VidCon 2020

The Main Community Stage was in the 4,000 seat ICC Auditorium and required control, communications, radio mics and band systems. We had to supplement the in-house EM Acoustics system with L-Acoustics speakers, supply crew to operate FOH, monitors and stage management and record a multi-track session of the full show.

The stage had to be run as if it were a festival stage, due to the number of performers and the turnaround time between each. The variety of the different acts – from interactive game shows to live TikTok session to full bands – meant that we needed a wide variety of headset and handheld radio mics and in-ear monitor systems and a very detailed schedule to make sure it all ran smoothly.

The communications system for the show was the Clearcom Helixnet for the operators and technical crew, integrated with the wireless Freespeak system for the Production Managers and Producer. Control was supplied by a Digico SD9 for FOH, teamed with an SD8 for the monitor system.

For the Seminar Rooms, we were asked to supply a speech and video/PC playback system and a variety of mics and radio mics to each room. The main challenge was the number and variety of mics required over the four-day event.

A very detailed schedule was supplied by Daniel at PRG, covering an average six sessions per day in each of the seminar rooms, each session requiring a different set-up of radio, lectern, top table mics, video and PC playback.

The 40+ radio mics and IEM systems on site had to be carefully coordinated to make sure there was no interference between the rooms, and we needed to build in a contingency to cover any changes or issues, so we supplied additional fully licensed standalone handheld/lavalier radio mic systems, which could, at a moment’s notice, be installed into any session at any time.

VidCon 2020 highlighted the adage “preparation is key”. With the sheer variety of requirements over the four days, the detailed scheduling supplied by the PRG team allowed us to pre-plan the radio mic frequency plot and licensing and we were able to test through all the systems prior to taking them on-site.

Many thanks to Daniel and PRG for involving us in such a contemporary and high-spirited event.