NAED in San Diego

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS WESTERN REGION CONFERENCE - SAN DIEGO

This week we produced the National Association of Electrical Distributors Western Region Conference in San Diego. This was the second meeting of three regional conferences this year. The meeting was at the San Diego Marriott and Marina, one of the largest hotels in San Diego and a property we've worked in many times in the past. The setting is spectacular, and the weather was a welcome relief from the cold, rainy days we've been experiencing in Nashville. It was a great week, and we're looking forward to our next show in Marco Island next month!

Here are some shots from the General Session. This is a conference of about 500 attendees from the electrical products industry, including some of the world's largest manufacturers for electrical equipment.

Scenic Shop Diversity in Foam!

Our Scenic Shop has many diverse disciplines for set and prop fabrication. Our Technical Director, Eric Cardwell, who leads our scenic shop, has the opportunity to work on some incredible set, prop and creative designs for our clients. The diversity of elements our creative teams design and create is extraordinary. One of the most interesting mediums that we use is bead foam to create 3-dimensional elements. Eric is currently leading a project to create an over-sized telephone prop, in which a young actress will be delivering her lines sitting in the hand receiver cradle. The pictures are showing our artist carving the telephone out of bead foam. You will find the pictures of this telephone coming to "life" over the next few days, culminating with the big reveal of the final piece by the end of the week.

What can Eric and our creative teams build for you?

London Auditions 2010

LONDON AUDITIONS A SUCCESS IN SPITE OF THE WEATHER

Our cruise ship production team is in London this week on our annual audition trip. We are currently casting for NCL's JADE, GEM, and SPIRIT. We found some great talent, although the number of attendees was down from last year due to the treacherous weather conditions across Great Britain. Many of the trains leading into London from the north were cancelled over the past two days because of heavy snowfall. We head home tomorrow, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll be able to get out. Many flights have been cancelled or are delayed. Here are some shots from the auditions...

These singers were taught a dance combination at callbacks to make sure they could handle the choreography in our shows.

This is a shot from the dancer auditions on Thursday. It was a workout for the 80 dancers who were taught several challenging combinations.

Dancers warming up before learning the first dance combination.

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

We recently produced audiovisual and entertainment elements for a tremendously successful corporate conference at one of the major convention hotels in Las Vegas. This was one of of the more innovative and engaging shows we've done this year, primarily because of the creative use of entertainment throughout the show. After two days of general sessions and educational breakouts, the entire group came together for a final review of the meeting content. The audience had a chance to show their prowess in a fast-paced game show format loosely patterned after a Hollywood Squares format. The company's execs acted as "panelists", while "contestants" were selected at random from the audience. Questions covering the conference material were thrown out to the VIP panelists, and contestants had an opportunity to "agree or disagree" with the answers. The game was a highly effective way for the audience to review key information shared in the previous sessions. And it was BIG FUN for everyone! Give us a call if you'd like to learn how this game - or others - can be tailored to your meeting needs!

The above photo is a shot of the stage just before the session. The game involves 9 panelists at specially built colorful LED or Flat screen monitor desks, with contestants and the host standing at lecterns that house much of the electronics for the game operation.

"Rockaraoke" combines the high energy impact of a live rock band with the diversity and audience participation of karaoke. This event was so successful it had to be extended by an hour to accommodate everyone who wanted to be a star for the night. It was a huge hit!

Many of the guests even came prepared with wigs and costumes to complete their performances!

The final dinner featured and elegant dinner with amazing hand-made chocolate centerpieces. It was stunning!

Miracles DO happen!

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!

In our business, miracles happen every day. In fact, they are expected. However, its nice to get some feedback from clients who appreciate the extra effort required to make their events successful. This is an excerpt from a "thank-you" note from one of our clients today. Approximately 75 minutes before a major automotive corporate marketing event was to happen in a tent outside the client's national headquarters, the plan had to change due to inclement weather. They called one of our producers, Bert Hensley, to save the day. Here's the note...

"Hi Bert – just want to THANK YOU and your team again for helping us at the last minute today with the stage/risers. It was an amazing performance and demonstration of your customer-focused approach to your work. Not only did you deliver within an incredibly short time frame, you took the time to be on site and make sure that all went well."

Congratulations to Bert, Chris, and the GMP scenic team for making another Christmas miracle come true.

Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus!

Simple is Good

SIMPLE IS GOOD

Tight budgets for business meetings are the norm these days. But that doesn't mean you have to settle for a ho-hum general session. Here are several stages we've done in the past few months that offered a theme appropriate stage set at very reasonable costs. Each of these sets incorporates audiovisual screens, simple sets and lighting effects that perfectly compliment smaller meeting budgets. If you'd like to learn more about our wide variety of business meeting production services and stage sets, contact one of our producers at 615-259-2400. We'll be happy to show you how "simple" can be a good thing!

NEW ORLEANS HOSTS NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS

GMP & NAED GO TO THE BIG EASY!

Our GMP team spent part of this past week in the Big Easy producing the general session for the Eastern Region Conference of the National Association of Electrical Distributors. NAED is one of our favorite clients, and this was our 40th+ conference working with them over the past 11 years (we lost count, but I think that is close!) Like most association events this year, attendance was down from 2008, but the tone among attendees was cautiously optimistic. Keynote speakers shared thoughts on the economic outlook for the construction industry. It looks like recovery is going to pick up speed in 2010, although it appears the rate of improvement will be slower than any one would like. Our production team included Gary Musick, Jonathan Yeaworth, Jim Sheridan, James Davis, Johnny Jones, and Sean Yeaworth. Congratulations to Libby White, a new addition to the NAED communications staff. She's filling in for Stacey Brown who's out on maternity leave. Great job, Libby!!

One of the perks of working in New Orleans is the cuisine. We had dinner in the French Quarter both nights we were there. The food is awesome! Ask Jim Sheridan about the seafood platter he had...it was ENORMOUS! And a good time was had by all.

We created a simple set that consisted of a center AV screen flanked by four banners that reflected the branding used on the association's website.

LED floor mounted lighting bars were used to change the color wash on the set pieces.

We will use this same set in the next two NAED regional conferences. Graphic panels are very cost effective and can often be repurposed outside of the meeting environment.