Organised by Ascential, Bett is the first industry show of the year in the education technology landscape.

In it’s biggest year yet, Bett 2018 took place at ExCeL, covering 41,000sqm and attracting 34,700 visitors to the event. It sees 131 countries represented and brings together 850 leading companies and 103 tech start-ups.

This was the first year Aztec have work with Ascential on Bett and they wanted a fresh take on the show, in particular their main arena. 30 technicians per day were used for the installation were on site throughout the show to address any issues, manage the theatres and all the other services we were providing. This included an onsite editor to manage the content and running of the main arena.

The 1,000 capacity Bett Arena is the focal point of the show. Ascential wanted to change this from an open theatre to an enclosed arena with a more private and high profile feel to increase the potential to gain revenue by creating more ‘hype and intrigue’. To achieve this, we provided ‘edge blend’ projection on 3 large screens that curved around the arena. This provided speakers with a large hi-tech canvas to work with and gave them the option of one huge canvas, or splitting it into separate screens.

The arena was cloaked floor to ceiling in acoustic panelling and sound-proofing. This created intrigue and a buzz on the show floor, giving people vested interest in pre-booking tickets for the arena, especially with high calibre speakers including Microsoft and Google.

The result meant the arena was completely full during almost every session – ensuring demand for the dedicated streaming zones we set up with ‘Silent Seminar’ headsets so attendees didn’t miss out.

We also set up and managed a Green room where presenters could prepare content and presentations with our onsite editor who was also recording and editing all sessions.

In addition to the main arena and streaming zones, Aztec provided audio visual services to the 7 other seminar theatres, Bett bar, 4 Gallery Suites, 8.5mx4.5 free standing LED Wall in the Platinum suite for Microsoft, digital signage, silent seminars and AV services to more than 20 exhibitors.

This saw us install and manage over 350 silent seminar headsets, 12 iPads and over 50 screens as well as numerous laptops and computers.

To improve the visitor experience further, Aztec installed their EventIgnite digital signage and interactive floor plans. We used 18 responsive screens, placed outside theatres and in key areas on the show floor to display speaker schedules and other important information. Along with these we placed 10 interactive screens with EvenIgnite’s interactive floor plan features, allowing visitors to easily navigate and plan their day. The signage was updated 110 times and viewed an estimated 24,480 times by visitors.

Ascential knew what they wanted to achieve. We had the vision and the technical know-how to take an idea, create a concept and turn it into a reality from scratch. The BETT arena looked amazing and was a hit.

“We had big ideas for the BETT main arena this year and Aztec really helped us achieve our vision…” Victoria Abbott, Senior Operations Manager, Ascential Events Ltd.