Delivering The Message at Conferences and Events

If ‘content’ is King, then ‘delivery’ is Queen!

The delivery of the message at an event, whether big or small, is a key measure of its overall success. Gone are the days when you only worried about your delegates aimlessly counting how many ceiling tiles there were in the room. Or the days when a lectern, microphone, projector and screen were considered a suitable AV order for a conference. Now you must compete for your delegates’ attention in order to convey your message. Distractions are literally in the palm of their hands as they slowly bow their heads and catch up on Facebook, emails and online shopping. Grabbing and holding the attention of your guests is now more important than ever.

We caught up with Brendan Sadgrove from Innovative Production Services to find out how AV suppliers are using the latest technology and some creative thinking to grab the audience’s attention and deliver their client’s key messages.

“Our role is to get people’s minds open, get their imaginations working and put them in an interesting space where they are excited to be. It allows us to get their minds active and hopefully keeps their attention longer.” Brendan Sadgrove, Director, Innovative Production Services

Custom content is becoming increasingly important for AV suppliers. In particular, clients are now often requesting customised video or 3D animation which has been specifically crafted to enhance the speaker’s presentation.

By way of example, Innovative Production Services recently worked with the Creative Director of Commonwealth Bank’s two day event, Wired for Wonder, to create a different backdrop for each speaker. With over 25 speakers in the programme, designing a different backdrop for each speaker would not have been possible without some clever technology and creative thinking.

Using an 18m wide x 10m high rear project backdrop they were able to easily change the stage set for each speaker. For example, the owner of Red Balloon, Naomi Simson, had a mass of giant red balloons behind her as she spoke – highlighting who she was and giving her a platform from which to share her story. For each new speaker, the backdrop would change, the atmosphere of the room would be altered and people would feel refreshed, even though they had not moved.

In addition to the backdrops, they flew the presentation screen in and out for specific content, such as video or graphs relevant to the speaker’s presentation. This added to the theatrics of the event and looked great as each presenter walked on stage. It was just like a Broadway musical – professional and seamless.

Brendan professes that this has been one of his most memorable events. However, as we talked, it became apparent that Innovative Production Services plans on raising the bar on creative message delivery a whole lot higher!

“Interactive projection is the next big thing”, explains Brendan.

To explain further – interactive projection puts the presenter in control of how the vision is manipulated on a screen, wall, or building. This can be done in a variety of different ways, the most exciting being body gestures. So instead of a presenter standing on stage clicking through boring slides, imagine the presenter gesturing to the screen to change slides, play videos, and manipulate graphs, creating a unique presentation that is engaging, interesting to watch and is customised exactly how the presenter wants to convey their message. Brendan shared with us Innovative’s latest investment to achieve this – AirScan by Coolux. This device allows the presenter to manipulate and control the content on a surface or wall with the swipe of a hand, turning the screen into a giant iPhone (think Mission Impossible or the iSelect ad). Now consider this in a conference – what if your CFO delivered the year-end accounts and market predictions in a completely novel way, utilising technology and capturing the imagination of the audience? All of a sudden those accounts are looking much more appealing!

Last year Innovative Production Services used the AirScan technology for the MTV Summer Party. Punters were asked to draw a picture using their fingers on a large LED screen. That image was then captured and uploaded to their Facebook page within a matter of seconds for all to see.

“This is just a small example of how AirScan could be used at a public event”, Brendan explains. Having tested the technology rigorously, Innovative are now waiting for the right client and the right event to really show off their skills.

Here is a basic example of how the technology works- imagine the possibilities!

Combine that with content that is designed and mapped on an interesting building, stage set, or object like a car, and you have an immersive experience for public events and a creative platform for artists– think Sydney’s Vivid Festival. This technology is becoming more accessible and can be used in very clever ways for events and conferences. Most importantly, artists, animators, and video editors are embracing this platform and are becoming more experienced in creating this type of content.

Rather than waffle on here about how it can work for events, take a moment to check out this very cool example of how Audi utilised this technology for one of its car launches.

So, if you want to grab your audience’s attention and make an impact with your audio visual content, then definitely get in touch with Brendan and the team at Innovative Production Services!