Event AV and technology specialist Aztec Event Services has been retained to provide services to the Centaur portfolio of shows until the end of 2014.

The extended contract will cover twelve shows including the Homebuilding & Renovating Shows, Subcon, Marketing Week Live and AidEx and will include venues from Olympia to the NEC, Bath & West Showground to the SECC. Aztec will be deploying its range of conference and theatre technology to the shows.

Centaur operations director, Maggie Swain said, “We are very pleased to be extending the contract until the end of 2014. We have worked with Aztec for nearly ten years and they always come to meetings with new and innovative ideas as to how we can bring technology to bear on our shows. Being made aware of what is possible, well in advance of a show, allows us to see how we can get the maximum benefit from it and deliver more for our exhibitors and visitors.”

Aztec Event Services has invested in two broadcast quality Sony HXR-NX5 HD solid state video cameras, enabling the company to achieve a fully digital video workflow improving the quality of video footage and making the rough cutting, editing, titling and compositing work faster and more efficient.

As its name suggests this type of camera does not use tape, but records HD footage (broadcast quality) to solid state memory cards. With two memory card slots, the camera automatically switches from one to the other when the first is full, enabling the camera to record indefinitely, continuously, and without interruption, crucial for events that extend beyond the length of a DV tape.

With a full range of codecs and formats available on board, the camera can record footage that is immediately viewable on any computer or smart TV. This avoids the time consuming process of having to transcode footage captured on DV tape into a digital file format, and the camera can also capture footage at a variety of resolutions and frame rates to suit the circumstances.

The image capture quality is, for a camera of its class, recognised by video professionals to be excellent, thanks to a 3 chip sensor and Carl Zeiss optics. The built in GPS receiver allows footage to be tagged with the latitude and longitude where it was captured (a.k.a ‘geotagging’).

Aztec Event Services sent a team out to Manchester recently, where it was supplying set, stage and AV for the the British Association of Cosmetic Dentistry (BACD) conference, November 22 – 24 at the Manchester Convention Centre.

Aztec came up with an elegant stage and set design for the conference in close collaboration with the BACD, creating a modern and spacious presentation space with dual projection facilities, a full lighting rig and PA for the 500 seat main auditorium. For the adjoining seminar room, Aztec installed and tested a scaled down version of the PA, projection and lighting system, and it also offered its AV services to exhibitors at the attached exhibition.

Suzy Rowlands of the BACD was impressed with Aztec’s professionalism and attention to detail saying “Aztec surpassed our expectations, creating two superb, fully equipped conference stages in a very short space of time and to a very high standard. The quality of the sound and projection facilities really enhanced the presentations at conference, and Aztec’s professionalism made them a pleasure to work with at all times.”

The International Youth Arts Festival (IYAF), founded in 2008, has grown into a sizeable event in a short space of time according to the recently released report by organisers of the festival, Creative Youth.

In July this year, IYAF Kingston drew in nearly 2,000 participants from overseas, and more than 5,000 participants from all over the UK, to take part in 282 different events at 15 venues in and around Kingston-upon-Thames.

John Robson of Aztec Event Services was happy to hear the news of rapid growth, “From Aztec’s point of view, IYAF champions virtually all the skills we need here at Aztec, from sound engineering to set design. As a company, and as a wider industry, we need to nurture young creative talent as much as young technical and engineering talent and IYAF is the perfect local focus for us. This year seems to have been an unqualified success, and we’re looking forward to supporting an even greater festival next year”.

Aztec donated four weeks hire of computing and IT equipment to the festival this year, plus a substantial cash donation to the Creative Youth charity. The charity is also supported by ACT, Air Charter Service, Kingston College, Kingston First , Kingston University, Rose Theatre Kingston, Royal Kingston Borough, Young Kingston and The Outer London Fund.

As official AV contractor to Media 10, Aztec Event Services is providing the AV and stage equipment for this year’s Ideal Home Show at Christmas, 14-18 November, Earls Court, London.

The Ideal Home Show at Christmas is an annual retail exhibition that is attracting over 600 exhibitors across 6 feature areas to show and sell their products, services and ideas to the visiting public. This year the show features a full skating rink with Olympic medal winner Jayne Torville opening the show on ice, a bandstand, a champagne bar and even a complete restaurant.

Aztec is installing all the large screen displays, live video feed and PA system for the Celebrity Kitchen feature and several other main feature areas to enable the many live presentations and demonstrations planned for the show. Seven Aztec technicians will be on hand for the show’s duration to operate lights, sound mixing and video feeds as required.

The two bandstand features will be hosting live performances by musicians and singers throughout the show and the sound system, lights, decks and PA will all be installed and operated by Aztec technicians. Aztec is providing the PA and mixing facilities and a full lighting rig with moving lights, seasonal effects and a dedicated lighting technician for the ice rink. Aztec is also installing a large PA system linked to the bandstands to stream sound from bands and choirs directly to the ice rink, allowing skaters to enjoy the live music without stepping off the ice. In the Tech Zone, Aztec are providing 10 new iPads on stands for visitors to get some hands on experience with the Top 10 Christmas Apps.

Aztec is also installing luminaires to light the enormous 11 x 6 meter centerpiece Christmas Tree above the ice rink from rigs mounted on either side. With a scant two days to install and test all the equipment and systems, Leo Speck of Aztec was impressively calm “48 hours isn’t a huge amount of time, but with the lean processes we adopted earlier in the year, and our hardworking team of imaginative technicians, this is exactly the sort of challenge we thrive on”.

Aztec Event Services provided a full suite of AV, sound and light systems for Media 10’s three day sci-fi convention Destination Star Trek at ExCeL London.

This landmark event brought the five Star Trek captains (William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew and Scott Bakula) together for the first time at a Trekkie convention outside the USA. The London event hosted a Klingon blessing, broke the record for the largest number of people gathered in one place and dressed in costumes from the sci-fi franchise (1,083) and attracted more than 12,000 visitors in total.

Aztec’s senior account manager, Gavin Haughey, designed and built the main stage and the production concept for the Captain’s Talk, hosted by John Barrowman. The 2,500 seater auditorium was completely sold out and featured a space age theme; the stage had five seats on a raised dais, an enormous starcloth stretching across the back of the stage and a massive 12m screen to relay close up shots from the three broadcast cameras via a high definition projector. It was possible to see everything that happened on stage in clear detail, with the audio relaying every word crisply to the back of the venue. As the captains were introduced by Barrowman they were illuminated by a tight spot and ‘beamed’ onto the stage in a shaft of light and accompanied by the familiar sound of the Enterprise’s transporter system.

Aztec’s Gavin Haughey said, “Star Trek fans are so enthusiastic it was very important to us that each of them had the opportunity to see and hear all of the talks and discussions clearly. I am very pleased to say that the production went as planned and it looked and ran as I had envisaged. All the crew were incredibly enthusiastic which helped to deliver smooth and slick shows. We’ve all come away feeling a little like Trekkies.”

In addition Aztec also delivered AV support to the two 800 seater theatres within the exhibition area that hosted a number of talks and discussions throughout the weekend. In the evenings Aztec provided sound and lighting for the party area, one hall at ExCeL London containing 2,000 people for Friday night’s Klingon inspired party and the Federation party on Saturday night.

The weekend-long convention witnessed the first Klingon blessing in the UK as Jossie Sockertopp, 23, and Sonnie Gustavsson 29, from Skåne in Sweden, tied the knot dressed as members of the warrior race.

Media 10’s marketing director Rob Nathan said, “This event was a very high profile event for Media 10, being the first time that the five captains have ever appeared together in Europe. The technical production for the event had to be flawless and I’m delighted that Aztec delivered in every respect.”

Aztec and Media 10 delivered a glittering diamond celebration for a thousand guests at the prestigious Royal Warrant Holders Association Ball at the Park Plaza Westminster on Thursday 1 November 2012.

The Royal Warrant Holders Association represents individuals and companies who have supplied goods or services for at least five years to HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh or HRH The Prince of Wales. Royal Warrant Holders have always been regarded as the best of the best cross section of trade and industry demonstrating excellence and quality.

The high profile event was produced to very tight timescales within a 24 hour period, during which Aztec installed, operated and de rigged all the AV including the on site video projection, sound, lighting, cameras, and stage backdrop. One last minute addition to the list was a vinyl dance floor. The hotel dance floor was deemed to be unsuitable by the dancers only a couple of hours prior to guests arriving. Aztec sourced a vinyl cover and installed it in time for the show.

The timings of the event were precise and Aztec gained access at 4am for the 12 person installation crew, which had to be completed by midday. The event finished at 1am and the 8 person show crew were increased to a team of 16 to de rig and remove the entire AV set by the deadline of 4am.

The event opened with a spectacular dance group backed by a string quartet followed by dinner and speeches, including Rory Bremner, all of which was rounded off by live bands performing in the venue.

Aztec MD John Robson commented, “We have a great working relationship with Media 10 and they trust us to be able to deliver complex solutions with tight deadlines, as well as problem solve creatively and practically while on site.”

“One highlight was to be entrusted to hang the Royal Crest of the Warrant, which is a very unusual and precious item normally only handled by the holders of the crest, Fisher Productions.” added Robson.

Aztec Event Services has mustered its considerable resources for World Travel Market, 5-8 November 2012, at ExCeL London. World Travel Market (WTM), produced by Reed Exhibitions Ltd., is one of the leading global events for the travel industry, a four-day business-to-business event for UK and International travel professionals.

Building on previous successes at WTM, Aztec and Reed Exhibitions have collaborated to produce the World Travel Market Digital Hub on the show floor combining technical support, reprographics, AV equipment hire and support and ad-hoc meeting rooms with IT facilities.

The WTM Digital Hub also features screens from Aztec showing rolling presentations, live twitter feeds, live streaming of WTM TV footage with Aztec iPads running the Reed World Travel Market app. The WTM Digital Hub is also providing Aztec with a show floor retail outlet, where visitors and exhibitors can buy memory sticks, mains leads, 4 gang adaptors and other essential exhibition items.

Aztec’s presence is being strongly felt throughout the show, from the Platinum Suites to the Meridian Lounges and several other feature areas in between. Aztec has built complete event sets in two of the Platinum suites, including stages, full lighting rigs, spotlights, cameras, displays, PAs and projection equipment. The Platinum suites will be hosting a range of events for the leading sponsors, including BBC Worldwide and EuroSport.

The Meridian Club lounges will see Aztec install and network several ‘Cyberpod’ internet kiosks in each, with the North Lounge equipped with a full PA, LED display featuring a rolling presentation and a rear projection setup, with a technician in situ for the speed networking event on Thursday November 8.

Aztec has also put a further 7 ‘Cyberpod’ internet kiosks in the Internet Area in the south hall and connected them to the internet via their own switches and routers.

In the Travel Technology Theatre, a major feature area on the show floor, Aztec has rigged a 15k high profile projector on a truss with a PA, staging and a dedicated technician.

The Greek National Tourism Organisation stand hosted a “Welcome to Greece” presentation on Monday November 5 and will be showing live cooking on subsequent days; Aztec has provided the microphones, PA, and displays for these events.

At Monday’s peak, Aztec had 17 technicians and managers on site in multiple locations and so installing their own office for the first time at the WTM was a straightforward decision. The office is supporting and coordinating the sizeable schedule of work, and capitalising on its location in the Boulevard to sell Aztec services to exhibitors and visitors.

upils at Wandle Valley school have made creative use of the felt donated to them by Aztec Event Services by crafting more than a dozen superb artworks celebrating the Mexican Day of the Dead on November 1. Aptly enough, scholars have traced the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl! The imaginatively gruesome skull designs are very much in keeping with the modern Mexican festival, and perfect for Halloween too.

As part of its overall commitment to sustainability, Aztec Event Services has been donating surplus felt to local schools for years. Aztec uses large amounts of felt, in different colours, to cover set panels for the sets it provides for conferences. Felt is not an easily recyclable material in the same way as paper, glass and plastics, but it does make an excellent crafting material. Donating the recovered felt to schools for re-use was an obvious alternative to recycling the material, and fitted in well with Aztec’s desire to make a positive contribution to the local area in as many ways as possible.

A commitment to sustainability means instilling an ethos into the company to reduce, reuse and recycle by default.This ethos is evident at Aztec where considerable amounts of paper, card and expended batteries are regularly sent to recycling facilities. Where items or materials cannot be recycled they are reused; a recent office refurbishment resulted in all its surplus desks being donated to local businesses. Aztec’s entire fleet of vehicles run solely on bio-diesel, and recently Aztec has teamed up with Evans Cycles to provide Aztec staff with a Ride2Work scheme which promotes healthier journeys to work, reduces congestion and offers a positive lifestyle benefit to employees.

John Robson, managing director at Aztec Event Services, said, “I’m surrounded by a team of very creative people so it seems natural to me that we would find a great way to extend the life of our single biggest waste product. And the fact that children are able to use the material for creative purposes is an extra bonus!”

Aztec MD John Robson speaks to BBC News extolling the virtues of the Apprenticeship Scheme