May 2011

Event Staging

OCC Grand Opening: Behind the Scenes

An event of this magnitude doesn’t come together over night. There were many great challenges and sleepless nights involved in bringing this mind-blowing visual exhibition to fruition. Here’s a peek behind the scenes of AVW-TELAV Working Together to Make it Happen!

Producing this massive, technology-driven show took several months of planning to stay within budget. Producer Rick Naylor of Accucom Corporate Communications Inc. had a bold and ambitious dream of what the grand opening should incorporate, and worked side by side with Director Jim Fairhart of Fairhart Productions, and our team, to ensure that the entertainment and technology fell right into place.

For AVW-TELAV, the biggest challenge was coordinating an event while the building was under construction. Starting April 1st, our crew worked 12-hour days alongside the tradesmen so that all the AV components would be installed and tested on time for the April 13th opening.

The indoor production, held on an 80’ in-house stage, included an indoor trampoline disguised as a lake and an approximately 106’ wide by 18’ high projection wall. AVW-TELAV utilized a 16’x20’ plywood wall in the centre, as well as two 12’x21’ screens on the outside of another two 21’x24’ grid walls to build the massive display surface.

Using four Barco R12s, two Barco R6s, four Barco R8s, and two HD cameras, AVW-TELAV provided IMAG throughout the event to magnify and project the speakers’ and performers’ images onto the large screen. We also utilized our newest multimedia offering, ImaginAction™, which combines multiple projectors and display devices with standard computer and network technology, to produce wide, multi-screen and immersive displays on the enormous projection wall.

The spectacular lighting displays included a mixture of Martin Mac 700 Profiles, Martin Mac 250 Entours, Phillips Vari*Lite VLXs and Chroma Q Color Force 12s, and much more. In the main room, we also used ETC Source 4 575 Lekos for specials and ETC Parnel 575s for back light. Audio was provided using a Renkus Heinz PA.

Rigging the trampoline was especially challenging, but we got it done by using a pair of one-tonne counter weights. Luckily, the load was just shy of exceeding the weight restrictions for the stage floor. Throughout the entire set up, our team just kept rolling with the punches. But by the end of the event, it was clear that we had just pulled off the most impressive grand opening that Ottawa had ever experienced.

“The opening gala was an opportunity to showcase our new facility’s capabilities to key industry stakeholders and clients—it had to be perfect. The production programming was technically demanding by any standard—let alone on opening night, ” said OCC Senior Vice President of Client Services Paul Keogh. “AVW-TELAV provided resources from near and far to ensure the entertainment and audio visual elements came off without a hitch; we couldn’t have been more pleased with the end result.”




We would like to acknowledge the following AVW-TELAV staff and crew members for contributing to the success of this event: Colin Harvey, Nick Posso, Ken Parsons, Geoff Grace, Sean Watson, Dean Morris, Steve Nelson, Gerry Saumur, Robin Ackerley, Nathan Allison, Dennis Donovan, Chris Ferris, James Leizert, Wayne Mombourquette, James Thorpe, Jeff Coppola, Daniel Sonenberg, Sean Austin, Dwayne Dejesus, Brian Johnston, Chris Neilson, Chuck Corrigan, Victor Kong, Lee Goodchild, John Crick, Robert Pallen, Dave Laramee, Steve Molokach, Luc Lockwell & Sam Brierley. Other notable mentions are Bill Bradley, Chris Schmidt, and Hiral Patel from Freeman Electrical Services.