LONDON – Held Sept. 14-15 at the Science Museum, London, Space for Inspiration provided a unique opportunity to show how the environment of space can help overcome key challenges here on earth. The two day event involved expert speakers, live demonstrations and the opportunity to create relationships in one of the world’s most renowned science venues. White Light was called upon to provide the complete technical solutions for this event.
More details from White Light (www.WhiteLight.Ltd.uk):
Space for Inspiration was hosted by the European Space Agency who approached WL to help bring their event to life. WL’s Conference Account Manager Shrenik Singhavi comments: “Upon meeting the ESA, it became clear that they wanted to host an extremely ambitious event. Alongside the lighting and AV support, there would also be interactive Q and A’s, live audience responses along with a stream that would be broadcast across the globe. As the production supplier, we had to provide the technical solutions for all of this”.
The main conference took place in the IMAX Theatre, which housed 67 speakers and several panel discussions over the course of two days. The Flight Gallery and Engineer Your Future Gallery were used as breakout areas after each session. In each space, WL provided the latest lighting, audio and video equipment.
Due to the global interest surrounding Space for Inspiration, this meant that both days were streamed online via the ESA website. Shrenik comments: “We set up three cameras for live mix in the IMAX Theatre, all positioned at different angles to ensure the greatest amount of coverage for those watching via web streaming”.
Along with the live streaming, WL had to set up a live voting system in order for the audience to interact with the various speakers. Shrenik adds: “The client wanted the whole experience to be as interactive as possible. Therefore, we suggested an Audience Response System which saw us provide every audience member with a keypad for voting. This system allowed us to share the live results directly with the audience on the IMAX screen”. Alongside this, WL also supplied a Catchbox, the world’s first-ever throwable microphone.
WL even provided the staging, lighting and PA system for a dinner service that took place on the Wednesday 14th evening in Making of the Modern World Gallery.
Shrenik states: “As this event had so many different elements, preparation was absolutely crucial. Therefore we spent two days prepping in our WL warehouses before heading on site the evening before the opening day, ensuring everything was in place and working efficiently”.
The event was a huge success for both those in attendance at the Science Museum and those watching across the globe.
Yael Asher, Events Manager at European Space Agency, comments: “In all honesty, the event was a huge success. The WL team was highly professional and attentive, very proactive and extremely helpful in critical moments. Everyone at the ESA were very impressed and truly appreciative of their flexibility and service”.
Shrenik adds: “This was a great event for us to work on as we were able to provide the complete technical solutions; whether this was the lighting, audio, projection or web streaming. We are grateful to have the opportunity of working on such a global event and hope we were instrumental in delivering our client’s message – something we plan to do on every occasion”.
Photos courtesy of ESA–M. Alexander.
