Tag Archive: Hybrid Events

1. White Light’s SmartStage takes up new residency at The Mermaid London to offer COVID-secure dedicated xR studio for hire

   25 January 2021 11:37 Leave a Comment

   

   Leading technical solutions specialist White Light (WL) is set to launch an additional SmartStage facility, developed specifically for broadcasters and live event producers, at The Mermaid London. Available to hire from 1^st February, this fully COVID-secure studio has been designed to facilitate hybrid productions within the central city location, enabling both real and virtual audiences to attend simultaneously.

   As The Mermaid’s in-house production partner, WL has drawn on its intricate knowledge of the building, and extensive experience of designing, installing and operating xR venues, to offer a turn-key solution. The technology powering SmartStage has won several awards for innovation and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, has revolutionised the delivery of virtual events for clients in a range of sectors. It was also seen recently on Eurosport’s coverage of the US and French Open tournaments and the BBC’s transmission pilot for Bamous, a new comedy entertainment show.

   Located within The Mermaid’s 600-seat Auditorium, the flexible 5m x 5m SmartStage studio environment also comes with dedicated dressing room, rehearsal, and production spaces onsite. All hire bookings are fully supported by WL’s expert Venues team.

   

   Jonjo Glynn, WL’s Venues Director comments: “Last year we increased our SmartStage offering with a dedicated facility for hire at the Science Museum. This proved invaluable to many clients, who had to pivot to fully digital delivery of their flagship events, and they were all blown away by the endless possibilities with xR. The flexibility of the solution allows the seamless integration of multiple technologies to enhance the immersive environment, even to the extent of teleporting presenters from anywhere in the world. We are excited to be placing the UK centre stage with xR technology once again, by offering SmartStage within a prestigious London venue. We are already working with many corporates to plan their virtual and hybrid events for 2021.”

2. Experience the xR elevation for a new reality of digital and hybrid events

   13 January 2021 10:09 Leave a Comment

   The ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic have seen social interaction in virtually every facet of our personal and professional lives adapt in a transformative way. Technology has played a crucial role in facilitating this, by enabling us to shift into the pre-dominantly virtual world that we now find ourselves in. From internal and external methods of communication and collaboration for businesses, to seeking medical advice, spending time with loved ones and celebrating special occasions; we have all become accustomed to this new reality.   

   As a result of this, achieving meaningful engagement has posed one of the biggest challenges faced by many. After the first few months of global lockdown in 2020, the dreaded online fatigue set in and both impact and productivity became compromised. Live events were at a standstill and we were speaking with many of our customers about how their flagship annual events could quickly and effectively pivot to digital delivery.

   During this time, due to the success of our multi-award-winning SmartStage facility based at WL in Wimbledon, we partnered with the Science Museum to build an additional, fully COVID-secure SmartStage studio at the venue. By harnessing the full power and potential of xR, this technology enabled over 500 hours of live corporate events to be broadcast. Each client we worked with posed a unique brief and set of objectives, and our expert team worked closely with them all to bring their digital transformation to life.

   Here is an overview of some of our favourite digital events delivered via SmartStage in 2020:

   • Fusion Comms: BDO RETHINK Festival

   

   The BDO RETHINK Festival, which is traditionally held as a bi-annual face-to-face leadership event, was instead broadcast to a global audience of over 2,500 delegates. In collaboration with Fusion Comms and their digital creators MalfMedia, we designed a flexible xR solution to facilitate three festival broadcasts to BDO’s Managing Partners from across the world.

   An entire virtual infrastructure of festival stages was built with the use of digital assets created in a Media Server system that for the first time incorporated teleportation, remote callers, in studio presenters and XR and AR graphics. Delivery of the plenary sessions included the live, full-body teleportation of five presenters directly into the xR environment. Three presenters were transported from studios in Canada Washington DC and Israel, with two more from their homes in Scandinavia.

   “Working with WL to harness the potential of this technology and the mind-blowing capabilities of xR, enabled us to create something truly game-changing for our client. During these restricted times that we all find ourselves in, this was no small feat and has re-defined the reality for virtual events as we know it.”

   Kelvyn Jones, Director at Fusion Comms

   • Leaders in Sport

   

   As part of its series of global summits, Leaders in Sport hosted its annual ‘Leaders Week’ conference in June 2020 as an online forum for the first time. The physical event, originally due to take place in New York, was transformed into ‘LeadersWeek.direct/’ – a broadcast over four days, which was attended by a remote audience of 2240 delegates from 54 different countries.

   SmartStage enabled the live presenters to safely host more than 25 high-profile sports business leaders from around the world, including executives from ESPN, NHL, MLS, AFC Ajax, Amazon, EA and AT&T, who connected remotely for a series of ‘Leaders Live’ presentations.

   • Creating Sunshine

   Due to the COVID-19 restrictions impacting on the delivery of live events, Creating Sunshine had a brief timeline to entirely re-design and format their client’s annual Growth and Development Conference. They sought an innovative and flexible virtual platform to enable this transformation and support a fully digital event and SmartStage provided a one-stop solution for this. Read the full case study

   • DPP Tech Leaders’ Briefing

   

   The DPP is the media industry’s business network, which brings together customers and suppliers from across the global media supply chain to solve problems and create opportunities. Its annual Leaders’ Briefing, recognised as being the pre-eminent business intelligence event for the media industry, was pivoted to a fully virtual format for the first time in 2020.

   An immersive virtual world was required, to facilitate 43 speakers and over 650 member delegates coming together safely in one place. The packed four-day programme also included the Rise Awards, celebrating the achievements of exceptional women across the broadcast, technology and services sectors.

   The SmartStage workflow, powered by disguise xR, allowed for the creation of a fully branded and dynamic content environment and seamless integration with other technologies. Senior executives from 30 major media companies, including Facebook, Fox, Eurosport, Reuters and Sky; presented their strategic priorities, live, each with bespoke titling content.

   “White Light’s technology and team enabled us to deliver a high-end television style production to DPP members through our own streaming platform, ensuring that the production values matched the quality of the content. The SmartStage made it possible to get a great looking, fully branded environment, from which it was natural to present, in a fraction of the time and cost of a traditional studio build.” Rowan de Pomerai, DPP CTO

   For 2021, SmartStage is re-locating to The Mermaid London and will be available to hire as a fully COVID-secure studio from February.

   To find out more about how you can experience the xR elevation for a new reality of your digital and hybrid events, contact our team today on 020 8254 4800 or email [email protected].uk

3. White Light Wins Production, Rental and Staging Business of the Year at AV Awards 2020

   23 November 2020 14:20 Leave a Comment

   

   Now in its 22^nd year, the AV Awards recognise the outstanding achievements of individuals, companies, projects and technology across the AV, events and production sector. This year’s ceremony was held virtually and, following a challenging year, the organisers felt it was vital to still recognise the outstanding achievements of this creative, talented and innovative industry. Having been crowned National Integrator of the Year at last year’s ceremony, this year White Light won the prestigious Production, Rental and Staging Business of the Year Award; making it the first company ever to receive both accolades. 

   The Production, Rental and Staging Business of the Year Award is given to an organisation that delivers the exact AV solutions customers need. The company must provide assistance in the initial planning stages, concept and theme development, staging requirements, AV equipment requirements, pre-production planning, production, procurement, contract management, scripting and logistics; along with anything else that allows customers to ensure their message hits the mark. Following an incredibly busy twelve months since the previous AV Awards, WL has continued to prove itself as an organisation that offers just this; pushing the boundaries of both the technical solutions and level of service which it offers clients. 

   WL’s Managing Director Bryan Raven comments: “We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded Production, Rental and Staging Business of the Year. This is a recognition of the brilliant contribution from all of our staff, from the warehouse team to those working in Innovation, as they all strive tirelessly to deliver our clients’ diverse range of projects. As a company, we are constantly looking for ways in which to offer the very best service possible, as seen with our strategic partnerships with both ELP and  SFL which has expanded our existing offering. This continued desire to be the best in what we do has allowed us to become technical leaders in several sectors, whether its theatre, corporate events, broadcast or education. Similarly, our constant innovation work, particularly with our award-winning SmartStage technology, shows how we are forever pushing the boundaries in regards to the technical solutions we provide”. 

   With the past year being a particularly challenging one following the outbreak of Covid-19, an important aspect of this year’s AV Awards judging was how organisations had responded to the pandemic and continued to offer their clients an exceptional level of service.  WL’s Technical Solutions Director Andy Hook explains: “Like many similar organisations, back in March, we suddenly found most of our upcoming projects cancelled overnight. As difficult as this was, along with the subsequent decisions we had to make, as technical innovators, we relished the opportunity to continue supporting our customers by helping them embrace digital solutions. We have been pioneering remote presentation and collaboration solutions for several years with a focus on xR and being able to rapidly educate our clients on these technologies has allowed them to move through this period of uncertainty as effectively as possible”.

   Realising that many clients still needed an accessible and safe way to deliver their projects, WL immediately built two brand-new SmartStage studios within its Wimbledon base; embodying the company’s mantra of ‘the show must go on’. These SmartStages have helped deliver a range of exciting projects, including the Leaders in Sport Leaders Week, Vistage’s London Executive Summit, Fusion Comm’s BDO RETHINK Festival as well as several live international sporting broadcasts. Many of these would simply have been cancelled without the use of SmartStage, meaning WL helped deliver solutions that overcame several barriers yet did so in the safest way possible. As the company looks ahead to the next few months, it will continue to use this technology in order to push the boundaries of digital events and begin to transition into the exciting new world of hybrid events. Hybrid events in particular are growing increasingly popular as clients are able to use WL’s innovative xR technology to have both in-person attendance as well as remote delegates and speakers; with this format allowing even more exciting opportunities for innovation.

   Alongside the technical service that is offered to its customers, the judges also took into consideration what the company provides to its staff, from its training regimes to its apprenticeship scheme. It also looked at WL’s diversity and equality stats, as well as its workplace culture and the role it plays within the wider industry.  

   The AV Awards took place virtually on Friday 20th November and a full list of the winners can be viewed here.  

   Bryan concludes: “When the company was founded back in 1971, it was done so on the core values of us being knowledgeable, dependable, friendly, adaptable, customer-focused and honourable. Whilst these have always sat at the heart of our work, they have taken on greater resonance this year. I believe that a time of crisis truly shows who you are as an organisation and, while the past few months have been extremely challenging, I am proud to say that we’ve continued to embody these values; ones which have allowed us to be there not only for our clients but our staff too. The AV Award is a recognition of this and we are delighted to have received such an accolade”.