Aztec Event Services delivered AV equipment and services for seminars, exhibitors and the central bar area at the recent Unified Communications Expo 2013 (UC Expo), at Olympia, London on 4-5 March.
The show, organised by Imago Techmedia attracted over 4000 communications, collaboration and technology professionals. Selected by Imago Techmedia as official supplier for AV, Aztec provided full AV services for 6 seminar rooms with a standard projector and PA setup, combined with a provision for audio and projector feeds for the filming of each seminar. More than 70 exhibitors took advantage of Aztec’s AV offering, from simple laptops to digital display screens and PAs. Aztec also collaborated with Imago Techmedia to create the “speaker lounge” – a suite of computers where speakers could upload and check their digital presentation content and notes, and push them to the systems waiting in each seminar room.
Aztec sent ten technicians to UC Expo for the rig and de-rig, and maintained a crew of 7 technicians on site for the duration of the show. Six technicians were assigned a seminar room each, and one was designated a floating show tech to assist and support exhibitors.
The central, open plan, bar at UC Expo was the venue for a daily ‘flashmob’ organised by Siemens to promote its line of seminars, and featured a powerful PA and numerous speakers mounted on suspended trusses above, installed and operated by Aztec technicians. Every day a troupe of dancers would emerge from the milling crowds at a predetermined time, and the music, which needed to be heard across the whole exhibition space to draw the crowds, would begin. Aztec also provided 12 iPads for the show that were installed with Imago’s management software.
Speaking after the show, Alex Joicey at Imago Techmedia said: “Aztec was official for AV at UC Expo last year and didn’t disappoint. This year the technicians really excelled themselves, taking the tight deadlines for the build in their stride, and delivering literally faultless AV across the show.”
IMHX, the UK’s largest materials handling and logistics event, convenes every three years and IMHX 2013 has been announced for March 19 – 22 at NEC Birmingham.
Richard Noble, holder of the current world land speed record, addressing the show appearing alongside his latest vehicle, the Bloodhound SSC, and Aztec Event Services have been chosen as official AV suppliers to the show organiser, Informa Exhibitions Ltd.
With 40 conference sessions in two theatres, four halls housing more than 400 exhibitors and an anticipated 20,000 visitors to the show, the AV requirements have been varied in scale and application. The demand for transcriptions of the two popular networking seminars that are a feature of IMHX, has required Aztec to provide audio recording facilities in addition to the standard seminar AV setup of a rear projection display and digital PA.
Aztec is also supplying dozens of individual exhibitors with the AV systems and installation they require, plus several PAs and display screens for individual feature areas.
Aztec’s Chris Harris reflected on Informa’s welcome decision “We have provided full AV for Informa’s shows in the past, so winning a show that’s completely new to us is an encouraging endorsement of our service oriented approach. We’re very proud of the fact that Informa have chosen us as official AV suppliers to IMHX 2013.”
Aztec Events Services has welcomed Liam Bremer to the company as a new project manager for events. Liam joined Aztec in early February from his post at Eclipse Presentations where he was responsible for managing the venue partnership with the Park Lane Intercontinental Hotel and servicing its event requirements.
With a strong academic background in audio systems engineering and broad experience in the event industry, Liam’s expertise stretches from the deeply technical aspects of specifying and installing AV systems to the essential people skills required to manage and motivate teams of technicians.
Liam was pleased to be selected for the role, commenting: “Being chosen by Aztec for this post is a significant career move for me, enabling me to develop and establish my skills in project & team management, taking more responsibility and making more impact as well as expanding my technical skills. The working atmosphere here at Aztec is immensely supportive and positive, and its overall ethos of valuing its people and contributing to the community is very much something I want to be a part of.”
Welcoming Liam to the firm, Aztec MD John Robson explained his satisfaction at this new appointment: “When I was first introduced to Liam, I was immediately impressed by his quietly confident manner. In getting to know Liam, it became apparent that he has a superb technical knowledge and a passion for all things audiovisual. Liam’s appointment is a significant one for Aztec and I have no doubt that he will be extremely successful in developing his career with the company.”
Aztec Event Services is celebrating the success of its seven operational staff who were awarded their certificates in NVQ level 2 Business Improvement Techniques, on January 28th at the Aztec offices in Mitcham, Surrey.
These qualifications are the final piece in the jigsaw for Aztec’s recent adoption of the principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and the opening of its new warehouse unit. The new warehouse and processes have yielded a dramatic 89% reduction in Non Value-Added (NVA) lead time for equipment preparation.
The 3500 square foot warehouse has been designed from the ground up, following extensive analyses of warehouse workflows and processes, and has undergone an extensive refurbishment including reinforced doors, CCTV and energy efficient lighting. The trained operational staff, working in the new warehouse and using the TPS principles plus the 5S system (Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardise, Sustain) have seen increases in speed and efficiency, reductions in wastage and the establishment of an excellent working environment.
TPS and the new warehouse system enables Aztec to increase its capacity and to make long term savings. But the benefits are not limited to measures of efficiency, as the ‘Toyota Way’ also puts Aztec’s employees at the centre, recognising the importance of encouraging teamwork and professional support and development.
Aztec’s warehouse manager, Graham Farmer, was impressed with the results of the new methods and warehouse configuration, “The techniques of waste-walk analysis and careful refinements we have applied to the warehouse layout have allowed us make dramatic improvements warehouse efficiency, giving us quicker turnaround times and increasing our capacity as a result.”
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.”