UVLD’s Greg Norgeot designed the lighting for a four-day national sales meeting for Compass Rose Creative, based in Wilmette, IL, on behalf of a large pharmaceutical company. He was tasked with devising looks for events including the general session and corporate presentations to full-blown musical entertainment.
“Each day was a little different,” Norgeot reports. “The first day had the most intensive musical cueing with the welcoming general session making a ‘wow!’ statement. It was anything goes for the musical numbers, which featured ‘Stomp’-like entertainment with big drum kits and slamming rock and roll.”
While there was an abundance of choreography Norgeot didn’t have an abundance of time. “We needed to work quickly and efficiently,” he recalls. “I spent the end of the day stringing back together cues and programming. We’d get the focus points during rehearsal and do cues the evening before the show. Our client was flexible enough to let us make decisions up until the very end.”
One especially interesting component of the corporate presentation was a timeline, which combined lighting and video elements. “An on-stage presenter talked the audience from years 2004 to 2009 with a visual timeline,” Norgeot explains. “The dates were gobos on Vari*Lite VL2500s. The presenter would stand on each year, which would cross fade to the next as he stepped on it and continued with his speech. A camera above him provided images for transitions, which were projected onto IMAG screens. Then it would switch to a straight front shot for discussion of a particular year.”
Norgeot was furnished with a lighting rig from 4Wall in Las Vegas, which featured some 120 moving fixtures. The inventory included 40 Vari*Lite VL2500 Spots; 24 Martin MAC 2K Washes; 40 19º, 20 26º, and 20 36º Source 4 750W Lekos; eight Source 4 Iris inserts; 10 Iris 1K Far Cycs; and 19 T-3 Cyc Lights. A Whole Hog IPC console provided lighting control.
The executive producer for the event was Compass Rose principal, Paul Sander. Video equipment was supplied by Media Solutions and audio gear by OSA.
"I appreciated Greg's ability to tune into the style of our program. His instincts were always right on in creating lighting looks that supported and enhanced the action on stage. In addition, we had some real time constraints—Greg's professionalism and unflappable nature contributed enormously to a very smooth running show," concludes Sander.