The whole venue had a 'Game-on' theme, which was designed and produced by marketing agency, George P Johnson. BT sales staff were in a blacked-out and immersive environment whereby each of the halls had the quality of an interactive game.
For the main presentation, a Musion 'Pepper's Ghost' screen was used to allow inter-play between live action, video and graphics and was visible to all areas of the auditorium. Blackout was responsible for rigging the 20 x 10m transparent screen which was flown at a 45° angle plus the five large projectors which were flown with their images being reflected using a specially treated surface and back onto the screen. Blackout's positioning of all these elements was crucial.
Blackout also provided a large quantity of white voile drapes to cover the walls in the event reception area and in the main auditorium, an entrance feature was installed using three large truss arches which carried the lighting.
For the evening event, a separate area was created providing a huge Gala Dinner with a live show. Blackout provided a drape reveal for the main performer and also used 150m of tab-track and drape to reveal bar, games, and casino areas for the after dinner entertainment.
Steve Tuck, managing director at Blackout comments: "We have a very good long standing relationship with a great team at the NEC and were delighted to have been chosen and trusted with managing the rigging for this very large event. This was the kind of project with which we love to be involved and with enough challenges both technically and visually,"
(Jim Evans)
