What a great event and thanks for your efforts!
On the 30th July 2019, DSM Productions had the honour of providing technical event production to OE Electrics helping them celebrate winning The Queens Award for Innovation. We were approached by OE and asked to not only supply staging, lighting, vision and audio but to also manage the event – covering all aspects including marquee hire and catering.
We started this event with a blank canvas, even down to location. DSM was responsible for sourcing the marquee, catering and security as well as ensuring that the technical production went off without a glitch.
After a couple of meetings and site visits we were able to ascertain what our client wanted, the WOW factor! This event was to not only host a presentation of the award at OE House but to also celebrate the recognition that OE staff had worked hard to achieve.
The first step was to find the location and with this being such a prestigious award it was only fitting that the event be held at OE House. We looked at various options initially including in the works, canteen and reception area but none were quite big enough so we looked at hosting it outside. We needed to be able to keep disruption to a minimum but also have enough time and space to be able to make the vision become reality, this is where Jim Dabbs Marquees came into play. Jim was contracted to supply a 9m x 24m marquee, ivory lined and carpeted in blue to match part of OE’s branding, stage lighting completed the colour scheme, complete with entrance marquee which bridged the main reception to the marquee itself.
The next step was catering. Our Client didn’t want a traditional sit down, three course meal but he did want to put on a banquet so we met with Pop Up North to discuss catering options – Hog roast, Mediterranean buffet and much more were supplied, served and enjoyed. Because we had joined the marquee to the reception, this gave us the opportunity to showcase what OE produces to the guests and have this area as the buffet area.
And finally, the Technical Production…
Using industry leading software we produced a few different 3D visualizations to give them some ideas and to show what the event would look like, this is where we can get creative. Everything from staging, lighting, video and even furniture can be brought to life, in 3D by our team, giving each event its own unique image.
Once everything had been agreed, it was time to start planning logistics and looking at pre-build/prep work prior to arrival on site, this is all done in our warehouse in Wakefield and gives us the ability to fault find and program equipment such as moving lights. We had about a month from finalizing the design to implementing it on the day.
We arrived on site at 12pm on the 29th July, to start the build, with 3 vans, 4 crew members and an empty marquee. The first task was to get the vans unloaded and the kit roughly in position where possible. One of the biggest elements of the job was the Absen LED Video wall so this was next on the list, along with running the power and installing the distribution board. Once the video was had been flown and power was in it was time to get a stage in place along with speaker stacks and lighting. Finally the front of house (FOH) was to be built, this is the area where the tech team sits to control all the audio, lighting and vision. This brought us to the end of day 1.
30th July 2019 – We arrived back on site for a 7am start. When everything was powered up, control cables connected and initial test carried out it was time start fine tuning and putting the finishing touches to the event. This was our window to check all video content, lighting cues and audio cues were exactly as they should be, all ready for 1pm.
1PM – Showtime. The event started with a welcome and speeches before the award was presented, all lasting around 45 minutes, closing with a video showcasing OE’s history and products. The afternoon continued until around 6pm, with the staff and guests enjoying a chance to talk, laugh and enjoy the celebration that we had worked to put together for the OE Electrics team.
Once the marquee had emptied it was time to take it all down again, same as before but this time in reverse. It took around 3 hours to get all the equipment packed away and back on the vans, ready for another day.
The staff and my fellow Directors have all commented on how great it was and went
