1111
delegates
3
day
8
languages
Client's Vision
On the 16th - 18th of November, 2018 the APEC 2018 Summit brought together political leaders and high level CEO’s from the Asia-Pacific to discuss ongoing economic cooperation in the region. This was the first time that Papua New Guinea hosted APEC, holding various meetings in the newly built APEC Haus and in one of the large theatres aboard one of the cruise liners that housed the delegates.
Congress Australia was chosen to support the conference, supplying conference interpretation equipment, conference microphones and vision via HD Dome cameras across both venues.
Client
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
Venue
The Pacific Explorer, APEC Haus
Date
16th - 18th November, 2018
Three high-level meetings took place across the two-day Summit. The first event, The APEC CEO Summit, was held from the 16th – 19th of November on board the cruise liner The Pacific Explorer. On the 18th of November, The Leader’s Retreat was held at APEC Haus, as well as The Working Lunch, which was held after the Retreat.
Both the vision and the interpretation were controlled via remote rooms in each venue, allowing multiple meetings to be controlled from a single point by Congress Australia technicians. The Congress Australia team worked tirelessly to coordinate the interpretation and conference systems for each event across the two days. After six months of planning the logistics and set-up of equipment for each venue, the event was a complete success in both locations.
The Leader’s Retreat
The Leader’s Retreat was the main meeting for the APEC 2018 Summit, held at APEC Haus on the 18th of November. 21 APEC leaders came together to discuss economic trade in the Asia-Pacific.
Each leader was given a Bosch multimedia conference microphone programmed and installed by Congress Australia technicians. These push-to-talk microphones were programmed with seat-mapping technology, which indicated the name of the leader speaking on the LCD screen located on each of the units.
Installed in the centre of the round table was a 360- degree Bosch HD Dome camera. This camera was installed and programmed by Congress Australia technicians to focus on the speaker whenever they pushed their microphone to speak. This vision feed was then displayed on a screen in the room, displaying a close-up of the leader.
Each leader was also given a call button located next to their microphone that they could use to page their team, which was located outside the room. This technology was a special request by the leaders, and Congress Australia sourced the system exclusively for this event.
In a remote room nearby, Congress Australia technicians ran eight different language interpretation feeds for the event. The leaders listened to the interpretation via headsets connected to the multimedia conference microphones and selected their language on the unit's LCD touchscreen.
Eight soundproof interpreter booths were installed for the interpreters with high-quality Bosch equipment to distribute the language feeds. Languages included English, Chinese, Bahasa Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Thai and Vietnamese.
Each interpreter booth was supplied with a vision feed of the meeting, including an overview of the meeting room and a dome camera feed displaying a close-up of the speakers. This enabled the interpreters to provide an accurate interpretation of the event from a remote location.
A total of three viewing and listening rooms were also set-up around APEC Haus with 50 delegates in each, to stream the Leader’s Retreat. Each of these rooms received the interpretation feed via the Bosch infrared system installed by Congress Australia.
Delegates in these rooms listened to the interpretation via a Bosch receiver, on which they could select their preferred language using the channel-selector button.
To manage the complex vision and audio distribution to multiple rooms across APEC Haus, Congress Australia established a control room in the building.
The team used the venue's in-house patching to distribute audio and video throughout the building. This meant that there were no cables running to and from the tables in the meeting rooms.
The Congress Australia team managed the vision from three different rooms across the venue. Each room had a wide shot showing an overview of the room and a head-and-shoulders shot from the HD Dome cameras.
Each of these shots was compiled and split into quadrants to fit onto a single screen and was run on a continuous feed to the interpreters, the security rooms and the executive and CEO rooms.
The head-and-shoulders shots were also distributed to the viewing and listening rooms around the venue. Congress Australia embedded the English interpretation into this vision stream so that the English-speaking delegates in these rooms would not need a headset.
The Congress Australia team worked diligently to switch the audio and vision seamlessly and accurately throughout the entire venue with restricted time frames for changeovers between sessions.
The Leaders also took part in a Working Lunch that was held after the Retreat. Congress Australia also provided interpretation and vision for this lunch via the remote rooms set up within the venue.
Interpreter Booths
Infrared Receivers
HD Dome Cameras
Rooms
APEC CEO Summit
The APEC CEO Summit took place on the 16th – 18th of November on board one of the cruise liners, The Pacific Explorer.
This Summit invited CEO’s from across the region to discuss business and trade with Heads of Government and Economic Ministers.
The first two days of the Summit included various panel discussions with CEO’s from the Asia-Pacific in a large theatre.
The final day of the Summit included various speeches from APEC Leaders, as well as discussions between the APEC Leaders and the highlevel CEO’s from the region.
Congress Australia provided interpretation for each session via a remote room on board the cruise liner. Four booths were installed to facilitate the simultaneous interpretation of the Summit using Bosch infrared equipment. Languages interpreted were English, Russian, Spanish and Chinese.
A total of 500 delegates were seated inside the theatre to watch the proceedings. Bosch receivers were cable-tied to each seat inside the theatre by Congress Australia technicians to prevent equipment loss.
A secondary theatre was also established as a listening room that screened the CEO Summit for another 400 delegates. The interpretation was distributed to the delegates again via Bosch interpretation headsets
Coordinating multilingual communication for world leaders and CEOs across simultaneous sessions is no small task. The team executed flawlessly, ensuring clear and reliable communication at every stage.
- Senior Event Manager
Challenges and Solutions
Delivering APEC required managing multiple high-level meetings across different venues within tight timeframes and strict operational requirements. Coordinating interpretation, audio, and vision across simultaneous sessions added further complexity.
To address this, centralised control rooms were established in each venue, allowing technicians to manage multiple meetings from a single point. Vision feeds were intelligently distributed across rooms, including split-screen formats for interpreters and embedded audio for simplified delegate access.
Additional requirements, such as custom call-button functionality for leaders and secure equipment deployment across large audiences, were carefully implemented to meet the expectations of a high-security, government-level event.
Successful Delivery of a World-Leader Summit
APEC 2018 was delivered seamlessly across both venues, enabling clear, real-time communication between global leaders and delegates. The integrated system ensured reliable interpretation, accurate audio distribution, and smooth coordination of multiple high-level sessions, supporting uninterrupted discussions at one of the region’s most significant international events.
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