BDO: Transformation. Synergy. Excellence.

BDO is a 100-year old, national accounting firm. In November they brought 1,000 members of their management team to the Gaylord Texan in Dallas to collectively plan their strategy for the future and celebrate the achievements of their retiring CEO. “Transformation. Synergy. Excellence.” was the theme the new CEO had chosen and Quicksilver’s design team brought that theme to life. The set needed to help energize BDO’s attendees to engage in a strategic planning process and embrace the corporate goals of transformation, synergy and excellence.

The daytime color palette incorporated their traditional red, white and blue, while the evening event added gold and a nautical flavor, as the retiring CEO is an avid seaman. General session graphics incorporated a wireframe hand touching the three main theme points sending out streaks of light. Quicksilver created the set concept and our staging partner, J&S Show Service, was engaged to execute the concept.

We positioned the main content screen at center stage slightly above the deck. This created a background placing presenters into the screen environment. It provided rich visual backgrounds to enhance the camera feeds. The IMAG screens were round and matched the circular shapes in the graphics. They were placed left and right of the main screen and set at different heights.  

Quicksilver’s design used Barco VersaTubes to visually connect all the screens, create one environment and add energy to the room. They moved the streaks of light from graphics to the side screens. The challenge was knowing when to create the light movement and when to keep it still—to avoid distractions from the speaker’s content. 

J&S connected eight arrays of 53 one-meter LED tubes and had them appear to be floating on pre-fabricated black aluminum conduits. Black velour drape hid DMX and cabling along with two, black vertical struts, which supported the tube arrays and blended in with the drape. We used AutoCAD to create the scale drawing.

Pulling production together with technology, the screens were driven by Christie Roadster projectors—chosen for their image quality and color balance. The VersaTube arrays were driven by Hippotizer HD Hopper media servers; a Barco Image Pro HD provided maximum versatility. Martin Mac 700 and Colorblast LED fixtures illuminated the stage surface, drape and the truss screen surrounds. ETC Source-4 fixtures provided conventional stage lighting to further enhance the design. A Folsom Screen Pro Plus provided switching support for the center screen and a Sony DFS-700 video production switcher drove the IMAG screens and record feeds. Different outputs were used from the DFS-700; one drove the screens using a wipe to stay within the round screen. We recorded a clean, switched feed to dual Aja Kai recorders for post-event use.

The resulting show offered the client and 1,000-person audience a sensational and memorable experience.

Video Projection:

  • 2-Christie Roadster S +16K 16000 Lumen DLP Projectors with .73 Lens, Converged
  • 1-15x27 Truss StageScreen Rear Center Screen
  • 2-Christie Roadster HD 10-M 1080p DLP with 1.5-1.0 Lens for Circular Screens
  • 2-10’IDx12’OD Custom Circular Truss Screens Front

 

Video Engineering:

  • Folsom Screen Pro Plus 1604 Switcher
  • Sony DFS 700 Component Switcher
  • 3-Sony DXC-D50 WS Cameras
  • 2-40x11 Angenieux Sports Lens
  • 2-Apple Mac Playback Pro Plus Kit
  • 2-Aja KI PRO Digital Hard Disc Recorder

 

Lighting:

  • JANDS Vista T2 Lighting Console
  • 4-Martin Mac 700 Profiles
  • 4-Martin Mac 700 Wash
  • 36 Colorblast 12 LED Light Color Kinetics
  • 36-ETC Source 4 Conventional Lighting Instruments for Stage Wash
  • Sensor 48x2.4k Dimmer, Moving Light Distro

 

Scenic:

  • 52-Elementlabs 1m Versatube LED Lighting Fixtures
  • Custom tube frame structure
  • 2-Green Hippotizer HD Hopper Media Servers
  • 1-Folsom Image Pro HD with Laptop Controller

 

  • 16- Meyer Melodie Compact Curvilinear Array for Mains
  • 4-Apogee Dual 18 Subs
  • 4-Meyer UPJ-1P Side Fills
  • 4-Meyer UPM-1P X100 Front Fills
  • 4-Meyer UM-100P Monitor Powered Wedge for Stage Fold back
  • Shure UHF-R G-1 10 Pack

 

Design Team:

  • Concept Design: Diane MacWilliams, Kathy Morris and Chris Bartot, (Quicksilver Associates)
  • Set Design: Ray McCollum, Chris Henry, Brian Thrasher (J&S Show Services)
  • Lighting Design: Chris Scott (J&S Show Services)
  • Video Production/Projection Design: Greg Grant, Brian Thrasher (J&S Show Services)
  • Audio System Design: Nathan Clark (J&S Show Services)

 

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