WorldStage has marked the one-year anniversary of its acquisition of Tekamaki, LLC with a growing staff roster and expanded inventory. In the past year WorldStage has significantly increased its presence in the Bay Area with new hires, innovative new technology and such recent high-profile projects as The Presidio Visitors Center and the Rally HealthFest with Kevin Hart.
WorldStage acquired Tekamaki, an event technology firm specializing in complex technical solutions, in February 2016. WorldStage San Francisco operates in the former Tekamaki warehouse in San Carlos now an expansive hub providing audio, video and ancillary technology for conferences, retail, live events and fixed installations. The company’s Mixed Reality Open House last fall gave guests a close-up look at Augmented Reality solutions for the live event marketplace.
“Rolling Tekamaki into WorldStage San Francisco has been great for all of us,” says Christopher Burdett, General Manager of WorldStage and former Partner at Tekamaki. “WorldStage really welcomed us onto the team, and we’re now a larger entity with a lot more resources. The company is very interested in fostering the inventive culture here in the Bay Area. We are strengthening our ability to take on bigger jobs while maintaining the creativity we’ve been known for.”
To that end WorldStage San Francisco has boosted its staff with four recent new hires: two field technicians, an operations specialist, and a systems integration project manager. The enhanced staff enables WorldStage San Francisco to enhance the level of installation and integration work performed by Tekamaki in the Bay Area.
In addition, Tekamaki founding member Matt Ward has assumed the role of Chief Technology Officer for WorldStage and continues to spark creativity as part of his new role.
WorldStage San Francisco has promoted technological innovation by investing in and developing WhiteSpace and BlackBird displays for its rental inventory. WhiteSpace55 and WhiteSpace80 comprise a family of remote polarizers that can be customized to create surprising viewing environments. BlackBird is a 55-inch High Definition transparent LCD display.
“We’ve seen a lot of interest in WhiteSpace and BlackBird from both the East and West Coasts,” says Burdett. “They are very good devices for catching people’s attention – they really get people to stop and step into a particular space at a trade show, retail environment or live event. We have deployed them for multiple shows, including Dreamforce 2016, BMW’s meeting in Hollywood, and other high profile events across the country.”
Burdett says the company plans to make additional investments in new equipment through the spring. WorldStage San Francisco also continues to develop its own leading-edge products. “Tekamaki spent a good deal of time and effort on R&D for video display equipment, and WorldStage has embraced that,” says Burdett. “We have created a space for R&D for displays and playback devices.”
WorldStage San Francisco also houses the company’s new Sx3 (Self-Contained Show System), an all-in-one AV solution preconfigured in a 30x30-inch case. Sx3 rolls into presentation rooms at conferences replacing the cluttered tech table. All components and connections needed for most sessions are fully integrated for rapid and easy set up.
“Since the merger, we are getting calls from clients and industry colleagues about our readiness to take on bigger shows since we can now access WorldStage equipment in New York and Tustin, California,” says Burdett. “With a number of Sx3 systems based here we will have permanent access to the most innovative new technology on the market. Sx3, and our growing staff, will increase our ability to service and support large shows.”
For more news from WorldStage visit http://www.worldstage.com/latest-news/.
WorldStage Inc., the company created by the merger of Scharff Weisberg Inc and Video Applications Inc, continues a thirty-year legacy of providing clients the widest variety of entertainment technology coupled with conscientious and imaginative engineering services. WorldStage provides audio, video and lighting equipment and services to the event, theatrical, broadcast and brand experience markets nationally and internationally. For more information visit www.worldstage.com