Social Media has revolutionised event marketing and as such has found a solid place in most event communication plans. Used as a key promotional tool it is driving awareness ahead of the event and helping improve attendee numbers, but is it helping improve the event experience and boost engagement during the event? Social Media has revolutionised event marketing and as such has found a solid place in most event communication plans. Used as a key promotional tool it is driving awareness ahead of the event and helping improve attendee numbers, but is it helping improve the event experience and boost engagement during the event? Many event professionals are still failing to capitalise on the huge benefit social media interaction can have ‘during’ the event. Whether it is a one day exhibition or a three day convention it’s more than establishing a hash tag. The challenge is integrating social into the overall event design, being responsive and broadening participation beyond the confines of the event space. It can be problematic as the person who manages social media is not always included in discussions around event production, especially the technical side of things like vision, multimedia and webcasting. But social interaction is key to the success and longevity of event as engagement improves loyalty. So how can you make sure you integrate social media into your event design to engage attendees and broaden participation? Let’s talk tech – Engaging Attendees Do a walk-through in your mind and make a list of what the attendee will see, hear, touch or feel from start to finish at the event. At each audience touch-point from the entrance, to the table setting, to the stage, think about how you can engage the audience in social media participation. Twitter is a powerful way to encourage real time interaction and instantly gives you more visibility. Make sure you discuss with your technical team how you can include Twitter into the different areas of your event. Display your key social profiles on strategically placed plasmas and projected onto screens/ walls and prefacing any presentations. If you have speakers encourage them to engage the audience, asking them to tweet questions using the event hash tag. You could use a Twitter scroll on the bottom of your event presentations and/ or on all your holding screens. As another option consider a Twitter Walls, they are a unique visualisation of live updates and will instantly capture attention. With any of these tools you need to understand the technicalities and discuss any concerns with your production team. You want to get the most out of your investment so ensuring these additions are branded and integrated into the same look and feel as the rest of the event is essential. Moderation is so important when talking about live feeds. They can be populated two ways, automatically or operator controlled. With the latter you have more control as to what is seen but whichever you choose it is important your technical team are fully briefed. Equip them with knowledge of your social profile details, hash tags and key messages and so they can moderate the feeds for you and remove anything that may be off topic or potentially offensive. Beyond the venue – Broaden your participation If you are successfully engaging with attendees at your event, it is the perfect opportunity to broaden participation by being responsive. Assign a dedicated team to manage your social media channels as this is the time you are likely to see more activity than usual. Having a dedicated team at the event means you can not only respond to attendees at the conference but also broadcast sound bites to engage those that may not be there in person. Pay special attention to providing insight into what is happening at the event and highlight why it is beneficial to attend in person. You can go one step further and invite those who could not attend the event to join in via webcast. Webcasting has come a long way from the days of dial up and has evolved as technology infrastructures have improved as well as production capabilities. Webcasting is now a fully interactive social tool as your recording can be live streamed through YouTube or your Google+ Hangout. Twitter feeds can be integrated into the design to allow the speaker to engage in direct questions and gain valuable feedback in real time. Discussing the logistical challenges with your production team will allow you to understand how best to utilise this technology. In conclusion, Social Media offers much more than a promotional platform for your event. Utilised to its full capacity, you can take your event to the next level and broadcast to multiple locations extending your reach and allowing the experience to live on long after the event has finished. The real challenge is integrating it seamlessly into your overall event design. To do this you need to discuss your key social media objectives ahead of the event with your production team. They will be able to suggest the technical solutions available and how best to utilise the technology to ensure social success at your event. Written by Katie McDonald, Digital Brand Manager - Staging Connections Katie McDonald is the resident Brit at Staging Connections. Armed with post-graduate qualifications in Marketing and specialist skills in Digital Strategy, she is passionate about management, execution, and measurement of all digital efforts that enhance and humanize brands online. ... Read More

As International Women’s Day quickly approaches on Saturday 8th March, it has reminded me to reflect on women’s roles, influences and especially their impact on the events industry. As International Women’s Day quickly approaches on Saturday 8th March, it has reminded me to reflect on women’s roles, influences and especially their impact on the events industry. Intrinsic in the day to day of those who work in the events industry is the theme for this year’s International Women's Day, “INSPIRING CHANGE”. It calls for challenging the status quo whilst inspiring positive change – what an opportunity! Certainly one of the most creative industries in Australia, the process of producing an event, offers the perfect platform to inspire change and ask the questions that will drive that change into effect. Events are held to create a return – for the guest and for the organisation. But the question really is - Why have they decided to hold or attend the event and what does that return look like? When you ask why, you find out that underlying reason that can help you inspire change in the return for all stakeholders. Never has there been an International Women’s day theme more relevant for women of the events industry! It’s our time to challenge the status quo, to get better results than ever before, to use technology not seen before, to find new and exciting spaces, to challenge our own thinking, to inspire our clients in new ways, to ask the hard questions, peel back the layers of the event process and ask why? It’s an opportunity to get to the heart of the meaning of events and many of you get this opportunity every day. So go on, step up, start asking why and then get on with inspiring the change you want to see. Written by Catrina Bennell, Venue Services Manager - Staging Connections I love the hustle and bustle of event and the way they challenge everybody to their best advantage. It’s great to see everyone working together to achieve a fantastic result. ... Read More

Our Sydney Event Director, Chris Lewis, talks SHOWcraft for events and how you can introduce the extra wow factor through living environments, live screen interaction, impressive presentation content and more. 1. Concentrate on the customer journey Be creative with your event design and ideas – think differently about the experience you want your attendee to have and how your brand elements can not only be integrated into the event but also how you can use this opportunity to create an interactive and memorable experience of your brand. The event brand should be consistent throughout every interaction and the look and feel should start with the initial correspondence through the invitation or conference website. The event brand should be consistent throughout every interaction and the look and feel should start with the initial correspondence through to the invitation or conference website. At the event it should be carried through all touch points - from directional signage, centrepieces, collateral and not forgetting the digital content. 2. Presentation Style With display technology getting better, brighter and clearer, the presentation of screen content is more important than ever before. Gone are the days of PowerPoint slides filled with words, words and more words as presenters are realising the need for rehearsed content, fewer words on screens supported by powerful statement images. It’s essential that the PowerPoint content for your event is not an afterthought and the appropriate time is spent authoring a presentation that is not only impressive (and branded!) but conveys your event message in a memorable way for the audience. 3. The Next Big Thing - Live Screen Interaction We are always on the lookout for new and exciting entertainment solutions and innovative presentation techniques, challenging the status quo of what has been seen before. Think about having a live performance choreographed that interacts with a digital environment; this will create new depth to the audience perspective and overall experience. Presenters are also getting into the act of interacting with live screen environments and we predict that you will see augmented reality in the presentation environment used more frequently in the next two years. 4. Stage Environments The keyword for many business’es this year is ‘accountability ensuring that each investment is effective and delivers a return with great digital content you can change your stage environments quickly without investing in heavy set pieces that need changing throughout the day. Projection mapping is a technology which can be utilised to bring a new dynamic to your event, a few simple stage elements combined with vibrant screen content creates a digital landscape that delivers a sense of depth to the stage environment and an engaging focal point. 5. Room Environments Next time you're planning an event make sure to consider the overall room environment. Your delegates will be sat in a room all day or night and it’s equally important that we enhance all areas of the environment creating an entire event experience in addition planning what is happening on the stage. Creative effects, clever use of house lighting, audio levels from speech to video, site lines from the audience to the stage even the level of air-conditioning right through to which water you choose for the tables. All these elements work together to create the overall SHOWcraft experience for your guests. Written by Chris Lewis, Event Director, Staging Connections. Chris has 20 years experience in the Special Events industry managing events ranging from small domestic meetings to large scale international events in Australia and abroad. His vast knowledge of event technologies and production management for events of all sizes has made Chris one of the most sought after Event Producers in Australia with creative know how and a passion for taking entertainment, technology and event solutions to their creative heights. ... Read More

Putting on a major event such as a conference or new product launch is a highly demanding undertaking. It's also one that has to be carried out flawlessly. Your organisation's reputation and bottom line depends on it. That's why it makes sense to work with trusted event partners. The complex task of staging a major event such as product launch, demands a rare and specific set of skills. Staging Connections has these skills gained in its 25 years of experience in putting on all types of events all over Australia and beyond. AV Hire from Staging Connections to the Rescue You'll find working with experienced technical event partners offers you a stress-free and effective way to handle the most complex project. Here's what we can do. Determine your needs and work with you to clarify what audio visual equipment you need. Then work out the best way to present that message through the media of av techniques and lighting. We also create the right style of stage set to fit with your company and the theme of your event. Install and setup all the technical equipment needed for the event. This covers the stage, backdrops and screens along with the full range of equipment needed to present your message. We create floor plans, work within the plenary and breakout sessions, setup and speaker preparations systems. It's a complex array of vital tasks that have to be done. To successfully carry out such an enterprise demands a rare blend of sound management systems, rock solid technical knowledge to ensure that all systems are in place and running to perfection, along with the artistic sensibility to create an event that impresses and resonates with all participants and viewers. This kind of management is vital to the success of your next important event. It's the kind of support Staging Connections has been providing to it’s clients the last 25 years. ... Read More

Every year we see the ripple effect of what’s hot in Hollywood washing up on our own shores. So it’s no surprise that last year's event themes were dominated by the much loved Great Gatsby. It’s clear to see the influence pop culture has over every facet of society and events are no exception. Any thoughts on what’s in store for event themes in 2015? Hint: it’s more than a few of shades of grey! If grey’s not your colour, don’t fret, our stylists have thought of it all from blues to florals and metallics, 2015 is going to be one exciting year on the event styling front. Our talented Event Stylist in Queensland, Georgia Strachan, reveals what we can expect to see on the event circuit this year. Event Trend: A Couple of Shades of Grey Moving away from heavily-styled event themes, is this new wave of event styling – simple, sophisticated and subtle tones with pops of bright and bold colours. With home improvement shows like ‘The Block’ dominating our little screens, our clientele are becoming more educated on styling strategies and hence are placing more emphasis on simple event designs than large-scale theming. Just like our best friend ‘white space’ incorporating grey tones into your event designs allows you to emphasize important details. However, whilst simple, clean event styling can create an air of sophistication for your event, if it’s dynamic impact you’re after than we recommend opting for a themed Immersive Event. Event Trend: Immersive Events With the ever increasing role technology plays in the way events are brought to life, over the last few years we have been moving away from 2D cut-out props and conventional sit down dinners in favour of interactive, dynamic and content-based theming. These are called 'Immersive Events’ that challenge attendees to get up, get moving, think outside the square and really get in the spirit of things. They focus heavily on Technical Creative Production where large scaled digital screens house various forms of content that bring your event to life. If you’re looking for more immersive events inspiration check out our magical Harry Potter themed event we did earlier this year in Adelaide. Event Trend: Metallics Out with the gold and in with the metallics. This year we will see the classic gold and silver being joined by copper, pewter and bronze as the new metallics. From glomesh style glitz to understated matte finishes, we will be seeing metallics on everything including linens and centrepieces to sets and stage concepts. Event Trend: The Blues Blue is the new black. From dark Indigo to classic navy – dark blue is our favourite colour this season. It will be replacing black as the go-to colour for formal dinner looks and event styling. Blue adds a crisp modern twist, a Hamptons-style nautical flavour to lunches, weddings and casual events when teamed with vintage glass and white washed timber elements. So step aside Black, there’s a new kid on the block! Event Trend: Floral Sensations Florals are coming back in vogue. From watercolour pastels and Monet-like painterly effects to high impact, almost psychedelic prints...steer clear of liberty and chintz and embrace the flower power! We’re seeing florals integrated in event themes in creative and innovative ways – as centrepieces, ceiling installations, paper decorations, table linen and even via projection mapping in the lighting. Our stylists search the globe for what’s trending so they stay ahead of the game. They’re inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes, from what’s happening in the fashion, movie and music industries to website designs and home wares. Want your next event styled like this or have an idea you want brought to life, get in touch with us today! Get your daily dose of event inspiration by following us on Instagram. Want to stay up to date with industry trends? Browse our range of downloadable Event Insights papers ... Read More

Custom-made multimedia content for your event isn’t a luxury anymore – it’s essential. Your brand, your message and your customers exist in an environment that now expects communication to be targeted, relevant and impressive. Cookie-cutter templates, presentations and graphics are an instant turn-off to an audience that needs to be engaged with creativity, wit and originality. It’s a daunting prospect to try and compete with major brands and professional creative teams on a global stage, but it’s the reality of working in marketing and events in the internet age. Your Audience has high audio visual expectations Your audience knows what is possible in event theming and branding because they’ve already been exposed to some of the best in the business, whether live or via the web. Australia punches well above its per-capita weight in the events industry, with production companies, artistic directors and staff sought after the world over. As a result, our audiences are used to quality. Your customers are no exception. Customising Your Event Content When thinking about what you can do to make your next event stay in your customer’s mind, start with a blank canvas. It’s tempting to build on a look or theme you’ve used before, but you need to create a unique experience. It is a hard place to start, so try asking yourself these questions; What is the truth of the product, image or idea you want to communicate? What concepts are associated with that? Most importantly, how do your audience see themselves in relationship to it, and how do they aspire to see themselves? What would your audience associate themselves with? When creating an event it is important to think about not only what your audience likes but also what they wish to be associated with. Social media is key to spreading your content beyond the event space and your guests have to want to publicize your event for this to be successful. People are most likely to share things that make them look interesting, funny, exciting and intelligent – all the positive qualities we’d most like to associate with ourselves. Customise your content with customer’s own perception of themselves in mind to resonate with their aspirations. Gather all of your existing multimedia content This is the first step in building up your new customized content. These include still images of staff or product, video material, design files for logos and product names and any other content related to branding, product or application. If your existing material doesn’t cover your vision for the event, talk to your AV provider about the best way to go about creating it. You may need to shoot stills and video, or edit existing assets. Don’t forget to bring any corporate style or branding guides that apply to what you’re doing. Consider your audio material Is there existing music associated with an advertising campaign? Does your company have an identifiable branded sting like Intel or Microsoft? A radically innovative idea for an event could include its own soundtrack, audio installation or theme song. Don’t rule out commissioning new material from composers or songwriters – it might just be the edge you need, and can be affordable in the long run, as digital collateral created for the event can go on to have multiple uses across the web. For more information onevent sound have a look at our previous post Go for Creativity and Practicality when choosing your Multimedia Designer When sitting down with the creative team, including the multimedia and graphic designers that will shape your event, bring all of your material, ideas and an open mind.A multimedia designer sits across both the unlimited world of the imagination and the pragmatic realm of the technical. Technically, anything really is possible, but there will always be a limit to your budget. On the flipside of that equation, you might have a tight budget, but you would be amazed what a resourceful creative and technical team can achieve with it if you trust them to advise you. Remember to Have Fun! While you may be guided by very strict corporate regulations on brand and image usage, don’t forget to have fun! This is especially applicable to hosting a gala dinner or awards night. Events like these ask for a more informal touch, and with digital theming and projections, you can create any kind of environment that you can imagine. Think about what suits your audience and your message – is it edgy, elegant, indulgent or family-friendly? What can you bring to it that people will not have seen before, or won’t be expecting? Staging Connections staff spend their entire professional life working on events like these, and will be able to tell you in the planning stages if you’re heading down an interesting track. They can also suggest concepts and techniques that might not have occurred to you. Again, bring a flexible attitude and benefit from experience. Experience is key On the technical side, there are a huge number of factors to take into account when looking at projecting image, video and other digital content onto screens or objects. For example still photos or videos that seem perfectly usable on a computer or hand-held device are probably unsuitable to be blown up to dimensions possibly metres across. A good multimedia designer will be able to give you a long list of things that do or don’t work when used for different applications. For example, for large-scale 2D projection mapping on the exterior of a building, high definition live video is often unsuitable. Computer animated graphics create much more successful results at that scale. It’s those kinds of insights that you only get from working with experienced professionals. Be mindful of changing resolutions For still images, logos and product branding, the higher the resolution and dpi (dots per inch), the better. It’s a good idea for any in-house graphic design or marketing staff to communicate directly with your AV provider’s multimedia creation team. Every multimedia creator will have a preference for what file formats, resolutions and definitions will be the most useful to them. They’ll also have a mind to what kind of image canvas size (1080x720, 180x1920 and so on) that will ultimately be beamed onto the walls, screens and surfacers of your event. Cut out any ‘Chinese Whisper’ effect or tedious double-up of effort by connecting your tech with your AV’s tech. Explore the possibilities If you’re unsure about the capabilities of technologies such as 2D or 3D projection mapping, get online and search for videos that include those terms. You’re going to find that digital theming of an event with custom-made multimedia content can completely transform any space, big or small. But keep them relevant While it’s good to get inspiration from what you’ll see, try not to be seduced by the ‘wow’ factor. It’s all very well that you could make the exterior of your event space look like it was collapsing as your guests arrived, but it’s just irrelevant if it distracts from your message. Build the beginnings of a major digital campaign Ultimately, engaging your audience and making your message stay in their minds is your goal. If you successfully brand a conference with new video and audio material, you have the beginnings of a major digital campaign. Integrate it with an ongoing social media and web presence, and follow-up with your attendees. Make sure to expand your new event theme into these areas: Email Campaigns Your email database will prove invaluable for this. Harvest details from everyone at the event if you don’t already have them, then send out follow-up material with the same theming. Film content Make it sharable across the appropriate social network – wherever you have invested your presence, and where your customers are. Staging Connections offers custom video production for your brand. Webcasting Creating a webcast of your event is a great way of extending your event space to all of those who could not come. Similarly this webcasted content can be used to market your brand later. Twitter Feeds Customise your Twitter feed with your event styling Event Poll theme Similarly you can import your graphics into an Event Poll theme to tie in all the aspects of your event to your message. Marketing packages Hosted on your website, your multimedia content will bring you continued return-on-investment, Use it to bring people to next year’s event, capture new customers or show those who weren’t there what they missed. Framing your company, brand or idea with fresh, intelligent multimedia content helps you cut through the noise of marketing in a crowded forum. Let us help you Staging Connections can provide a creation, delivery and post-event capitalisation strategy custom built to your ideals, audience and aspirations. They offer a vertically integrated service model that delivers marketing and creative advice, custom content creation and technical production, all unified by central communications and a clear brief. The advantage of the ‘one-stop-shop’ model is that all departments understand each other’s talents, capabilities and requirements. Our designers know exactly what specifications video and visual materials need to conform to in order for our equipment and technicians to produce the best results for you. Our event management staff know exactly what kind of preparation and vision you’ll need to create the best possible look for your event. Contact us to find out more about what custom content we can create for you to make your event exceptional. Want to stay up to date with industry trends? Browse our range of downloadable Event Insights papers ... Read More

The Mad Hatters Tea Party brief was for a fun filled room with props and teapots that created a Mad Hatter environment. We knew that the guests were going to be dressed in theme, giving us confidence to really get creative with the quirky side of the Alice in Wonderland story. The client expanded the ...

Hidden amongst the vineyards in the Barossa Valley was the secret location of one of our first major events of the year – can you guess the theme? Every year, our South Australian team are tasked with producing a spectacular sideshow event with a new theme and secret location fit for 240 guests – no easy feat. This year our goal was to create a magical and interactive ‘Hogwarts’ themed evening. We transformed the staffing quarters of the Old Penfolds Winery into ‘The Great Dining Hall’. To truly immerse our guests into the theme we left no stone untouched – from the lighting, table styling down to the delicious food served by local caterer Ellie Beer Catering – yes, she is the daughter of Maggie Beer. The magical evening began with the guests ferried to the event on a mystery bus tour, arriving in an array of costumes from School Uniforms to wizards and many other popular ‘Harry Potter’ movie characters. “They were greeted by a four piece cover band who played mystical wizardry music as they entered the re-created ‘Great Dining Hall’,” says Event Stylist for SA, Alana Bolt. The biggest challenge the team faced was copyright – “it forced our team to be clever about how we can allude to the theme without infringing any copyright”, says Bold. “We had to pull out all stops to across lighting, audio visual and catering to successfully do this.” Bringing to life an event everyone is so familiar with is very challenging, especially when the theme is magic! Our client originally wanted hanging candles but due to health and safety we opted for the table lanterns instead”. “Guests enjoyed grabbing their “Invisibility Cloak” as they entered the room. We placed moving fire lights along the stage backdrop to create magical movement within the artwork. There was also a haze bellowing out a large cauldron at the end of the room for special effect.” One of the most popular props of the evening were the two interactive photo areas: “The 9 ¾ platform with luggage at the pre function area where guests could get group photos in costume as they enjoyed pre dinner drinks. “Have You Seen This Wizard” photo and props photo booth with hats, glasses, trophy, maps to include in the photo. “[The] Most rewarding part of my job is the first reaction – the look on the guest’s faces the moment they see what we’ve created is priceless...it makes those all those months of planning all the more worthwhile” Overall it was a spectacular event that will certainly be hard to beat next year! But it couldn’t have been down with the amazing effort out South Australian team put in. A big thank you to everyone who contributed to bringing this event to life a special mention to Paul McCann ‘Logistic King of the Barossa’ for weaving his magic and making it all possible. Want to know more about event themes and styling? Get in touch with us today. Get your daily dose of event inspiration by following us on Instagram. View the entire event gallery here Want to stay up to date with industry trends? Browse our range of downloadable Event Insights papers ... Read More

With winter well and truly on its way, and summery outdoor events drawing to a close we have taken some time to reflect and compile a list of essentials to guide you in planning for next Spring/Summer. There’s no setting for an event that can compete with nature itself. If you’re organising any kind of ...