute time pressures. Create a checklist for your event Comparing your options with location, capacity and character being equal, it’s time to look at what each venue can do for you in terms of included in-house equipment and service. This can be a very long list of little things that can add up to a lot of time and effort of they’re not already on-site; tables, chairs, screens, projectors, lights, sound, whiteboards, flipcharts, paper, pens, urns, plates, cups, cutlery – the list is almost endless. Make a checklist of everything you expect or anticipate your guests will need to do while at your event and go through it with the venue to ensure that everything you need is either included, or quoted as an extra. It’s all in the budgeting Catering staff and costs are fairly easy to anticipate and understand. With a given number of people to serve and a set menu, any quote should be straightforward. Make sure you are aware, though, for the staffing aspects of the event that might not be so clear. Do you need dedicated AV, staging and lighting staff? Don’t assume that a technical aspect of your event is ‘set and forget’ and won’t require labour outside of set-up and pack-down. Talk to the in-house or your external technical provider to be absolutely clear about what and who is necessary for a good show. If you want more information about audio visual equipment you could check our blog post about our 8 audio visual tips to create a successful event. Get clear on venue access If your event includes a stage , set, lecterns, projection screens, flat-panel displays, props or other physical elements, find out how much of it the venue can provide and if their stock is adequate. For anything custom-built or hired for the event, check that it can physically fit in the venue. This doesn’t just mean whether its dimensions can be accommodated in the room you’re using, but also if the venue’s rigging points can handle the weight and that it can fit through the door or in the lift in the first place. It seems ridiculous, but some venues on floors above ground level are serviced only by very small lifts, severely restricting the size and type of equipment that can be (easily) bought into the space. Weighty Issues It’s factors like these that can have an unexpected impact on the cost of your event. Difficulties in the physical access to the venue mean longer call times for any staff employed to load in or out. On large events with a lot of crew, an extra hour or two of time equates to many thousands of dollars in costs. If your event requires a truck’s worth or more of external equipment to be delivered to the venue, find out what the loading dock access and process to get to your specific space is like. House staff and any contractor that has serviced the venue will be able to give you a fair assessment and adjust their quotes accordingly. Understand the rigging capacity Another area to make sure that you have received expert advice is the rigging capacity of the venue. In-house equipment such as lights, sound and screens will already be safely hung, but if you’re bringing in extra gear, make sure that its weight isn’t going to exceed safe capacity once added. Similarly, if you’re coming into a ‘bare walls’ venue, ensure that it not only has the capacity to hold the weight of your equipment, but also has the basic infrastructure to rig from in the first place.Clear your sight-line Related to the issue of rigging is sight-lines – anything you hang has the capacity to interrupt your audience’s view. Where you hang could well be determined by what is practical and safe, and not by what is convenient for your audience. All of these issues are best discussed with in-house staff and your external provider well before committing to a contract. Don’t overlook the power A final and often overlooked element is the amount of electrical power available in the venue. This is most often an issue in older buildings, but it can arise as a problem if you’re bringing in a lot of lighting, audio and video equipment to a venue that doesn’t usually host events of that type. Power requirements are something that can only be determined and checked by specialists. The in-house staff and any external equipment provider will need to put their heads together in order to ensure that everything that needs to run, can. Particularly heavy users of power include large LED screens, lots of large moving lights and PA systems designed to cover 1000 or more people. Add to this a requirement for extra heating and you may have to look at hiring in generators in order for the event to function. Get a head start At Encore Event Technologies we acknowledge that there is a lot to consider when finding the perfect venue for your event. To help get you started, we have developed Venue Locator, a clean, easy-to-use web tool. Simply choose your location, event type and amount of guests, and Venue Locator will return results tailored to your requirements! Want to stay up to date with industry trends? Browse our range of downloadable Event Insights papers ... Read More

This week we launch our new blog series Techie Tuesday. Each week we will aim to demystify the world of AV equipment and event services lingo and reveal exactly what those techs are talking about. Up first on the grill is the 'Bio Box'. You may of heard technicians on site when setting up refer to the Bio Box in passing and felt bemused as to its meaning or use. Here we delve in to the history of the Bio Box and how it is used in events today. This week we launch our new blog series Techie Tuesday. Each week we aim to demystify the world of AV equipment and event services lingo and reveal exactly what those techs are talking about. Up first on the grill is the 'Bio Box'. You may of heard technicians on site when setting up for an event refer to the Bio Box in passing and felt bemused as to its meaning or use. Here we delve in to the history of the Bio Box and how it is used in events today. AV Discipline: Audio, Vision and Lighting AV Category: Equipment, Cabling and Storage AV Jargon: The Bio and/or The Control Room Description: The Bio Box is a dedicated area or room in an event space, which is traditionally used by Technicians to operate and control audio visual equipment for an event. The name originates from the “Biograph” film projector, which was one of the first film projectors to be produced. As there were no purpose built cinemas at the time, public halls & theatres were converted through the removal of seats and the building of enclosures or boxes to house the noisy film projectors - thus the name Bio Box. As films became more popular, purpose built cinemas were erected, with hidden projection booths. This left the converted halls and theatres with an unused enclosure or box at the rear of the room. With the evolution of sound, vision and lighting technologies, this disused space was utilised by Technicians for operating audio visual equipment, due to its isolation and centre position to stage. In today’s event market, the Bio Box is more often used for the patching of AV signals and equipment storage, due to their cramped spaces, restricted sight lines, and obscure access. Technicians typically prefer to control the AV elements from an area of the venue where they can experience the event from an audience’s point of view, delivering better outcomes for all stakeholders. In next weeks Techie Tuesday blog we talk Graphic Equalisers and why exactly you need one for your event. In the meantime if you have any words, terms or lingo you would like our AV expert to demystify for you please send your suggestions through to our contact form. Written by Andrew Thorne, ANZPAC Trainer & Assessor, Encore Event Technologies. Andrew Thorne is ANZPAC Trainer & Assessor and drives our training programs at Encore Event Technologies, including our Certificate III in Live Production and Services Program for our new trainees. ... Read More