The Requirement

COVID-19 has forced a sudden transformation of live events.

While many events have been cancelled, postponed, or turned into Zoom calls, The Good Business Festival turned to Adlib to design, produce, and broadcast a virtual alternative to their physical event – without compromising on audience engagement and production values.

Bringing people together will always result in a better event.

Our Head of Lighting & Video, Tom Edwards, commented: “The trend of everyone being remote - the audience, the presenters, the producers, the technicians - means you lose out on the tactile stuff where you can get into the nitty gritty and collaborate. So it was important that the core team were on site, talking face-to-face with the hosts in a safe way, and that facilities for presenter interaction off camera was provided even though they were remote.”

The ambition was always to bring together as many people as possible and present something engaging and exciting for both participants and online delegates.

The Solution

Digital Comms Network

Comms is a key part of working in a Covid-secure environment enabling the crew to be physically separated on site, and enabling communication with team members in remote locations. We designed and supplied a digital comms system for the event based around a Riedel Artist and Bolero wireless intercom system.

Video

Remote presenters were handled via two vMix servers with studio filming covered by Sony HDC-4300 channels. The system was controlled via Ross Carbonite vision mixers and Ultrix routers, and a Barco E2 screen management system routing to four live TVs on stage, three LED screens, four confidence monitors, and over 20 backstage multiviews.

The LED displays forming the backdrop to the studio comprised three 9m x 5m video wall, fed by our Disguise gx2c media servers.

Audio

Audio was mixed on two DiGiCo SD12 consoles with redundant SD racks and mini racks on stage. Dugan Automix running via redundant Waves systems automated the priority of presenters output over vMix.

Audio and video playback was handled by redundant QLab systems with studio hosts being double mic’d for redundancy.

Lighting

With any broadcast event, key light is a number one priority. The main key-light was provided by a fleet of Chauvet MK3 supported by Ayrton Bora Wash fixtures.

“We easily achieved a constant field with enough punch to cope with the large amounts of video wall providing the backdrop” commented Tom Kaye.

Another key lighting element was the use of vintage lighting fixtures to give an old studio look to the stage. A range of rare fixtures tied the stage design together and gave significant mid-ground interest on camera.

The Result

The event received rave reviews from attendees, presenters, and organisers. Huge thanks to the event partners for being so supportive throughout the planning and delivery of this event – Liverpool City Region, Liverpool Metro Mayor, and Culture Liverpool.