Discovery Leadership Summit with Technical by MGG

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If there is an exclusive opportunity to sit under the same umbrella with some of the world’s most remarkable minds, it’s the Discovery Leadership Summit which was held at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, earlier this year. The full technical, which largely consisted of a Robe retinue, was supplied by MGG Productions.

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What started in 2009 with the aim to contribute to leadership in business, government and civil society has simply taken off and attendees from all sectors -from business to finance, government and academia – are privileged and enthusiastic to partake and share in this intellectual capital dialogue. This is a forum providing first-hand interaction with global leaders.

This year international celebrated speakers included Lord Sebastian Coe, Dr Ben S Bernanke, Joseph Stiglitz and Adam Morgan. Giants in South Africa who made their mark and engaged in conversation at the summit were Brian Joffe, Laurie Dippenaar, Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita, Trevor Manual and of course Adrian Gore, founder and CEO of Discovery, the largest private health care provider in SA. Talk show host, John Robbie, moderated a sports panel discussion with Gary Kirsten, Heyneke Meyer and Gordon Igesund, all influential sports figures who have inspired excellence.

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Synchronised Marketing and Event Agency delivered the event once again. This was the fourth time that Denzil Smith was part of the conference as Technical Project Manager. He also wore the hat of full technical supplier, Smith having recently joined MGG.

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Denzil Smith from MGG

“This is one of those events where you pay attention,” said Smith. “These are speakers you would only hear once in a lifetime.”

To create a setting that would complement the huge names on stage was the job of Frank van den Berg, owner of Synchronised. “Every year is a different event entirely,” explained Smith. “Frank comes up with the ideas, things people haven’t even thought of, and it’s awesome to work with him. Because he knows all the equipment and what the gear is capable, he knows what can be achieved.”

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The main focus on this year’s production was a extraordinarily sized 84 m screen. “It was the widest screen I had ever worked with,” said Smith. “It was custom built by Just Sets.”

Close up of the speakers were be projected onto the screen. Cleverly and arty designed graphic which included head shots of the speakers also ran on the screens. MGG used 14 x Christie projectors, a Christie Spider Switcher, and Watchout for projection and sound was JBL VTX.

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Lighting operator Kevin Rieck

Under guidance of Hugh Turner of Synchronised, MGG’s Kevin Rieck was the lighting designer and operator. Synchronised requested a clean corporate look and wanted the large stage to be evenly washed. “One of Frank’s specifications was to have black Prolyte trussing above the stage area, on which were hung black fixtures. This makes the trussing disappear and added to the tailored appearance. ”

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The show was recorded for Discovery with a live stream to their website. Kevin Rieck used 21 x Robin 1200 LEDWash, 48 x Robin 600 LED Wash, 12 x Clay Paky Alphas and 12 x Clay Paky Sharpys. This was controlled with a grandMA2, Full Size with NPU and MDG Atmosphere. Also included on the lighting spec was an AVO 48-way Rack, 250 DWR Amp Distro and 12 x 2k Generics.

MGG were also responsible in providing lighting and sound for the allocated beverage and food areas.

The Discovery Leadership Summit was an example of great team work. Well done to all involved.

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MGG also supplied technical for the luncheon area of the conference.