2018 was certainly an exciting year for Encore Event Technologies. Not only did we rebrand from Staging Connections, our teams delivered nearly 41, 000 events across the Asia Pacific for our clients – from conferences, gala dinners and incentives to sporting events, roadshows and everything in between! We continued our pursuit of the very latest event technologies, like gesture control, kinetic lighting, custom projection mapping, new digital signage products and touch-screen technology, as well as being awarded the Meetings Events Australia Special Event of the Year!
Our creative teams also continued to shine, delivering on-trend styling, creative set designs and multimedia content that delivered an amazing brand experience for attendees.
Whilst we can’t talk about every event in 2018 – there’s just too many! – We are proud to share with you some of the highlight corporate events we delivered in 2018.
Queensland Hotel Association Awards for Excellence
Venue: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
Why: Our team loved bringing to life the fresh concept “A modern Beer Garden” for this year’s QHA Awards for Excellence. The concept allowed our teams to devise a styling heavy solution, enhanced by the technical production.
Encore has had the pleasure of delivering the QHA Awards for Excellence for many years, with the greatest challenge being how to outdo the previous years’ event. This year saw our South East Queensland team exceed client expectations in delivering a modern Queensland beer garden – complete with plenty of foliage, rustic red bricks and festoon Edison lights.
The event design included a stage set featuring two winding, foliage trusses framed either side of the stage, oversized curved circular trusses covered with foliage and beautiful festoon lighting, hung over the stage and dance floor.
Our team continued to engage guests following the main proceedings with a relaxed lounge zone for further networking.
The new Disguise media server ensured the announcement of the awards ran smoothly, managing 196 cues, live multi-camera switching, audio stings and entertainment tracks. As a final, but important element to any social awards evening, we incorporated our Event Feed platform into the event, projecting the social posts on screen to engage all the guests and extend its impact.
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The Million Dollar Lunch
Venue: Palladium at Crown, Crown Melbourne
Why: The combination of styling, design and AV technology to deliver a truly immersive experience for this year’s The Million Dollar Lunch makes it a highlight event for Encore. Each year our team is tasked with delivering some new and even more enchanting than the year before and this year’s event production definitely achieved that and more.
In 2018 we helped The Children’s Cancer Foundation achieve a record $2.5m at ‘The Million Dollar Lunch’. The coveted event attracted over 600 celebrities, socialites and high-profile business leaders to Crown Melbourne.
Encore Event Technologies were responsible for the audio and vision, lighting and custom multimedia for this milestone event, as well as conceptualising and pitching to event organisers the visionary theme – galaxies – to create an astonishing experience from out of this world.
The immersive event design began at the entrance where guests walked through “rocket ship” doors down a tunnel filed with sound and lighting effects and a smoke machine to simulate entering a space ship. Upon entering the main room, Palladium at Crown, we constructed a stage set using 14 Hex Panels in a diamond configuration outlined in LED lights to reflect the windows of a spaceship. Above the guests featured an impressive galaxy created used drapery and star cloth. The galaxy theme was carried right through to the centrepieces made out of internally lit spherical space ships.
Mark Holmes, Executive General Manager – Food & Beverage, Crown Melbourne, spoke about the event’s success,
“Encore Event Technologies were once again able to deliver and ensure the event was a success! As a valued partner they contribute in terms of every aspect of the event from the initial concept, to design, to flow and of course the content – once again a memorable event was delivered – thank you. The entire luncheon was seamless and remained true to our objectives, while contributing to a very worthy cause.”
Moutai China Product Launch Gala
Venue: Sydney Town Hall
Why: Our Sydney team created an incredible gala for Moutai China to celebrate its 50th year in Australia and to create an unforgettable launch for the limited edition Moutai China Sydney label. The unique and innovative stage design for this event using a holographic mesh screen made this a stand out for 2018.
Over 500 distinguished guests descended upon Sydney Town Hall for the Australian launch of Moutai China, “the world’s most mysterious spirit”. Our New South Wales team created a lavish, end-to-end experience that celebrated Sydney with a Chinese flair, bringing to life the message “Let the world fall in love with Moutai, let Moutai go to the world”. The event was designed to immerse guests in a Moutai China cultural experience intertwining the brand’s 2,000-year history throughout the event.
Encore was responsible for all aspects of the gala, from technical production, to creative delivery, digital and styling. The evening’s highlight was an electrifying unveiling of a special Australian label of spirit. Ten VIP guests were invited on stage to activate the unique countdown to reveal the new Sydney limited edition bottle.
A custom made, suspended 20m x 5m holographic mesh screen complimented the content across the two borderless screens, showcasing the brands history and highlighting the cultural significance of the occasion.
A separate, interactive space under the eastern gallery of Sydney Town Hall was designed with touch screens and pillar-wrapped graphics for guests to further immerse themselves in China’s national spirit brand.
The gala dinner was complemented by signature entertainment by the Moutai China Group, as well as a traditional Aboriginal dance. This was topped off by a powerful operatic performance by soprano Emily Anne Garth, who sang in both Australian and Chinese, a true merger of the two cultures.
Mocha Du, representing Moutai China, said the event was a great success.
“We could not be happier with the result. Our VIPs and delegation were enthralled by every aspect of the event and really engaged with our message.”
Routes Asia Networking Evening
Venue: Brisbane City Hall
Why: Tasked with shining the light on Brisbane for the Routes Asia Networking Evening, the event provided the perfect opportunity for our South East Queensland team to integrate our new Kinetic Lights into the event design.
This year we shone the light on Brisbane for the annual Routes Asia Networking Evening, featuring the prestigious Routes Asia Marketing Awards. Hosted in a different city each year, the awards night is part of a larger Routes Asia incentive program including a conference, trade show and welcome drinks for esteemed guests within the airline industry.
Our South East Queensland team were tasked with delivering the Networking Evening for 850 guests at Brisbane City Hall to the tune of “Make Brisbane Shine”. It was the perfect opportunity to integrate our new Kinetic Lights into the event design.
We designed and supplied audio visual, styling and multimedia content for the event and provided onsite stage management to ensure the smooth operations at the venue.
The creativity of the Staging team really stood out for the client, pitching a magical, Australiana-themed Outback Spectacular Welcome Drinks under the stars, complete with live horses, a white picket fence and festoon lighting – taking full advantage of the warmer Queensland climate.
Throughout Brisbane City Hall, stunning images of iconic Queensland destinations were displayed on an impressive 18.5m LED screen, providing the ideal backdrop for the Welcome To Country performance. A soloist from the Australian Girls’ Choir then took to the stage to begin a moving rendition of ‘I Still Call Australia Home’, before the huge LED screen was raised to dramatically reveal 50 fellow choir members, who gave the audience goose bumps with their performance.
Toni Kasch, Aviation Events Manager, Brisbane Airport Corporation, was thrilled with the outcome,
“The Encore team designed an event that impressed even our most discerning international guests. This audience is accustomed to attending incredible experiences across the globe and we really surpassed their expectations.”
2018 Air Power Conference
Why: Creative use of multimedia projections and projection mapping to inject life into presentations made this year’s Air Power Conference a highlight event for 2018.
Encore Event Technologies were engaged by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) to deliver this year’s 2018 Air Power Conference. Hosted at the National Convention Centre Canberra, the theme for this year’s forum was ‘Air Power in a Disruptive World’ – the challenge for Encore to bring to life for over 1300 delegates.
The aim of the event was to collaboratively explore how air forces can shape and exploit strategy, tactics and technology within joint military, national security and coalition operations in the emergent security environment.
Encore was tasked with creating a unique statement piece that would work in with the “world” and digital theme of the conference. A dominating 13m wide projection screen brought the conference program to life, with a 3m diameter globe suspended dramatically from the ceiling delivering on the global theme.
Over the course of the two-day event, our team designed creative multimedia projections to bring to life each of the presentations, discussing topics such as: AI, cyber, simulation; geo-political Interests and security policy; space and uninhabited aerial systems; and, people, machines and the military in the digital age.
The conference content was also live-streamed to the Convention Centre theatre foyer and the VIP area, enabling networking opportunities and session breaks to come complement the theme. Four gobos projected ‘flying’ aircrafts onto the ground and either side of the stage.
Sandra Finney, Corporate Manager at Department of Defence of Australia, commented on the success of the event.
“We are thrilled with the level of professionalism and “military-level” organisation the Encore team delivered for our event – our distinguished guests were full of positive feedback on their experience.”
Stuart Buchanan, General Manager ACT, Staging Connections, commented on the work the Staging team delivered.
“As this event is biennial, we get a real opportunity to change things up and create a point of difference for each iteration. We built on the 2016 event with some new and interesting technology aspects which were greatly appreciated by the tech-savvy delegation.”
This was the fifth time Encore team has partnered with the Royal Australian Air Force and worked on this event, providing audio visual and theming solutions.
Family Business Australia National Conference
Venue: Various around Alice Springs including Alice Springs Convention Centre
Why: The sheer logistical requirements needed to deliver this year’s Family Business Australia National Conference made it a stand-out event for Encore. The 4-day conference comprised of many events held in the remote Australian Outback. Without the comforts of indoor venues, the expertise of our team helped us overcome many challenges and deliver all events seamlessly.
The rugged beauty of Australia made the perfect backdrop for this years Family Business Australia (FBA) 20th National Conference. Hosted in Alice Springs from 9-12 September, the conference brought nearly 400 FBA members to the Red Centre to participate in the 4 day event.
Encore were engaged to produce the events, supplying all audio, lighting and projection for the whole convention, which included a conference held at the Alice Springs Convention Centre, numerous key-note speaker sessions, master classes and workshops that ran simultaneously, plus a number of social events throughout the region.
A highlight of the four day conference took place during the final evening. Following an incredible performance, our team filmed renowned artist and musician, Tommy Crowe, painting Aboriginal art onto a large canvas and projected his work onto the rock wall in real time, which gave the illusion of the painting being created directly onto the cliff.
Danielle Ricato, National Events and Sponsorship Manager, Family Business Australia was thrilled with Encore’s work.
“I don’t even know where to start when talking about this event, it was sheer perfection, from start to finish. “There were so many moving parts to this event, and I am in awe of the enormous amounts of work that went into making this all look effortless!” said Ms. Ricato.
Armistice 100th Anniversary Gala Dinner
Venue: Parliament House
Why: The creative use of multimedia content and technology to bring to life each of the messages – ‘Courage, Sacrifice & Hope – underpinning the Armistice 100th Anniversary Gala Dinner at Parliament House made this a standout event for Encore in 2018.
Encore proudly partnered with the British High Commission to deliver the Armistice 100th Anniversary Gala Dinner at Parliament House in The Great Hall. The auspicious event was attended by over 550 guests including politicians, celebrities and VIP’s from the British High Commission and Australian military.
Encore provided a complete event staging solution to bring to life the theme ‘Remembrance – Courage, Sacrifice & Hope’. Marking the 100th anniversary, the British High Commission wanted an emotional, uplifting event that had the weight of formality and captured the spirit of service via the delivery key messages of courage, sacrifice and hope.
A highlight moment of the event production was the ‘poppy drop’ moment which saw imitations of red poppy petals falling from the ceiling over the central stage.
The beginning of the event had all the right makings of a Remembrance ceremony – bugle players, Welcome To Country performance, and an official flag ceremony.
Encore delivered the first sequence ‘Courage’ using sombre red wash lighting and projected beautiful red poppies falling down the side pillars, providing an emotive backdrop for the performances and readings taking place.
Following more readings and brand interludes, the room was turned from red to blue marking the start of the next design sequence for ‘Sacrifice’. A bugle performance of the Last Post was a key moment for this theme. Encore dramatically lit four players on the upper balcony creating a central focus amongst the dark room to hear the moving sounds of the instruments.
All of this was designed to build to a dramatic start to the minute of silence. Following an incredible performance by a didgeridoo and bag piper, the music faded until the room turned black and silent. The central stage was spot lit while red poppies fell from the ceiling covering the main stage, marking the minute of silence to remember those fallen.
In the dark, two child vocalists moved into position and were spot lit once the minute concluded, erupting into a joyful rendition of “What a Wonderful World. The next sequence for ‘Hope’ had commenced.
More readings followed and the band played upbeat pieces to lift the room followed by Kate Cebrano who sang three numbers by Aretha Franklin, “Say a little Prayer”, “Think”, “Respect”. During these songs the atmosphere elevated and guests started swing dancing in front of the main stage!
The final performance brought all five of the entertainers back together on stage for a final version of “Waltzing Matlida” backed with the 30 piece band and 60 member choir.
As guests departed for dessert and drinks outside on the Queens Terrace as the RMC band played “Greatest Love of All”.
Accor Hotels Famil
Venue: Pullman Reef Hotel Casino Cairns
Why: Imagine seeing a lobster crawl across your lunch plate, waves crashing against your wine glass and schools of fish swimming beneath your plate as you dine. It’s an unforgettable experience that would last a lifetime and this is why this event made the cut for best events of 2018.
Encore partnered with the team at Pullman Reef Hotel Casino Cairns to host an exclusive VIP famil for 12 clients. Guests came from across Australia to experience the stunning tropical Cairns region and the Pullman’s premier conference and event offerings.
Encore delivered a complete event staging solution from concept to execution. The reef-inspired concept was developed around the viral sensation ‘Le Petite Chef’ – a unique dining experience that uses projection mapping to turn the table into a canvas for story telling.
The experience of the Encore team ensured the activation was executed seamlessly. We overcame several obstacles to ensure the table projection mapping was mapped with pixel perfect precision and feasible within the venue’s parameters.
To ensure a polished sensory experience, the visual elements of the project were matched with immersive audio effects and a delicious locally-sourced menu. The combination was incredibly impactful, with guests requesting the content be replayed four times over to absorb it all.
Adelaide Football Club Champion Gala
Venue: Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Why: Having delivered the Club Champions Dinner for 15 years, the biggest challenge lies in creating a more engaging experience than the last. In 2018 our Adelaide team delivered an impressive stage set consisting of 9 screens, brought to life with custom-made content and creative lighting design to create an unforgettable experience and new benchmark for the inaugural event.
Encore had the pleasure of partnering with the Adelaide Crows Football Club to deliver their annual Club Champions Dinner in August 2018. Over 1000 players and their partners, coaches, club staff, sponsors and of fans attended the coveted event at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
As the Crow’s official audio visual partner for 15 years, it was Encore’s task to deliver an incredible evening. With a solution heavy on custom content, innovative light and projection our Adelaide team delivery exactly that.
Encore provided a complete event production solution from the custom-made media wall through to stage design, on-screen content, lighting, production management and everything in between.
The room was lit with up with high brightness wash and profile intelligent lighting in the Crows colours of red, navy and gold, providing an on brand celebratory feel.
During dinner, guests were entertained by local Adelaide band, Reggae On with accompanying videos created by Encore.
Videos were displayed across nine screens, strategically positioned around the room to ensure guests were able to view them wherever they were seated.
Behind the stage were five portrait screens placed to create a cascading effect; a 20×11 foot high resolution blend screen, between two 16×9 foot screens, flanked by two 13×7 foot screens. There were also four 20×11 foot screens, one in each corner of the room, to maximise viewing.
When it was time for the awards, Encore used high resolution data projectors to display a highlights reel and player profiles of each winner as they were announced. The player profiles consisted of video clips of players, shot in front of a green screen and superimposed on custom designed digital backgrounds so they appeared life-like with club colours and player stats. All content was created by Encore and provided a visual feast for guests.
Another personal touch delivered by Encore on the night were profiles of past champions dating back to 1991. Traditionally displayed on printed banners hanging on the walls, Encore brought these to life, creating custom images and graphics and displaying past winners digitally on screens throughout the night.
Susan Hall, Events Manager, Adelaide Crows commented,
“The Adelaide Football Club has partnered with Encore for many years to deliver our Audio Visual requirements for events, game days and community programs. With over 100 events each year, along with our 3 major annual events, it is imperative to move with the times and feature up to the minute Audio Visual including sound, vision, lighting, event styling, multi media production and presentation. Our major event, The Club Champion Dinner, is a reflection of the season and relies heavily on the vision component for the evening in order to recognise and award our players. Encore not only meet our brief and budget, but work with the Club to deliver a showpiece to remember. Feedback from our Board, Executive and guests has been overwhelming.”
Consult Australia Awards Night
Venue: Park Hyatt Melbourne
Why: Clever drapery, immersive styling and theatrical lighting and sound FX made this year’s Vintage Circus themed Consult Australia Awards for Excellence a stand out for 2018. The event was truly a carnival for the senses creating an unforgettable experience for all.
Guests were invited to a night at the circus for this year’s Consult Australia Awards for Excellence at Park Hyatt Melbourne. Held on 10 October 2018, Encore created a vintage circus experience for the 250 guests.
Styling was a key component to achieving the look, with the hero a ceiling installation using red and white fanned drapery to create the “under the Big Top” effect. The ceiling was lit in reds, whites and ambers to create additional mood and excitement. Beautiful red and white velvet drapes also lined the venue to simulate tent walls.
Circus themed table centrepieces were designed using popcorn bucket bases with a string of fairy lights emerging from the top to meet a large red or white helium balloon. The centrepieces were individually lit from the ceiling to add additional colour and focus.
To complete the Circus atmosphere, moving lights were hung from the ceiling to search across the crowd to simulate the “Roll up, Roll up” introduction of the Circus Ringmaster and acted like a crowd spotlight throughout the course of the evening.
Mark Rock, Marketing Manager at Consult Australia commented, ‘We were very pleased with how this year’s Annual Awards for Excellence went. The Circus theming was extremely striking and the feedback on both the look and feel of the room was overwhelmingly positive.”
The event was truly a carnival for the senses creating an unforgettable experience for all.
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