The Brief
Festival for the Future 2023 was the first official commercial event to be held at Wellington’s newest event space, Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre. The event is Aotearoa’s biggest leadership and innovation summit. Opened this year by Mayor Tory Whanau and attended by entrepreneurs, leaders and young people leading change.
Inspiring Stories engaged NW Group to help deliver the event by supporting the in-house Tākina AV team. NW Group has partnered with Inspiring Stories over the past five years to deliver Festival for the Future, so they were pleased to collaborate again by bringing their own tech partner to the new venue.
Solution
NW Group delivered the event in total alongside Tākina’s in-house AV team. Working closely in the pre-production phase, attending regular meetings and site inspections. We operated the main plenary with the use of Tākina’s newly installed quality equipment and NW Group’s premium equipment additions. Tākina also managed the breakout sessions, while NW Group serviced the trade component and chill out area, which featured live performances from new and upcoming acts.
Given such a new venue, floor plans and load ratings were still being finalised up to the event, so NW Group came up with a variety of solutions for the client, remaining fluid with the design.
NW Group’s team rigged three brand new 4K HD camera’s, supplying various camera shots both live to screen and foe the home live stream audience. NW Group supplied a custom Vimeo solution linking with Inspiring Stories Technology team to stream Main Plenary sessions to the wider audience.
The lighting rig was fully LED, complying with venue technology regulations and sustainability. Smoke and haze are currently prohibited at Tākina which proves challenging when designing an impacting room look. However, NW Group were able to dress the stage with a beautiful creative lighting design, playing off the architecture and various textures throughout the event spaces - everyone was thrilled with the end result. Tākina’s impressive new screens and projectors were also utilised, which came complimentary with the venue hire offering.
Audio was provided by NW Group, supporting the existing in-house PA. This guaranteed the whole room was covered with seamless coverage, ensuring every guest received the same listening experience, no matter where they were in the room.
Like all new buildings, integrating into the house technology posed some challenges but NW Group and Tākina’s AV and Technology Team worked together to find suitable solutions.
Outcome
Despite some restrictive access times, due to the generosity of Tākina and the ease of the load in and out of the venue, all technical set up was seamless and delivered on time. Both teams worked seamlessly together managing different spaces and helping each other out.
Overall, the event was a huge success! NW Group were able to help Tākina showcase the new venue to over 1,500 people from New Zealand and around the world.
“While there are plenty of quirks to navigate with the new venue, from my perspective, the team at NW Group did a fantastic job. We love working with you, and as a small charity we simply wouldn’t be able to make the festival happen without your generosity and support. Thank you!” - Guy Ryan, Founder, Inspiring Stories
“What a thrilling experience to have delivered one of Wellington’s most accomplished events at the new Convention Centre, Tākina! We’re grateful for our clients trust and partnership and thoroughly enjoyed working with Tākina’s Audio-Visual team. Well done to all involved, an amazing way to launch an incredible space!” - Lizzi Lovegrove, General Manager Wellington, NW Group
