Celebrating The University of Sydney’s 2024 Graduates
Encore delivers The University of Sydney ’ s largest wave of graduation ceremonies in 2024
19 days. 56 ceremonies. 9,500 graduands. 18,000+ live stream attendees. 1 mammoth month for Encore.
The Brief
It is one of the most significant days in their lives. This is why The University of Sydney turned to trusted event production specialists, Encore, to deliver a memorable graduation ceremony for more than 9,500 graduands. This was to take place three times a day, over 19 days with full audio visual and production support and a live stream to thousands of attendees worldwide. With the right mix of equipment, skills, experience and people power, Encore was the perfect team for the challenge.
The Solution
The production solution was months in the making. Key elements in Encore’s solution were AV integration, redundancy contingencies, production quality and prioritising crew wellbeing.
Being able to integrate with and control the venue’s in-house AV system was critical to the event’s success. This enabled Encore’s crew to not only manage the in-room audio and vision, but to also successfully capture and feed into the live stream which was hosted on the University’s main website.
With experience comes the knowledge to back up and back up again. This is why Encore’s team allowed for several contingencies to ensure each event over the 30 days would go on no matter what happened. This included facilitating internet connection with a dedicated PEP-Link in place to avoid any disruption to the live stream. With attendees live streaming each ceremony this was a critical piece in the solution.
One of the defining features in Encore’s production solution was the camera craftsmanship. Encore’s goal was to deliver a solution that went beyond simply capturing the day’s events, to anticipating moments that tell the story.
Encore’s Key Account Manager for the event, Dan Armstrong, described how experience can transform the production quality.
“Having a deeper understanding of the script notes and the flow of the graduation lets you know where there will be opportunities to bring a different perspective visually to the in- room attendee. This goes without saying, this becomes even more important for those watching online.
“It’s the layering of camera angles, capturing the right reactions at the right time for the right amount of time, without losing sense of what is still happening live in the room,” said Mr Armstrong.
A final and hugely important part of Encore’s solution was maintaining crew wellbeing. For an event of this magnitude, with back-to-back ceremonies over 30 days, fatigue management plans were critical to the solution. Overlooking this element can have devastating effects and which is why Encore places wellbeing as one of their highest production priorities.
The Result
Each ceremony over the 30 days was delivered seamlessly, both in-room and online. More than 9,500 people tuned in to watch the live stream from more than 10 countries around the world. With talks already underway for the next wave of ceremonies, it’s clear Encore’s production solution was a success.
“Encore has supported The University of Sydney graduation ceremony events since 2021, supporting ~100 ceremonies for ~12,000 graduates annually. Encore currently provides infrastructure, lighting, filming, audio, and a live stream platform for graduation ceremony events. Onsite broadcasting services were also utilised during covid19 restrictions. Since 2021, the Graduations Team have worked with Encore to research and implement options to improve the event delivery and graduate experience.”
– Jerry Wu, Senior Administration Officer, The University of Sydney
