Pure AV completes upgrade of new hybrid event facilities at Energus
With events and conferences on hold during the pandemic, the team at Cumbria based conference and training venue Energus launched a refurbishment of their flagship 204-seat auditorium.
The update, designed in partnership with audio visual integrator Pure AV, needed to harness the latest presentation, streaming and conferencing technologies to deliver a venue capable of in-person, and hybrid events, ready to meet the demands of the post-COVID-19 events sector.
The centrepiece of the 204-seat auditorium is a 4.3m by 2.4m Philips fine pitch LED video wall. The 1.2mm pixel pitch LED creates a perfect, high-impact canvas for presentation and conferencing content, complemented by a fully controllable colour-changing ambient lighting system and immersive 5.1 surround sound.
The system also equips the auditorium with a fully touchless audience microphone system, enabling audience members to participate without handling a mic.
The audience experience is enhanced further by the addition of automated presenter and audience tracking cameras. The presenter can move freely around the presentation area, confident that their movement is being followed, captured and shared, while a second camera, directed at the audience automatically detects and points to the person speaking within the audience.
The addition of automated audience-video tracking is a compelling feature for hybrid events. The combination of high-quality audio pick-up and the automatic adjustment of the camera to track the speaker makes it easier for those not in the room to follow the debate and interaction within the auditorium.
A carefully designed user interface on a 24” Iiyama touch panel provides complete system management, including cameras and lighting in a simple to follow touch screen menu. In addition, a 24” SMART Podium interactive pen display, connected to the resident PC, creates the opportunity to annotate and highlight content as it is presented to the audience. Both screens are housed on a variable height, custom branded lectern by Top-Tec, offering a comfortable base from which to present.
The auditorium solution connects seamlessly with the venue’s existing atrium and meeting room spaces to offer clients a flexible, scalable space to cater for anything from small events to 2,000+ visitors. The system able to distribute content from the auditorium to any of the additional spaces within Energus.
The atrium area is the largest of the linked spaces. It hosts a nine-screen 3 x3 video wall previously installed by Pure AV and can now display content broadcast from the auditorium in a range of views. Energus also upgraded the boardroom as part of the auditorium works. The boardroom is one of a range of meeting spaces available for independent or breakout room usage. It boasts an 86” Philips display, offers wireless connectivity via the Barco Clickshare and agnostic video conferencing. The room can also receive content broadcast from the auditorium.
Vendor agnostic video conferencing capabilities within the auditorium system means that content sharing is not limited to within the building. Energus’ clients can live stream events across all major collaboration platforms, along with YouTube and Facebook broadcasts.
The new streaming and video conferencing facilities combine with the show-stopping LED wall, cutting-edge touchless mic arrays and automated camera tracking to create a feature-rich, flexible platform ready for virtual and hybrid event delivery. Faye Brown, business development and marketing lead at Energus said, “The new Auditorium facilities will place Energus at the forefront of the post-pandemic events industry. I can’t wait to show everybody what we’ve done here”.
