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
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”.
