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A Signature Hybrid Event
Encore partnered with PCMA to produce Convening Leaders 22, a signature annual conference for association professionals who produce large-scale events. For PCMA’s in-person experience, the Encore Production team designed all the sets and spaces – from the mainstage and concurrent session rooms to the Promenade area, which served as a central gathering spot for networking, sales conversations, education, and communal meals. They also constructed a broadcast studio PCMA could use to pre-record content and stream live interviews to the remote viewing audience.
The Encore Creative team designed the presentation graphics, lower thirds, and branding for PCMA’s live and broadcast content. In addition to providing technical and production support for the in-room experience, the Encore Technology team filmed, mixed and broadcast content from the conference to PCMA’s streaming partner. Encore also brought in a couple of its specialty divisions – Hargrove from Encore and CSI – to augment different elements of the 360-degree experience they created.
Objectives
PCMA likes to raise the bar on what they present every year. After all, producing events for event professionals isn’t easy. Adding to the complexity is the fact this is the first year Encore partnered with PCMA to produce this event. And the timeline was condensed. Encore had four rather than eleven months to shake things up and do things differently.
Other objectives:
- Create a feeling of intimacy and connection between the audience and the speakers/entertainers
- Facilitate authentic and profitable connections between sponsors and event participants
- Design an open-air space that could facilitate conversations as well as sponsor activations, meals and educational stages
Solutions
To bring the audience closer to the presenters and entertainers, Encore designed a central mainstage with a low runway that allowed the talent to “walk into” the audience. Encore also built a side stage for PCMA to utilize for entertainment and more traditional announcements. This side stage ended up providing a dynamic solution to a last-minute challenge. A week before load-in, the Wednesday keynote notified PCMA that they could not travel and could only present virtually. Not content with “zooming in” such an important person, Encore installed technology and lighting on the side stage that allowed the speaker to present as a hologram. And the stage’s position allowed the Encore team to “hide” the set up until the big reveal.
Encore strategically designed its display technology to up the excitement factor as participants walked into the mainstage space by placing LED welcome columns in a triangular formation. This not only provided branding opportunities, but it also funneled traffic around central camera positions, creating a more appealing entranceway. Some of the unique audiovisual features included digital scenic elements constructed of curved LED lights, a mixture of traditional (16:9) and nontraditional aspect ratios (3:1), LED strip lights, and concert-quality audio.
One of the biggest design challenges Encore faced was how to accommodate concurrent communal meals, sponsor activations and educational stages in the massive Promenade area. The primary issue would be noise that could negatively impact the quality of sponsor activations, casual networking opportunities and learner engagement. Encore solved this problem by providing headsets. These headsets allowed Encore to mic speakers but transmit the audio directly to wireless headsets. That eliminated any sound bleed over from the stages in the space. The headsets also filtered out ambient noise from hallway conversations. It was an elegant way to allow participants to decide if they wanted to network with others over a meal, interview potential vendors, catch up with friends, or attend an educational session – all within the same open-air space.
Among the sponsor activations in the Promenade was an Encore booth. It was the first major opportunity for Encore to introduce event professionals to its new brand identity and expanded capabilities. The Encore Creative department designed the booth and collaborated with Hargrove to build and execute it. A dynamic exterior design lured participants inside, where they discovered interactive displays and a comfortable environment in which they could connect and refresh while learning about Encore’s end-to-end event solutions.
Results
PCMA Convening Leaders 22 attracted more than 2,500 event professionals from around the world. After witnessing the opening session with Paula Abdul, the silent stage set-up, the digital presentation graphics, and dynamic Encore activation, participants kept asking, “Did Encore really do all of that?”
The partnership provided a fantastic opportunity for Encore and its Hargrove and CSI divisions to showcase the diversity of the creative, production, and technology services it offers to an audience that’s hard to surprise. A behind-the-scenes element powered by Encore backstage tours ensured PCMA Digital Event Strategists were able to augment their training with hands-on examples.
Overall, the experience deepened Encore and PCMA’s commitment to expand on the promise of partnership for future events.
Encore PCMA ’22 Video Highlights:
Let’s Talk About Your Event Experience Needs.
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Gala Opening Celebration
Thematic Content and Venue Capabilities
Objectives
The stars aligned for a gala grand opening celebration at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. The VIP event introduced existing and prospective customers to the newly opened convention center.
Encore’s Creative Content team was engaged to develop ideas and designs that would bring the CE Groups’ vision of “Fire, Wind, Ice, and Earth” to fruition.
Line of business: Venue and CVB We Delivered: Full Production Services
Solutions
Fire
The event began with a red carpet arrival featuring fire dancers and LED and intelligent lighting to bathe the entrance in red and deep amber fire hues.
Wind
Upon entering the main lobby of the center, the guests were introduced to the “Wind” portion of the journey. A violinist played as ribbon dancers performed on the stairway. Above Exhibit Hall 3, a 180’ x 15’ metal mesh screen is installed in front of a white wall. Internal LEDs normally light this mesh “chain mail” installation, but Encore projection-mapped onto it. Intelligent lighting provided color and patterns throughout the atrium walls, floor, and ceiling and provided special illumination for the performers.
Ice
On cue, the audience was invited to the next leg of the journey, “Ice.” A “wagon wheel” truss structure flown in the center of the room created a focal point for the Ice experience. An Ice Flo set from the San Antonio Encore branch office was mapped with custom “Ice” themed video images, while another stack of projectors projected additional Icy vistas above the DJ stage on the entrance wall.
Earth
Guests continued to the next leg of their journey up to the third floor Stars at Night Ballroom. Earth Harp provided a special musical experience using a custom harp with strings that stretched 125’ out and over the audience.
Results
This event was a true collaboration and partnership between Encore, the San Antonio CVB, the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, CE Group, RK Group, and others.
Guests were entertained at every turn with Encore’s Creative and Production teams incorporating focal points to enhance the structural and technological features within the newly renovated Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
Let’s Talk About Your Event Experience Needs.
Call us at (866) 351-1144 or click the button below to get started!
Meetings and Conferences
Event Strategy and Design, Creative Content, Staging, Scenic, Breakouts
Objectives
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates held a high-profile, celebrity-packed summit for more than 4,000 attendees. Their goal for the event was to elevate it into an experience that incorporated aspects of Philadelphia (the host city) – particularly the messages of love and inclusion, synonymous with their brand message.
The three-day event included over 90 workshops, panels, roundtables, networking mixers, receptions, and plenaries.
Line of business: Association We Delivered: Full Production Services
Solutions
We won this bid, in part, due to having all the resource needs in one team – event strategy and design, thematic content, video production, show management, talent booking, full staging services, breakout sessions, as well as support for off-site events.
Encore designed a custom stage and replica of the famous LOVE statue by Robert Indiana as an homage to the host city. Our creative content teams also created event branding, animations, videos, motion graphics, speaker bumpers, logos, backgrounds, as well as an onsite highlights video.
Multiple functional and AV-supported areas were staged across the convention center. Our Production teams booked all entertainment and talent, and Digital Services handled video conferencing from two separate locations. They also developed an event mobile app and provided handheld devices for attendees.
Results
The Encore team handled every production aspect of the Out and Equal annual meeting. As a result, Out and Equal Workplace Advocates did not have to work with any other vendors during the planning and execution processes.
Out and Equal‘s attendees shared that they felt connected with both the brand and host city during their conference experience. Because of this event’s success, the Encore team went on to handle the subsequent years‘ conference as well.
Let’s Talk About Your Event Experience Needs.
Call us at (866) 351-1144 or click the button below to get started!
K-12's Annual Leadership Institute
Attending an annual meeting is often one of the highlights for an association’s membership. The Arizona K-12 Center decided to pivot their 15th Annual Leadership Institute into a completely virtual program with keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and event platform engagement tools.
Objective
Alignment
Outcome
Let’s Talk About Your Event Experience Needs.
Call us at (866) 351-1144 or click the button below to get started!
Meetings and Conferences
Keynote Presentation, Event Design, Staging Design
Objectives
Collaborating with the Timewise and One West Event Design teams, FMAV by Encore was tasked with creating an immersive experience that would welcome and accommodate high–caliber presenters and keynotes. The space needed to be welcoming to audience members and arranged in a way that encouraged networking and conversation.
Line of business: Industry Event We Delivered: Event Strategy & Production
Solutions
Designing the Main Room
The team met in the Edmonton office to align and frame an event narrative that reflected the value that it represents to the event’s various stakeholders.
To achieve this narrative, we applied several design strategies in the main room. Firstly, we manipulated the shape to break the standard rectangular box of an event space. Turned 45°, the layout created a triangular shape with video screens and impactful draping. The shape served two purposes. First, to provide an emphasis on the main stage as the focal point. And secondly, to envelope the audience as if the screens and drape were embracing them in a metaphorical way.
To reinvent the stage experience and complement the angle of the room, FMAV designed a diamond–shaped stage that kept the audience close to the action on stage while keeping the stage height above 36” in order to give the presenters an air of rock stardom.
Using an FMAV stage solution, we designed a maple leaf as a nod to our proud Canadian heritage. OneWest Event Design provided mixed seating arrangements strategically placed to encourage attendee interaction with one another. The seating provided the perfect layout to connect with content and conversation outside of the onstage presentations as well.
To add to the sense of audience intimacy, FMAV designed a rigging plot with truss lines raking down towards the back of the room. This created a lower ceiling bringing an intimate mood to the audience area while keeping the main stage theatrical. To accentuate the rake of the truss, tiered seating was installed at the back of the room, allowing attendees to get a higher sightline, creating a unique experience from that vantage point.
Some small subtle technology choices were made to enable and enhance the attendee’s connection to the presenters. For example, a robotic camera was positioned at the back corner of the stage near the presenter’s entry point. It allowed for a reverse angle shot capturing the presenters entering and exiting from the stage. This shot choice in essence ‘broke the 4th wall’ showing the audience a part of the backstage experience of which most attendees are very familiar. It both humanized and energized the arrival and departure of each presenter.
The IMAG screens were portrait orientated to allow for a full body shot making the presenter 16’ high, enhancing the gravitas and feeding that ‘rock star’ aesthetic.
Results
All of this came together to achieve the event narrative with great effect. Allowing Timewise, FMAV, and OneWest Event Design to contribute in our unique ways creates community, fosters innovation and shows our mutual pride of Western Canada.