AV Technology - August 2008 - (Page 73)

A camera operator uses a 3-chip Canon studio camera to provide close-up images of the presenters on each of the four screens. TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED LEARNING APPLICATIONS ARE BECOMING MORE DEMANDING OF INFRASTRUCTURE OVER TIME, NOT LESS. the size of Heroes Happen Here, it would be a daunting challenge and very expensive to do a physical site survey of every venue.” Instead, CAVCOMM relied on information and drawings from the hotels and convention centers, and they were always prepared for last-minute changes. “You walk in and your 14-foot ceilings can all of a sudden turn out to be 9-foot ceilings,” says Canfield. “Well, your 9 x 12 screen isn’t going to work, but you still have to present a good image for your client.” Canfield says their trucks typically carried a variety of extra equipment just for those occasions. To make each event happen, CAVCOMM crews would arrive the day before, then begin a setup and rehearsal process that took as long as 12 hours for the larger events. They started by setting up a stage in the keynote area with an 8- to 12-cabinet Meyer Sound line array on each side and two 15- by 20foot rear projection screens, each taking its image from a 20,000-lumen Christie Digital projector. Two more rear projection screens, this time 7.5 feet by 10 feet with 5,000-lumen projectors, were hung from the ceiling about 100 feet from the www.avtechnologyonline.com stage, to maintain proper viewing standards. Centered at the back of the room, technicians positioned a three-chip Canon studio camera and a wireless receiver for a handheld ENG camera to provide close-up images of the presenters on each of the four screens. These cameras were particularly important in the larger venues, where people in the back would otherwise have trouble seeing the presenters, and in those cities where Microsoft had to open up a second room for overflow audiences. CAVCOMM techs also established and manned a production station at the house mix position with a Yamaha LS-9 Digital mixing console, PixelRange stage lighting controls, DVD players for pre-show videos, and a laptop they used to configure the line arrays for each venue. Presenters wore Shure UHF-R wireless microphones. The technicians also set up AV systems in the breakout rooms that included 5,500-lumen Sanyo PLC-XP57 projectors, Mackie SRM-450 powered speakers, UHF-R wireless microphones, and a smaller console with DSP that they used to mix the microphones and tune the sound. EXECUTION EXCELLENCE Still, it’s not the AV that’s the challenge in a multi-city tour, but the project management. “Very few staging companies would touch something like this,” says Canfield. “The pressure to get every detail right can be intense.” Even the weather plays a role. Like the U.S. Mail, CAVCOMM trucks routinely deal with blizzards, storms, blackouts, and floods just to get to their destination. With their trucks almost constantly on the road from early June to mid-March, project managers are constantly looking for the safest, most economical routes. “Getting through the mountain passes from California to Seattle was a real challenge this year,” adds Canfield. “You always have to have a backup plan — you always have to be prepared in case a truck can’t get through.” Although budget was a key consideration, says Agrow, “From a logistics perspective, we wanted to make sure all the events were executed flawlessly.” For the Heroes Happen Here tour, CAVCOMM’s Microsoft account manager, Scott Gilbert, estimates the larger keynote events ran around $50,000 for AV while the smaller events averaged around $20,000. “In the past we’ve done events in breakout rooms with up to 1,000 people,” says Gilbert. “But once you go beyond 1,200 or 1,500 people in a room what you have to provide to get your message across changes dramatically. All of a sudden you need a different audio technology. The 9x12 screens become 15x20, and that means the projectors have to be incredibly bright. It’s not a linear cost increase. It’s exponential.” CANON www.canon.com CAVCOMM www.cavcommcorp.com CHRISTIE DIGITAL www.christiedigital.com MACKIE www.mackie.com MEYER SOUND www.meyersound.com MICROSOFT www.microsoft.com SANYO www.sanyo.com SHURE www.shure.com YAMAHA COMMERCIAL www.yamaha.com Wendy Ellis is a freelance writer with extensive experience in the AV and broadcast industries. She can be reached at www.kreski.com/contact.html. august 2008 | AV TECHNOLOGY | 73 INFO http://www.canon.com http://www.cavcommcorp.com http://www.christiedigital.com http://www.macckie.com http://www.meyersound.com http://www.microsoft.com http://www.sanyo.com http://www.shure.com http://www.yamaha.com http://www.kreski.com/contact.html http://www.avtechnologyonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AV Technology - August 2008

AV Technology - August 2008 Contents Precedent Corporate: The Project’s Over...Now What? Government: Generational Diversity and the Rise of the Millennials Education: DIY ISP.EDU HD Videoconferencing On a Budget Using Automatic Mic Mixers The Way I See It: The Standards Dilemma in AV Something for Everybody AV Adds the Magic to Microsoft’s Hat Trick Simple Control for Smarter Classrooms Product Review: VeEX VePAL MX100 Product Spotlight: Amps; Touchpanels New Products Ad Index AV MO: Dealing with Ambient Light

AV Technology - August 2008

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