Aztec Event Services has again been selected as official AV contractor for FESPA 2013 show, 25 – 29 June, at ExCeL London. This significant contract win builds on Aztec’s successful partnership with FESPA as AV contractor for FESPA 2011 in Hamburg, 2010 in Munich and 2009 in Amsterdam.

The 2013 FESPA exhibition and conference in London will be the largest event that focuses on the wide format print industry; encompassing the very latest equipment and consumables in digital printing, screen printing, industrial and garment decoration.

John Robson, managing director of Aztec Event Services expressed his satisfaction at the news, “We worked hard to win the contract for this vibrant and exciting show, so we were really chuffed with the news that we’d been selected as official AV supplier. With the show taking place in our own back yard, we faced some very stiff competition and to be selected for a third time is a real endorsement of the partnership we’ve built with FESPA and the show organisers.”

Aztec Event Services is celebrating its “best month ever”, according to John Robson, managing director.

During September, Aztec were chosen as official AV contractors for twenty three major shows and exhibitions across Europe and the UK, supplying AV equipment, IT infrastructure, telecoms and internet access to venues and exhibitors alike.

Robson commented, “With more than 900 jobs completed in 30 days, including this year’s Liberal Democrat Party Conference, ECOPRINT 2012 and the new Cake & Bake Show 2012, I am confident that we have demonstrated that Aztec not only has the skills, technical expertise and creativity needed to succeed in the industry, but that we have the bandwidth to supply and service simultaneous major events.

Aztec Event Services is rolling out its newly acquired ‘silent seminar’ technology this autumn, after investing over £50,000 in the Bosch Integrus infra-red audio broadcasting system. Having previously hired silent seminar technology when required, the growing demand for this service has prompted Aztec to acquire its own suite of equipment. Aztec successfully rolled out the system at Cross Media 2012, 3-4 September 2012 at the Business Design Centre, London and is planning to deploy silent seminar equipment at a string of events this autumn, starting with Employee Benefits Live, 25 -26 September, Olympia, London.

This investment meets the needs of the increasing numbers of seminars and lectures being held on the exhibition floor where the noise levels are often high.

One solution to overcoming high levels of background noise during seminar presentations is to use a PA system to amplify the speakers voice, but this approach has several drawbacks in the typical exhibition environment: it adds to the overall noise levels, making things difficult for exhibitors nearby, the cavernous interiors of many exhibition halls create distortions and echoes that can render a speaker unintelligible, and audiences close to the speakers are deafened, whilst those at the back cannot hear properly. The alternative is to build a dedicated seminar room which does overcome these shortcomings, but with a considerable price tag, as the room has to be designed, constructed, furnished, lit, wired for sound and then soundproofed.

Aztec’s newly acquired Bosch Integrus system cleverly sidesteps all these problems by beaming the speakers voice from infra-red transmitters straight into individual headsets worn by audience members. The system supports four channels allowing Aztec to host up to four separate seminars simultaneously (or one seminar in four languages).

With this equipment, Aztec can offer measurable savings by removing the need to build and furnish seminar rooms.

The infra red system has the additional advantage of being largely immune to electrical and radio interference, and the Bosch Integrus system was chosen by Aztec because of its superior performance in challenging lighting conditions that can cause interference in less advanced infra-red based systems.

When installed the system allows seminars to be held in large open plan spaces without contributing to overall noise levels and ensures the audience can hear the speaker with complete clarity and in real time. Each headset features individual volume controls, allowing each audience member to choose their preferred volume, a feature particularly useful to the hearing impaired.

Aztec has been working hard in Brighton over the weekend, delivering a wide range of AV, IT and telecoms services to the Liberal Democrat annual conference, 22-26 September 2012, held across three main sites in the city, The Brighton Centre, The Grand Hotel and The Hilton Hotel.

A dozen Aztec technicians were needed to accommodate the vast scope of the project, and the team members have been busy in the run up to the conference installing managed switches and equipment that will be providing internet access, back office IT infrastructure and telephony services for conference delegates. Aztec is also providing all the IT, internet connectivity, telephones and televisions for the internal press office and the written news media.

Now that the conference is under way, Aztec’s attention has turned to the 150 plus events and fringe meetings that need AV equipment and support. These range from ministerial Q&A sessions and political caucuses using the newly acquired Shure ULX-D digital wireless system, to the conference grand finale, a Glee club party for all the delegates with a full PA and lighting rig.

Aztec’s managing director, John Robson, commented “We’ve been working with the Liberal Democrat Party for several years at their conferences. This years autumn conference has seen more delegates and tighter security than any other we’ve been involved with, and we’ve worked hard to provide an exemplary service, especially on the many mission critical aspects of the conference. We believe that our success at delivering the conference this year, and every year, is a testament to the great partnership we’ve built up with the Liberal Democrats events team.”

Aztec Event Services has been selected as AV supplier to the EcoPrint Live 2012 conference and exhibition, Berlin, 26-27 September. EcoPrint Live is a new show focusing on sustainable and environmental print solutions, providing a forum and a marketplace for the industry to share and disseminate environmental solutions.

Aztec is supplying AV for the main stage, the technical workshop seminar, the eco showcase seminar theatre, the round table debate area and the Q&A small stage, and has contributed to a popular package deal for exhibitors comprising of a laptop, plasma display screen and suite of indispensable on-stand AV equipment.

Unlike most other exhibitions and conferences, the organiser of EcoPrint Live, FM Brooks, required suppliers to provide an exhaustive ecological and environmental audit as part of their tender and Aztec employed an independent consultant to help document its environmental credentials and practices to the complete satisfaction of the organisers.

John Robson, managing director of Aztec Event Services explains why Aztec is particularly pleased with this endorsement of its environmental commitment, “We’ve been quietly working away at reducing our impact upon the environment for years now, and I think things like using biodiesel in our vans and recycling our biggest waste product – felt from stage sets – by donating it to local schools and Brownies/Cubs, hit a chord with the organisers. They want to work with suppliers that really ‘get it’ as opposed to ones that just tick boxes and I believe we came through with flying colours.”

The Aztec team arrive in Berlin on Monday September 24 to start the build and installation, will be on-site for the duration of the show providing technical and system support, and will return home after the show finishes, on Friday September 28.

Aztec Event Services have announced that Diana Fonseka has accepted an invitation to join the board of directors as finance director. Diana joined Aztec in 2008 in the accounts department and has, in the words of Aztec’s managing director John Robson, “turned around the department through extremely hard graft, making it the equal of any other that we deal with, and significantly better than the vast majority”.

With a single £100,000 investment in August, Aztec Event Services became Britain’s first company to take delivery of Shure’s very latest range of ULX-D digital wireless system receivers and microphones. This investment is part of Aztec’s undertaking to complete its Digital Switchover and entailed replacing its entire wireless microphone stock with digital microphones and receivers.

Aztec’s operations director Steve Colesell explained how this need to replace stock due to the digital switchover became an opportunity to make a significant investment in new technology. “We’ve always had Shure microphones but were leaning towards other brands. Then we were shown a pre-production sample of Shure’s ULX-D system, and it was immediately clear that this was the product for us”.

These formidable systems offer greatly improved features as Colesell continues, “Of course Shure audio quality didn’t need questioning, but with this new system we can offer our clients more than eighty digital, encrypted channels with greater range, clarity and reliability, whilst cutting down on setup times both in the warehouse and on-site”.

As one of the world’s most important design trade events, and the largest and most prestigious single-site design event in the UK, the 100% Design Show is regarded as the commercial cornerstone of the annual London Design Festival. This year’s show, to be held at Earls Court, London 19-22 September 2012, will be produced for the first time by Media 10, supported by Aztec Event Services.

Media 10, which also produces Clerkenwell Design Week, the Ideal Home Show and Grand Designs Live, has selected Aztec Event Services to provide audiovisual design, equipment support and content for the show. The 100% Design Show, attracting 35,000 architects, interior designers and associated professionals every year, is a great fit for Media 10’s stable of leading design events.

Working with the show designers, Aztec is helping to specify the main theatre audiovisual equipment, supplying a wide-screen high definition video projection system and audio and lighting, as well as organising a live, real-time video conference system connecting designers around the world. Aztec will also work on some of the design hubs around the event and supply exhibitors with audiovisual solutions.

Informa Print & Media Group is launching Cross Media 2012, a brand new print media show, in London September 3-4, and Aztec Event Services will provide high tech and innovative AV services. Cross Media 2012 will look at ways to integrate digital and traditional marketing channels to drive customer engagement and increase revenues, focusing on social media, digital communications, print, publishing and design. The event has grown out of Ipex, the largest English-speaking global technology event for print, publishing and media, but focuses on the end users of the technology, rather than the technology itself.

Nick Craig Waller, event director for Cross Media 2012 and marketing director for Ipex 2014 comments: “We noticed that customers attending Ipex were bringing their clients to show them examples of print, publishing and other media, and this demonstrated that there was a gap in the market for something that targeted the end users. After consulting with visitors and exhibitors, including some of the biggest names in the industry, we decided to create a new event. This will not replace Ipex, but complement it, and will attract a new audience, including marketers and creatives, and the Business Design Centre is the ideal venue.”

Cross Media 2012, held at the Business Design Centre, London 3-4 September 2012, is a free-to-attend event and will include six seminar theatres with more than 72 inspirational speakers, as well as around 80 exhibitors. Informa Print & Media Group has acquired mediaPro from CloserStill Media this year, and will integrate mediaPro within Cross Media 2012. Aztec will provide AV services across the event, including technology to support ‘Silent Seminars’ in the theatres. AV is a very important part of every show, and Waller sees it as particularly important to get it right at this event, which has senior attendees and exhibitors from high tech industries and high profile brands.

“We are using Aztec’s expertise and experience to create a spectacle for visitors. As an example, there is always a buzz of sound at events, and the ‘Silent Seminars’, where all the attendees wear headsets, allows us to have effective and exciting speakers and demonstrations without interference from the busy and sometimes noisy environment. This will be a test for the technology for other of our shows. Aztec comes with excellent word of mouth recommendations and years of experience in the industry,” says Craig Waller.

Aztec Event Services has signed a new two-year contract to supply AV services to the food, drink and hospitality specialist events organiser Fresh Montgomery, including IFE and Hotelympia.

This is the second two-year contract signed with Fresh Montgomery. In 2012, under the previous contract, Aztec provided full AV support across the entire event for Hotelympia at ExCeL London, including live projection of the chef’s competition in the Salon Culinaire, internet kiosks, presentations and workshops for the ‘Waste Works’ exhibition, and video recording and editing for interviews and footage to be broadcast throughout the venue. The next Hotelympia will be held in 2014, where Aztec will again provide support.

Fresh Montgomery operations director Janice Edmunds said: “We have worked with Aztec for a number of years, initially for IT services and then taking up their full range of AV services, and it has been a successful and fruitful relationship. We are confident that Aztec can and will continue to meet and exceed our expectations at our food, drink and hospitality events.”

Aztec account manager Chris Harris said: “This is our second two-year AV contract with Fresh Montgomery, and we have really enjoyed working with them. We are looking forward to the range of shows that we will be working on in the next two years.

Other Fresh Montgomery shows where Aztec will provide AV services over the next two years include:

* Speciality & Fine Food Fair, 2-4 September 2012, Olympia, London

* Speciality Chocolate Fair, 2-4 September 2012, Olympia, London

* Hospitality, 21-23 January 2013, NEC Birmingham

* ScotHot, 4-6 March 2013, SECC, Glasgow

* IFE, 17-20 March 2013, ExCeL London

* Pro2Pac 2013, 17-20 March 2013, ExCeL, London