Encore had the huge honour of providing a complete event production solution for the 2022 National Folk Festival main Narragunnawali Stage. Over the course of the 4-day festival, Encore delivered all staging, lighting, audio vision and rigging components as well as looked after over 35 artists including national headline acts such as Kate Ceberano, Josh Pyke, Archie Roach and Yothu Yindi. The mammoth 3500 square meter tent hosted over 5000 people at times.
The stage needed to be large enough to hold a 200 person choir but also feel intimate enough for single performers. Our solution was a specially designed lighting rig to cater for the vast differences in the artist line ups. To ensure everyone had ‘the best seat in the house’ we utilised dual LED screens with a multi-cam shoot for imag and recording with the opening and closing ceremonies being live streamed to thousands around Australia and the world.
The who’s who of New Zealand real estate logged on to celebrate the profession’s best at the 2021 REINZ Awards for Excellence, delivered by Encore Event Technologies on 16 of September 2021. Hosted virtually for the first time, the awards night attracted more than 550 attendees from across New Zealand. The result was a seamless virtual experience, with all the glamour and excitement of a traditional in-person awards night — made possible by Encore’s experienced virtual events team.
Like many in-person events held this year, the Awards Night for REINZ forced to quickly pivot to Virtual Awards Night for REINZwhen New Zealand entered Alert Level 4 restrictions. With just three weeks until the event, it was all systems go for Encore’s production team to completely transform the format and take the event online. The short timeframe, compounded by this being the client’s first virtual event of this magnitude and the nature of the event – an online awards night that needed to match the experience of an in-person event – made for the perfect storm and needed expert production management to execute.
With the company’s CEO located in Hamilton – a level 2 restricted location – it became the logical place to broadcast the event from. With Encore’s production team forced to work from home under Auckland’s restrictions, they coordinated with local suppliers to construct a professional virtual studio that they could operate remotely.
Using Encore’s cutting-edge Immersive xR Stage combined with a green screen, the team were transported the event’s MCs to a stage with a picturesque backdrop of New Zealand’s iconic mountain range, The Remarkables. Award winners, sponsors and special presenters were remotely linked into the main event broadcast using Zoom.
The event was a resounding success, with the client and attendees commenting on their enjoyable experience.
“I never thought I could enjoy a virtual event so much, I too sat at home with a glass of bubbles cheering on the winners and absolutely loved how the camera jumped into their world for the win.”
Kate Smith – Operations Manager, Skills Consulting Group.
The long-standing client was grateful with the level of dedication the Encore team showed to ensuring Virtual Awards Night for REINZ was delivered seamlessly,
“The team at Encore were absolutely amazing to work with! To pull off a full virtual event in three weeks is impressive. Even when the live set moved cities and Covid Alert Levels! The Encore team provided guidance and innovative ideas to make this an exciting event for all those attending. I can’t wait to work with the team again in the future,” said Holly Adams, Events & Sponsorship Executive at REINZ.
Encore had the pleasure of hosting the 67th annual Victoria Training Awards 2021. Due to COVID restrictions prohibiting in-person events, the awards night were held completely virtual from the Encore Studio within Victoria Pavilion at Melbourne Showgrounds. The Victorian Training Awards recognise and honour the outstanding achievements of individuals and organisations in the Victorian TAFE and training sector. The prestigious Victorian Training Awards bring together apprentices, trainees, students, teachers, training providers, employers, and industry representatives, sharing in a high-quality training system that meets the needs of all Victorians.
Encore were asked to design a solution where they could stream from a studio for their hosts, and also have somewhere for all viewers to watch the live stream whilst engaging with each other on a virtual platform. Our Melbourne Studio fitted the brief perfectly as well as utilizing our interactive event platform – Chime Live.
The Melbourne Production department started with a blank room. Working from our 2020 Studio design and looking at new technology trends, the team came up with a space that could rival the TV networks. An abundance of Stage and Effect lighting fixtures compliments the giant LED screen which is at the centre of the Studio. Presenters were supported by a range of fold back monitors and screens, while the event is produced on Encore’s high end audio, lighting and vision systems. Encore’s multimedia department also assist in the creation of motion animations and keynote presentations.
Encore rocketed into action with only four weeks to turnaround a completely virtual event for 10, 000 attendees registered for the 43rd Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Scientific Assembly.
The event organiser, ICMS Australasia, was tasked with delivering the annual event in Sydney which was originally planned to be a week-long and Sydney’s largest conference to date.
Planning for the conference started in January 2019 and was going to be hosted across iconic Sydney venues including the ICC and Luna Park. The who’s who of the space industry was going to be in attendance from scientists and researchers (including NASA) to spaceship manufacturers and general space enthusiasts alike.
Then COVID hit.
After two postponements, they decided to instead opt for a completely virtual conference – a first for this event.
Encore’s complete virtual and hybrid event production offering made them the preferred choice to deliver the content for opening ceremony and awards night to the global audience. It needed to be impactful, entertaining and live up to standards of previous events held in the traditional in-person format. Adding to this requirement was also the need to create a seamless presentation, a simple request made challenging with the short lead time and presenters located around the world and compounded by COVID restrictions.
With Encore having just released their game-changing virtual stage, Immersive XR Stage, the powerful technology became the perfect solution.
Important elements of the Opening Ceremony was delivering a series of pre-corded interviews with the President COSPAR, Dr Lennard Fisk. As a space event it made perfect sense to make this the theme. Encore’s production team designed the virtual stage to make it appear as though Dr Fisk, was presenting from on-board a spaceship, zooming around space as he visited new locations for the interviews. A dream of Dr Fisk’s was to visit the Sun, so Encore took him there for one of his interviews.
This was all made possible using the sophisticated Immersive XR Stage technology.
To deliver the awards content, Encore’s production team created 17 production studios around the world to capture 19 recordings from the award winners and MC, from Sweden and Russia right across to Japan and New Zealand.
Encore was able to integrate with the local studio’s systems to allow our production teams to capture and edit the green screen footage all the way from Sydney. Each award winner’s interviews was set against stock footage of their home towns to make it appear as though they were presenting from there.
The event was a huge success for Encore’s production team, and a perfect example of the benefits of working with a company that can deliver all components. The long-standing relationship between Encore and ICMS Australasia gave the team the confidence and peace of mind Encore will deliver a professional experience.
Encore delivered an innovative, virtual solution to enable the GO Foundation’s Big Catch Up to continue despite COVID restrictions. The client wanted a live event feel, despite the fact that this was the first time the event had been delivered virtually. Encore delivered on this requirement by branding the Chime Live platform completely with GO Foundation colours. In the venue, the team built three towers of LED as the stage backdrop to create a branded, stylish look for the online audience that also incorporated GO Foundation design elements.
Encore delivered the University of Sydney’s first ever hybrid celebration for the class of 2020’s 18,000 graduands/graduates. It celebrated the achievements of every student graduating that year and was delivered to an impressive 6,000 online guests from 90 countries around the world.
THE PROBLEM
With live events prohibited under COVID 19 restrictions at the time, the graduations team at the University of Sydney approached Encore to deliver the celebration event in a hybrid format.
The client had serious concerns about how the event would look and that the graduating class would get a professional, engaging experience to celebrate their success. In addition, there were concerns about broadcasting to multiple countries concurrently, in particular to China as the event was to be delivered concurrently worldwide.
THE SOLUTION
Encore presented the perfect solution, the intuitive Chime Live platform which features all aspects you would expect from an in-person event, plus live engagement for everyone to be involved via the platform’s ability to integrate Instagram, Facebook and Twitter messages using the hashtag #USydClassof2020.
THE RESULT
The event was streamed live from the Great Hall at the University of Sydney featuring speeches and entertainment for the thousands of online viewers. It was a virtual hit with large numbers of students sharing photos from homes wearing their gowns and celebrating with loved ones.
Our client Cristina Dietmann, Events Manager, University of Sydney was delighted with the result commenting,
“We were all very concerned about changing the event to virtual. Graduations have been delivered in a similar way at the University for 140 years. Graduation is such a special time for our students and we didn’t want to delay it.”
“The Encore team were terrific! They were so knowledgeable about the technology and made me feel totally at ease. The event went without a hitch and we were delighted. Feedback from both Academics and attendees was really positive.”
“Whilst we look forward to being able to do live, in-person graduations in the future, this was a great way to ensure our students could celebrate and not have to wait even longer.”
Despite many events being cancelled due to COVID19 restrictions, this year’s coveted Jean for Genes Gala powered on with Encore Event Technologies taking the fundraiser purely online on Saturday 20th June. The challenge for the Encore team was delivering an event that lived up to its fun and glamorous reputation whilst also facilitating interaction for the purpose of raising funds with hundreds of guests of Children’s Medical Research Institute.
Encore hosted the event from our broadcasting studio in Sydney. The technical teams built a custom stage set with an LED wall, feature lighting and leveraged their green screen to create different set looks to enhance presentations as well as the performances by soloist Ace Avenue and the four-piece band Jellybean Jam. The green screen displayed multimedia themed to the event showing DNA graphics and the event’s signature denim.
The virtual fundraising event was delivered via Encore Connect, a live video conferencing solution, which enabled viewers to watch the various live presentations, speakers and performances. The platform also enabled live streaming of videos from families affected by childhood genetic diseases who are at the heart of the charity’s research and the Jeans for Genes campaign.
Pre-recorded videos highlighting the Institute’s work were also incorporated as well as a fun cocktail-making recipe in the theme of the night. The variety show style event also included live Q&A sessions with the organisation’s families as well as research leaders from the Institute.
Children’s Medical Research Institute’s Acting Head of Fundraising Jane Ruston said the charity’s scientists were known for their ability to adapt and innovate so it was vital that the rest of the team did the same.
“As well as being a fundraising event, the Jeans for Genes Gala is a way for our CMRI community of supporters across Australia to connect with our scientists and hear about their incredible research, as well as an opportunity to meet the families whose children live with genetic disease every day and to understand why their support is so vital.
“We were so grateful that Encore were able to connect all CMRI community so that they could feel safe, comfortable and confident that our work would continue in such challenging times.
“All our supporters commented on what a fantastic night it was and that’s because of the hard work that was done behind-the-scenes by the Encore team.”
Encore’s National Sales Director, Michael Magafa was delighted with the team’s efforts to ensure the important fundraiser could still continue and commented,
“The team did a fantastic job of creating an engaging and entertaining event online. There were many live and recorded elements and they ensured that each element was delivered seamlessly. The LED screen created a live performance feel you’d experience at a live concert.”
The event raised more than $70,000 for children’s medical research.
The Encore team devised an innovative solution for the Department of Defence to move their annual event the D + I Conference to an online format at the National Convention Centre Canberra.
The event was attended in-person by Defence senior leadership, including the Chief of the Defence Force and Secretary of Defence, plus 1,000 online attendees. Pre-recorded speeches from the Minister for Defence and Minister for Defence Industry were also part of the proceedings.
Encore won the event due to their ingenious solution to use their live, event streaming platform Chime Live. The technology was specifically designed to create an environment that was as close to the live event as possible, as well as offering many features for the attendees to engage with one another whether they were in the room or attending online.
The brief from Defence was also that due to the stature of the event and the seniority of the speakers from within the Department a highly professional production was required. So the team also designed a realistic ‘TV Studio’ style stage to ensure a professional, high quality appearance for the broadcast.
The flexible, secure and robust virtual platform was rigorously tested both within the Defence network and externally, to ensure it would provide faultless hosting and streaming capabilities for the inaugural VIP event. As the client was concerned about a fully online event, this attention to detail, professionalism and rigorous testing was another reason the event was won.
On entering the room, in-person attendees were met with an impactful stage set comprising a seamless 10 x 3m LED screen backing the stage. The TV Studio sat within the stage set and was completed with beautiful spot and wash lighting, with an LCD vision fold-back for presenters. Three cameras shooting different angles were used for a mixed broadcast and streamed live into the Chime platform. The team also created impactful multimedia content which was displayed on the screen throughout the event.
The team also moderated a live Q&A for each session within Chime so that the in-person and online audiences could all participate together.
Client testimonial – Loz Goodchild
“Stu and the team did an exceptional job with the delivery of the event, far exceeding our expectations. From the initial planning and liaison with the Department’s ICT team to the physical delivery of the event, everything was on point and the exceptional feedback received to date is a reflection of their knowledge, experience and professionalism.”
Stuart Buchanan, Director of Sales ACT commented,
“The entire team and I were delighted with the event. The delivery was professional, the execution was seamless and the result was engaging for attendees and guests whether they were in the room or online.
The client was extremely impressed with our execution of the event. They loved being on the TV style set and felt we exceeded the expectations of the internal stakeholders at the Department by ensuring we delivered flawlessly. They gained the confidence to continue to use this hybrid format again with Defence events during the current restrictions.”