Recently, VLPS Lighting Services provided a full lighting package for the National District Managers’ meeting of Footstar, one of the largest footwear retailers in the U.S. The corporate tour traveled to each of Footstar's regional divisions (West, South, and North) with a customized set and full event production designed and provided by Available Light Productions (ALP).
"We’ve been working with Footstar for about eight years but this year they brought us in at the very beginning to plan the technical and creative elements of their event, including picking out the meeting’s theme and the different venues in Las Vegas, Chicago, and Orlando," remarked Kirk Garreans, principal of ALP. "I designed the lighting, along with Matt Lemmon of True Light Productions, to feature a variety of presentations from corporate speeches to panel discussions, award ceremonies, and musical entertainment."
To go along with this year’s theme of "We Make The Difference," the set was designed to resemble a giant jigsaw puzzle, along with two side projection screens and a center panoramic screen image created using the Folsom BlendPro® system. "We specified the shuttering VARI*LITE® VL1000™ ERS luminaire because we wanted strong color on the set without it bleeding onto the panoramic screen image," commented Garreans. "The small heads are also important in venues that have lower trim heights." A combination of ETC Source 4 Ellipsoidal and Source 4 PAR MCM were used to light a 24’ long runway jutting from center stage so that presenters could walk out into the audience. Lemmon programmed the lights on a GrandMA console.
"I chose to use VLPS because I’ve always received excellent support and customer service. Having VLPS offices around the country is a big bonus if I need parts or other service while I'm on the road," commented Garreans. "No equipment is perfect, but the manner with which I am taken care of by VLPS is unsurpassed by any other lighting vendor I have ever used and that makes all the difference in the world on a touring show, or any event, for that matter!"