An event with Londis at the Madejski football stadium kicked off our 2012 year and pre-production for 3 events in retail and finance sectors for March has kept us on our toes this month. February is looking flatter than usual though which is in contrast to the February of 2011.

Is anyone else struggling with the variety of networking by social media?

There seems to be afew too many, there is Facebook, blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a Google version too so I read the other day. Myself I try and keep a monthly blog going to give a bit of a picture of our active work book and the interesting projects we work on but as for keeping up to date with all of the social media websites I am struggling to find time to stay abreast of it all and continue to do the day job too.

I am finding I am catching up on these sites outside work hours or during event tea and coffee breaks or at lunchtimes, hey……. that is in my time which is extending my working day which can often be a long day anyway.

I think I am going to keep the blog going and make a concerted effort on LinkedIn as this is an identified work stream form of social networking, you still cannot beat face to face meetings though which is why I intend to keep in touch with clients and suppliers in the flesh too!

but other than pre- production work we do not have an active event in January so it could be a good opportunity to brush up on some IT skills.

The Local Classic Motorbike and Car event we put together went well with the next evening on the 2^nd of January, it is surprising what local folks have tucked away in their barns and garages, the most interesting contrast being Paul with his 170 mph Hayabusa and a 1970’s Austin Maxi that competed in the London to Mexico rally back in its hay day.

December has been a good opportunity to catch up with colleagues and friends alike and I am glad of the downtime over the Christmas break to sit back and take stock, it is not often you get time to reflect and look forward to the future.

We really enjoyed the UK roadshow over the last few weeks, honing the presentations and use of the technical equipment with each presentation. The event centred on our customers own ‘back up’ plan in life and business. Something in the audio visual industry we have been working on for decades, after all when working with light sources in projection and stage lighting it is vital there is contingency built into the technical rig to provide that all important turnkey, fault free presentation delivery.

I think we all need to keep positive and press on to keep standards high, watching a program on ‘how to build a super car’ by the BBC featuring McLaren I was knocked out by the attention to detail throughout the whole process of the project no matter what the component was needed to create the finished article, the pride in the work and the fact you could see the workforce were stretching themselves to deliver perfection was inspirational, do try and catch the program on i player.

3 weeks were spent working on a Government project for Feltech the host broadcaster for the London Conference on Cyberspace with The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary presenting to the worlds press, we enabled a live visual and audio link with the White House engaging the Vice President of the USA  in debate with several hundred audience in the conference room, it would be good to have more than 6 hours notice in the future to organise a SAT truck and the links needed, short notice as Hilary Clinton was unable to attend due to her mothers ill health.

Next project a live outdoor event in December organising a Classic car and Motorbike meeting helping to promote – community spirit, looking forward to that.

Is it really necessary for people to have to copy in half a dozen people into a simple email communication? Talk about fill time in your day fielding emails that are relevant, does this show a lack of confidence in those that do splurge emails?

Buz words heard this month include someone wanting to ‘schedule an interface’ with one of our team. It used to be called ‘arrange a meeting’ not so long a go

We are working with some new equipment for video and data distribution, I am looking forward to seeing the quality of the multiple images. Right, better get packing for the next off……..

 This month I have been able to see how other companies work providing conference production, well, I have been shocked by some of the lack of basic support and attention to detail during the live events I have attended. Poor use of technology, shabby temporary installation of technical equipment and the wrong equipment being used to deliver a mediocre presentation environment.

 Come on audio visual suppliers – where is your pride? It cannot all be about budget, just who is cutting corners, is it the Agency buying services they know are substandard? Or is it the audio visual supplier falling short by using what is on the shelf and not the correct equipment for the task in hand? Or is it that neither knows the correct way to deliver technical support of conference events?

Thinking of technology I have just taken delivery of the iPad 2, what an amazing device, tactile, easy to use, easy to transport, a crystal clear display and quick delivery of applications, fantastic product. I will be wondering how I ever got by without it I am sure.

Telecoms projects completed for BT this month on a staff event held over 2 days in London, business chalk and talk, guest presenters, awards and Q&A discussions.

What will our 2011 – 2012 business year have in store for us?

During what will be our 14^th year of trading we are glad to be working on roadshow and business meetings for the autumn and spring, although there is talk of several other projects for later in the year there is still a lack of cast iron commitment to conference meetings in this current business climate?

Hopefully with the Olympics on the horizon confidence for all will build as sponsor business events ramp up towards the middle of next year. Until then I feel I am projecting that live event business is going to be uncertain for at least the next 5 – 7 months.

My Nephew Jordon Everett has had a ‘shadowing’ day for work experience and he has been able to join me at Feltech in St Albans to try and grasp the world of Live Events and Media Services. It is not often you sit back and review past years in detail and the variety of projects we have been involved with spans a broad spectrum, Outdoor yacht naming ceremonies, Exhibitions, Gala dinners for 2,000 delegates, Awards events, Product launches, Press meetings, Government Briefings and Roadshows.

Jordon gets to grips with the 63 inch plasma screen in the meeting room

The locations of these events are interesting too, with much of our work in the UK after totting up the locations worked abroad we found we had worked in 20 different countries over the last 13 years, I hope the 21^st country we work in is a location as diverse as some of the events we have organised.

The Projection Partnership has put investment and development time into widescreen processing technology to enable the client to prepare their own slide information onto a PowerPoint template from within their own office or production channel, utilizing their own current equipment & staff. The product enables our clients to display their self-created content & slides at their conference event in a wide screen format greater than standard 16 by 9.

Why use a wide screen format?  To create a memorable visual impact, to enhance a product image launch ; to make best use of a  venue with reduced ceiling height  or to create a visual canvas to show multiple images / slide content  at the same time.

How does this work for the customer who wants to use a wide screen format? Once the screen size has been agreed, a template slide is created and given to the customer to create their slides within that format. The cleaver part is that the Projection Partnership’s Display workstation has processing technology which does the rest of the work and splits the PowerPoint slide or video footage images across the blended projection displays giving an ultra wide screen look and feel. The production can further be enhanced by contribution from the sound department in terms of acoustic surround sound features to give the presentation a deeper aural experience.

One further benefit is that the slides can still be cascaded at the same time via webcast, to additional breakout rooms or post event to other areas of business who may have missed the event without having to re make the slide content thus saving time and effort which means a cost saving for the customer.

The system is based upon Microsoft Windows 7 & office 2010 and can accept earlier versions of PowerPoint material. Importantly the pre production can originate from your own office using your own PowerPoint equipment & it will accept archived presentation material also.

Widescreen PowerPoint

Here Oliver Phipps is demonstrating to me the benefits of wide screen projection with a two projector display creating one wide image.

A good ‘ice breaker’ was used in St Petersburg Russia with Unum, the Russian State Circus provided jugglers and budding clowns to put on a display of nimble body art form and gravity defying movement with balls and ropes to an edited sound track. The delegates at first apprehensive soon threw themselves into the task of learning a new skill in a team effort before getting down to business presentations at the annual sales conference.

Paris in May in the sun, lovely and an efficient journey there and back by Eurostar made a pleasant change instead of flying to work abroad. In fact I am able to type up this post whilst travelling back from an event for Saatchi and Saatchi.

We have been busy with pre production this month on Projects for St Petersburg in Russia and organising the 2011 Budgens Londis trade show in Birmingham in 2 weeks time, 80 exhibitors with many late requests for audio visual support and exhibition services puts a strain on time for sure, it is a last minute world in the events industry, why does it need to be like that?