Corporate Events Plus

Have you ever wondered how that smooth lacquered finish is achieved on exhibition build furniture? Hours of painting, sanding, painting, sanding and polishing. The touch points of a delegate are of paramount importance when it comes to the look and feel of furniture on an exhibition booth.

We have completed Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, now we are working on 4 projects over the next 2 months in Financial services and retail sectors, a busy Spring ahead.

A nice comment from a producer on on one of the events we completed this week,

”thank you for your total and unwavering support though out preproduction and on site and for never being grumpy.x”

Nice to be appreciated.

Not the first location on your list of places to be in the winter months but necessary when striving for the look and feel required on an exhibition build. We are testing the density of light passing through a voile regarding graphic signage and video image contrast. The finished product we will use is the same material that is made for motorbike visors. We want the material to bend around a radius, I love this part of the project where designers and craftsmen in their trade explore new materials to work with. I am really looking forward to the finished build on this project.

Well, I know it is a budget airline and that the flight is only a couple of hours but if you need leg room or reading space best not to travel Veuling from England to Barcelona – I think this could be the most uncomfortable flight I have been on. Off to Berlin tomorrow for supplier meetings to progress our Mobile World Congress project but obviously using another airline.

Although we are extremely busy with pre production planning for Mobile World Congress I had an interesting request for supplying one of my classic cars for a fashion shoot for an American men’s quarterly lifestyle magazine. London’s Shoreditch with it’s trendy gallery’s and art shops became the location and after a spirited drive into the capital the 1969 Triumph Spitfire helped set off the scene. Our industry is so varied, I like the fact that each week you never really know what type of event is just around the corner.

Having taken the first aid at work and Fire Warden and Marshal courses with St John’s Ambulance I am on their mailing list for information. They have sent through a very hand App with valuable information that could save someones life.

Look up the free App on sja.org.uk/app the information to understand symptoms and how to deal with an incident may just jog your memory to process dealing with an accident on site.

Meanwhile back at the coalface an interesting conference for DMSAV Production Managing a retail conference saw us working with Declan Curry the ex BBC Business Breakfast economist and journalist. Having a compare such as Declan to link the business session relevant to the economy and market place was far more interesting than a chalk and talk presentation option.

What a great month of work and hobbies

Working in Paris on the motorshow is right up my street, I love these events, new technology being used and a theatrical element to the show with revolves, dancers, models and a concept product to launch- it is great working on these events especially when you get to work with a team who are at the top of their individual game.

Also it has not all been work – one of the reasons I go to work is to be able to enjoy hobbies and one is motorsport, following on from the success earlier in the year with a 1st in class win at Brands Hatch we were pulling out all the stops chasing our competitors on the race track at Snetterton in Norfolk and achieved a 2nd in class to finish off the motorsport season in style. I am not sure I will try this exact line on this bend again though !!Pre production visits to Barcelona and Berlin next on the horizon – time to reaquaint ourselves with valued suppliers abroad.

As I prepare for a week in Paris working at the Motoshow I am glad of the news that our Mobile World Congress project for the 3rd year running in Barcelona has been confirmed for the first quarter of 2015. To have work confirmed in advance enables further plans for investment to benefit the business.  Excellent.

Plans and scaled drawings count for nothing if they are not followed on site, here we are marking the venue floor where the steel beams will be laid using a coloured chalk line, once the steel is in place on this project the 6m high walls are built around the structure – get this wrong and you could have a very lop sided looking exhibition stand!

One way of constructing an upper decking floor base safely is to lay in the battens and screw the tongue and groove flooring together while the deck is on the floor. Having placed spacers under the steel subframe during construction we sometimes use 4 fork lift trucks to raise the floor and then attach the legs.

Before you know it, the structure is built and being used.

There comes a time in most Exhibition production when the individual elements of software, graphics, design, client expectation and delivery of the vision against budget comes to a tipping point.

Will the conference calls, emails, drawings, fabrication of steel and glass all come together?

Exhibition work is not quiet the adrenalin rush you get from delivering a live event element to an audience on stage and I think I may be missing that in the work we have been doing of late. Exhibitions are a display – yes there are sometimes theatrical elements incorporated but in the main once the doors to the Hall are opened the actual ‘event’ is a bit of an anti climax.

It is just a different type of work Exhibition from Conferencing.

Having watched the opening of the Commonwealth Games, the screen and the use of the graphics were fantastic, that was work to be proud of for sure, well done to all those involved.

Suddenly over the horizon an interesting project to work on at Gamescom which is the largest trade fair and highlight for interactive games. There are reported to be up to 350,000 people heading for the exhibition in Cologne between the 13th and 17th of August.

There are several booths to technically manage with video consoles, big relay video screens and audio systems – the projects are interesting, just wish I had some German language skills – the Spanish is coming along well and after a month in August on site in Germany I am sure I will have picked up afew key local phrases !

Until then it is nose to the grindstone with pre event management.