Newsquest Scotland Events

The Requirement

Newsquest Scotland Events, a company that delivers events on behalf of the Herald and Times media group, were looking for a full AV support on a number of events across a two-month period. The events included award ceremonies, conferences and business breakfasts.

Adlib, having worked on corporate events with some of the Newsquest staff in the past, were invited to the competitive tender process and impressed with creative suggestions for stage sets and ability to supply everything from one source.

What also made Adlib stand out against other suppliers was our equipment stocks and ability of bringing a ‘Rock & Roll’ flare to the design for each event as a result of our design team’s considerable touring experience.

The Solution

The Adlib team, led by Chris Neary working as Project Manager alongside Crew Chief Tom Kaye, supplied a wide range of technical services for each event. As well as audio rental, lighting rental, AV rental and staging equipment, Adlib also delivered branding, content creation and transport.

This comprehensive package ensured that client’s extensive events’ briefs were met exactly and by utilising WYSIWYG design software Adlib were able to demonstrate proposed stage set ups in order to ensure client satisfaction.

With a dedicated event manager for each event as well as ‘local service’ from our Glasgow office we were able to make sure that the communication was flowing seamlessly, budgets were met, and any changes were made in time.

Award Ceremonies

Designed stage set, our in-house team pulled on their vast live event experience to design a stage set utilising a variety of moving light, LED video panels, project screen and truss structures.

Stage Lighting – We ensured and exciting on-stage light show utilising Robe Robin 100 Beams, Martin MH1 Profiles and Chauvet Colorado Batten 72’s. This was all controlled using Avolites Tiger Touch 2’s.

In order to extend the lighting effects into the full space, twenty-four Core CP20 Battery Uplighters were deployed as uplighters around each of the venues.

Each event had different requirements for video displays but as a minimum we supplied 2 x projections setups utilising 16ft by 9ft Stumpfl screens. Panasonic RZ920 projectors were used in a combination of front and rear projection. A Blackmagic ATEM TV studio, Barco PDS-902 3G and MicroCue 2 Cueing system took care of the control. Video content was handled by a combination of PowerPoint and Playback Pro.

For the comfort or speakers and guests, each event had a 22-inch video comfort monitor on stage and two 42-inch plasma screens as content relays placed halfway into the room.

The Audio requirement for each event was full coverage of the room with sufficient volume to overcome 500 guest. L-Acoustics KARA was supplied as the main PA system with Adlib’s own AA1214 Wedges used for both on stage feedback and additional delays within the room.

• An Allen & Heath SQ6 console was used for all audio control with a combination of Sennheiser lectern microphones and Shure UR2 Handheld Radio mics provided for the event presenters.

Conferences

We were able to pull from our extensive stock of high-quality stage sets and screen surrounds in order to supply a variety of corporate stage packages which were easily scalable for the differing sizes of events space.

Each set incorporated either one or two rear projection screens, 12ft by 6.75ft Stumpfl screens were the ideal choice and were used to great effect with Panasonic RZ670 projectors.

A Barco PDS-902 3G with MicroCue 2 Cueing system took care of the video control. Content was a mix of Microsoft PowerPoint a Panasonic DVX200 Camera which was placed at FOH and manned by an Adlib technician.

Lighting for these events was very low key, we supplied stage front light using manfrotto wind up stand with ETC sources 4’s. Color Kinetics Colorblaze were supplied as uplighters for the stage set. LX control was handled by Zero 88 FLX consoles.

The audio requirement for these events was to ensure full coverage of the space with a variety of speakers and presenters. L-Acoustics SYVA was used to great effect as the main PA with Adlib’s own AA1214 Wedges used for both on stage feedback and additional delays within the room.

Both FOH audio and onstage monitors were mixed on a Midas Pro 1, Sennheiser SK2000CK Bodypacks with DPE headset mics were used by all the guests.

Business Breakfasts

Being held within board rooms and office of various Glasgow companies presented a unique challenge for these events. Each setup was specifically designed to best suit the space.

The Herald Property Business Breakfast, held at SkyPark Glasgow, utilised custom printed Foamex boards combined with freestanding pipe & drape as a backdrop for the event speakers. These panels, sourced by Adlib, were suspended from the venue ceiling and lit from below with Chauvet COLORband Pix LED Battens. Twelve CORE ColourPoint Mini Battery Uplighters were also deployed in order to extend the lighting theme around the space.

Due to the reduced ceiling height within the event space, use of projection screen was not feasible. Instead four 70inch Panasonic LCD screens were placed throughout the space. These displayed a variety of speaker presentations and client sponsor logos, all fed from Microsoft PowerPoint via a Barco PDS-902 3G.

The challenge for Adlib's audio team was to ensure enough amplification of the presenter voices without overwhelming the relatively small spaces. To achieve this Adlib’s own AA1214 Wedges were deployed in staggered positions throughout the rooms. A combination of Sennheiser SK6000 Wireless Bodypacks fitted with DPA lapel mics and Shure UR2 Wireless Handhelds, were used by the event presenter and audience Q&A’s respectively.  Audio was mixed using a Soundcraft Si Expression 1.

The Result

Adlib worked very closely with the Newsquest team across the planning and delivery stages of each event, this has resulted in a very strong relationship between both companies which is continuing through Adlib delivering Newsquest events through winter 2019.

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