An estimated 1 600 people, all South African Breweries internal staff, attended the convention, business sessions and the new brand experience - a networking area where delegates gather after various sessions. Here all SAB brands were displayed in an exhibition-type fashion and complemented with lighting and background music.
AV Unlimited arrived in Cape Town on Sunday and the set up had to be complete by Wednesday for rehearsals. The event was hosted on Thursday and Friday.
Guillaume Ducray, joint partner at AV Unlimited, says the biggest challenge was rigging 99 points in 48 hours. Having worked on the gig on numerous other occasions, he chose the same good team and complemented them with a few additional hands to help.
One of the newcomers to this SAB gig was Victor Vermaak as the lighting designer. "I told Victor to run with it," said Ducray, "and using his grandMA2 light, he did a sterling job. Also at his disposal were the new Robin 100 LEDBeams. The superfast lightweight fixtures have great effects including colour chases, various strobing and pulsing effects. Low lying fog complimented the ambience."
"My greatest issue was to light all the brands individually. It was hard work, but it was fairly straight forward," commented Victor Vermaak. He lit 11 brands in the Brand Experience along with a stage for performances. "It was the first time I had used the Robin 100s. They arrived the day before load in and I was so happy that we could use them. They made such a difference and were fast and bright."
(Jim Evans)
