Corporate Events Plus

Who would have thought in the depths of a basement in the heart of London you could create a 30m tunnel with flush fit multiple display screens, telling a story along a journey to a technology expo area after being given a glimpse into the future of IT by a leading guru using a 50 monitor video wall to tell his story during a plenary session.

Technically Directing the process of a design and fit out vision for Alive Communications we brought the design of Paul Bonomini to life. A difficult project to say the least but rewarding to have successfully delivered the project.

Before we know it we will start to work on our summer projects, this year has been a particularly busy year.

In today’s digital age the importance of face-to-face communication for Production Meetings seems to be fading, With the trend of many team members working remotely from home offices it is possible to send an entire day without actually interacting with people. People rely heavily on the convenience of emails, text messages, and social media.

Is face-to-face communication being left behind?

The Digital Dilemma

Miscommunication is one of the major causes of inefficiency and work-place conflicts. Many of these issues can be attributed to digital communications and the various ways they can be interpreted.

I came across this quote recently;

“When we assume that other people know what we’re thinking, and what we are expecting of them, we do them a real disservice. Assuming that we’ve been clear about what we wanted, we blame them when things don’t go as planned.” – Heidi Grant Halvorson, Forbes.

Of course nothing is failsafe, it is still possible to miss interpret something even in a face to face meeting

However there are Face-to-Face Advantages

Non-Verbal Cues

You can gauge how interested someone is in what you are talking about by reading their body language. I already employ this notion in video conference calls by always using my camera option on the computer to encourage others to engage visually.

If you are in a meeting and your colleagues are fiddling with their pens, or checking their watches, you know that you have to:

• adjust the tone of  your voice or
• use more exciting language to capture their attention.

Likewise, if colleagues and partners are actively nodding their heads and smiling, it is clear that they are engaged with you and your message.

Effectiveness

Face-to-face communication and in-person meetings can boost efficiency. Instead of spending an entire day e-mailing back and forth, you can include multiple elements of a project in one meeting instead of multiple emails.

There is a real benefit to ‘brainstorming’ together to solve problems on a project and solutions can be agreed quickly.

Recently we have been making face to face project meetings for heads of departments a priority – we have all been wondering why we let face to face communication slip.

Who reads the schedule?

Interesting – you can write a book, add columns, add colours, link pages to additional information and still no one reads the paperwork

Keep it simple is my advice. If possible agree the schedule with heads of departments pre event in a face to face meeting.

Use less colours – include factual information – the start time– lunch and dinner times if it is a particularly long day and the show start time. Most importantly the expected time for completing tasks.

No one is interested in reading lots of words – particularly a lot of content relevant to others or information that is of benefit to a customer but not the crew.

The less information to take in the quicker crew seem to grasp the task in hand.

I have spent hours on schedules over the years– looking for ways to break down the tasks to be done and the most success I have had with passing key information onto crew is when I have kept the words short – the look of the document simple and the content concise.

A simple audio visual rig example with no rehearsals on the rig day.

09.00  Unload lighting

10.00  Unload staging

13.00  Lunch

14.00  Graphics on site

Video and Audio unload

16.00  Stageset & Graphics complete

17.30  Video and Audio complete

18.00  Lighting focus

19.30  Lighting Focus complete

20.00  Crew finish

Busy time in Madrid this week on a retail exhibition, nicely set out design with the use of floating dividing panels to segregate areas.

This month we finished a technology project at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona and went straight onto a retail project in Birmingham at the ICC providing Technical Production Management and audio visual services across 7 of the Halls. Audience sizes of 100 to 400 in breakouts, 400 in Franchise meetings and 12-1400 for Managers in business sessions and awards dinners. Busy times but great to enjoy the contrast of live events after a spell of Exhibition projects.

Here Sam is busy on the sound control

An audience gaining from a successful story

Large projects need a large team of professionals, heads of departments managing sometimes multiple teams of carpenters, riggers, lighting crew, audio visual and graphics departments. All departments have their own agenda but knitting these teams together is something that really interests me.

I ask each Head of Department what they like to do for a hobby or what they would like to be doing given the chance, I take their thoughts and transfer them into a picture for the staff room wall.

A deserted island to enjoy a holiday, a picture of the Swiss mountains for walking, images of landmarks for home countries, the great barrier reef for diving and no prizes for guessing who the picture of the flying BMW racing car is for. The pictures are a talking point and can create good feeling.

Another year on Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, each year the event expands, the booth we manage has grown too. Great work to be involved with.

What a start to the year – we have not stopped and the peddle is to the floor until May it seems – 3 large scale projects with 3 week gaps between them in February – March & April has had us at pre planning both here in chilly Suffolk and in Barcelona where we have been making the most of the winter sun.

New and old suppliers being coerced by imposing deadlines from both ends of the project, the customer and the venue have seen us juggle budgets, materials to be used and designs to be stretched to accommodate. If it was easy anyone could do it. Having a strong core team really helps when there is a deadline to be reached. 

Next month we are in Spain and looking forward to the Mobile World Congress – our 5th year on the project.

It really has been that cold at the office – one of our customers appreciated this image I took in the carpark

Why do we tape off the back row at conference events?

The audience tends to be a bit shy – not wanting to get too close to the front of the presentation room. If you do not load the conference room from the front of the room you can end up with an empty void between the presenter on stage and the first delegates. By using tape to block the back rows and ushering delegates to the front of the room you encourage the room to fill more evenly.

When late arrivals want to join the conference once it has started, it is possible to undo the tape to the back rows and the late arrivals can feed into the back of the room without disturbing the main body of the audience.

Fantastic, as we arrive at the end of another busy year it is time for us to have time off work for good behaviour. Although we are not done just yet we have a trip to Berlin this week for product testing and supplier meetings in Barcelona just before we close for the Christmas Break.

Next week 12 – 16 December we are all on annual leave recharging the battery’s.

Great week of work, Technically Directing 2 conferences in Cardiff with an evening dinner for 300 delegates followed by a recce of venues for work in Madrid in Spain next April.

The venues we have been working in have also been spectacular, we just don’t seem to make impressive buildings like this now and much of the beauty is in the ceiling with intricate chandeliers and plaster work.

Cardiff City Hall Conference for 300 with ‘cafe’ style seating

Aerial artists from No Fit Sate Circus from Cardiff Wales in the foyer of The Museum of Wales

Venues visited in Madrid Spain for potential evening functions

A nice comment of recognition for our efforts by our client too…..

”Lastly a particular thanks to Art, Sue and Ian for helping us find local contractors and delivering great production, sound and vision throughout.”

I can not remember the last time we did not produce an event during a calendar month. This month it has all been about pre event planning. Cardiff, Madrid, Barcelona, Birmingham and Liverpool. Recce’s, meetings, venue visits all good news for the future order book.

How to run a successful planning meeting? We have all been there.

Sat in a meeting or holding on the end of the phone. Waiting for the leader to join the meeting or questioning why we have given up precious time to listen to a disorganized meeting.

There are plenty of lists of how to run a successful meeting? All available on the Internet although I have found the following points helpful for myself.

• Identify the purpose of the meeting.

(Do you need a meeting?)

• Make sure you have an agenda for the meeting.

(Either write the agenda or ask for one in advance)

• Invite and hold the date.
• Allow enough time for the meeting.

(Someone leaving halfway through to go to another meeting can cause the meeting to fail)

• Start the meeting on time – aim to finish on time
• Choose the correct environment.

(Are there enough chairs? Are you discussing sensitive information? Can other people listen in to the discussion?)

• Understand your role within the meeting.

(Are you expected to present or share information to the group?)

• Confirm who is writing up the meeting notes and circulate post meeting.