Le Groupement des Chefs d'Entreprise du Québec (Québec Business Owners Group) held its Annual Congress at Hilton Lac-Leamy in Gatineau, Québec, Canada, where it required an edge-blended presentation to deliver addresses to the network of 1,500 business owners and future owners. Staging for the event was provided by Duocom Canada, Inc, an event company that manages approximately 500 events per year.
“The theme this year was ‘Building my capital in the five key sectors of my life: professional and social commitments; significant links; physical, psychological, and spiritual health; personal finances; and recreation/leisure,’” says Sonya Turcotte, director of the provincial towns and partners network of Le Groupement des Chefs d'Entreprise du Québec. “The Congress was a great success with 460 people attending consisting mainly of corporate managers or aspiring managers with their families.”
Yannick Provencher, regional operation manager of Duocom, says the Groupement and Duocom have a longstanding relationship that brought this project about. “Our client wanted a big visual impact for this meeting,” he says. “We achieved that by using a 60'×14' screen for the presentation.” On the screen, projected content was achieved via four Analog Way EventiX™ with cross-blender for soft-edge blending, Analog Way Show Manager, a Sony DFS-700 Video switcher, an Extron CrossPoint Ultra 1616 Ultra-Wideband Matrix Switcher, and four Panasonic PT-D7700 DLP projectors.
Two Sony PCM-D50 cameras, a Fujinon 36x lens, two Denon DN-V210 DVD players, and four Toshiba Tecra A9 laptops rounded out the video gear. “We had the computer, camera, and DVD as sources,” says Provencher. “With the blending feature in the EventiX, we were able to achieve an impressive blend without seeing the edge on the four projectors.” Lighting for the event included Clay Paky Alpha Spot HMEs, NSI dimmers, ETC Source Four Zoom 25°-50° units, Philips D-Line 18-LED bars, Colortran 1kW and 2kW Fresnels, pre-hung PARs, and ACL bars, controlled via a Compulite Spark 4D console.
But the event was not without challenges. “Background content on the screen was not done properly,” says Provencher. “The content information appeared too low on the screen, so it was hidden from the stage. Since the screen was 1' off the floor, our solution was to do picture-in-picture with the EventiX to be able to see the content information, so it could be higher on the screen and out of the way of the stage.”
As for results, Provencher says, “Having more technology on the presentation side makes events more interesting for the audience, and the impact is always positive.”