Energus has worked with Pure AV for many years. Each time, they bring professionalism, zeal, and innovation. They listen to what we want to achieve and consistently deliver the best solutions. Together, we’ve created a remarkable leading-edge space that allows our clients to come in and truly showcase their business. - Brad Cleaver, Business Services Manager, Energus
- Brad Cleaver, Business Services Manager, Energus
Energus is a unique conference and training venue situated on the edge of the picturesque Lake District, offering inspiring and flexible spaces with comprehensive business support and training facilities.
With events and conferences on hold during the pandemic, the team at 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, virtual and hybrid events and ready to meet the demands of the post-COVID-19 events sector.
We quickly realised that events post lockdown would require a blended approach. - Faye Brown, Business Development & Marketing Lead, Energus
- Faye Brown, Business Development & Marketing Lead, Energus
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. Seven Sennheiser Team Connect 2 mic arrays provide complete coverage of the space, enabling audience members to participate without handling a mic.
The audience experience is enhanced further by the addition of automated tracking cameras. The presenter can move freely around the presentation area, confident that their movement is being followed, captured and shared by the integrated Aver PTC 500S camera.
A second Aver PTZ camera, directed at the audience, is driven by the positional data from the Sennheiser mic arrays. The Crestron control system is programmed to use the data to recall the camera preset that will automatically direct the camera to the person speaking in the audience.
Behind the scenes, some complex programming and technical calculations were required, as the Pure AV technical team divided the curved space into 25 zones and calculated in three dimensions to establish the presets and ensure accurate pick-up and optimum tracking performance.
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.
The presenter can choose whether to manually switch between the audience and presenter camera views or enable auto-switching. In a managed event, the supporting technician can also handle the control via a secondary iPad.
The entire system is controlled using a Crestron 4-series processor. Bespoke programming by Pure AV’s in-house Platinum Master Programmer brings together all the solution elements, including the audience camera tracking and custom lighting control, into a fast, reliable and user-friendly system.
A carefully designed user interface on a 24” Iiyama touch panel provides complete system management, including cameras and lighting in a simple to follow GUI. 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. A Crestron NVX AV over IP system provides the infrastructure to support content distribution to any of the spaces within Energus.
The atrium area is the largest of the linked spaces. It hosts a nine-screen, 3x3 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 with the Logitech Tap Teams Room system, Rally Bar and Swytch. The room can also receive a direct feed 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.
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. - Faye Brown, Business Development & Marketing Lead, Energus