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New Look at SST from MMM
Award-winning live brand experience company MMM produced and production and event managed the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust (SSAT) 13th National Conference, staged at the ICC in Birmingham, for 1700 delegates over three days.
The event included a main plenary hall for presentations, numerous breakout rooms, seminars and a large educational exhibition attracting top brands like Microsoft, Oracle, Channel Four and numerous others. The middle of the evening also included the organisation of a party, complete with live music.
MMM, known for its innovative approach to live events, has worked on SSAT conferences in the past, however this year they undertook a much larger role in developing the overall look and presentation of the event. “Part of the brief was to give the conference a new and sharper style,” explains MMM’s key account director Mel Saunders. This included the design and production of all the associated marketing material and event communications including the Show Guide and signage.
As part of this year’s tighter scheduling, MMM introduced a backstage prep area and a Green Room, where those presenting – over 30 people in total - could review and practice their speeches. Their presentations were all checked, verified, logged and formatted correctly, complete with any accompanying graphics or special effects.
This tightened up the schedule enormously, relieved delegates from worrying about any of these components coming together, and was the first time the process was taken in hand for them.
Multiple presenters (five was the largest group) were invited to discuss how their talks would work in terms of stagecraft with MMM’s production team. Adopting this method also gave the speakers more confidence and time to practice and relax before taking the stage.
All the AV, additional lighting including moving lights, and technical production was also supplied by MMM.
The main room featured a 20’ x 15’ screen fed by a Barco R12 projector, with a 10K Sanyo XF45 as back-up, plus a 14’ x 10 ft 6” screen fed by two 10k Sanyo XF45’s (one running as a hot back-up).
All video sources were routed through three Analog Way Graphic Switcher 2’s, one used for a video sub mix, and the other two sending a feed to each screen. Vision mixing to both screens was done by John Blake using an Analog way TRC - 8022 Event remote console, which provided a synchronized and seamless switch to both screens.
The conference featured a live camera shoot and a playback video feed to a Barco LED wall located on the wall in Registration. Three of the cameras were set up with vision mixing and time-lapse footage that was supplied by Mark Glaze at Camera Support Services. The screens were rigged by Upstage Presentations who also provided bespoke lecterns, staging and a ‘backstage’ discussion area with sofas.
The main hall lighting design was created by Laurence Wilson. Forty intelligent lighting fixtures were used, a combination of Vari*Lite 2000 wash lights, VL2500 spots, the new Martin MAC 700’s, MAC 300’s and eight 8-light Molefays, complete with Wybron scrollers and all the necessary gobo artwork. This was used to create multiple scenes and textures onto the house Cyclorama.
20th December 2005
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