MDRT Conference 2019
CASE STUDY
Conference Systems Inc (CSI) & Congress Rental support The MDRT Global Conference
Sydney welcomed 7,000+ delegates for The Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) Annual Conference, one of the largest meetings Australia has hosted in five years. The conference provided delegates with the opportunity to reach new levels of success in the insurance industry by learning from some of the best minds in the world. The event was held at Sydney’s International Convention Centre (ICC) on the 30th of August to the 4th of September 2019.
Congress Rental was contracted by Conference Systems Inc, a US-based Simultaneous Interpretation (SI) Company. The teams worked together to create a successful event that delivered simultaneous interpretation to international and domestic delegates.
An event of this scale required RF Interpretation equipment. RF audio distribution was ideal in this situation, due to the large number of delegates spread over a very large space.
MDRT took over Sydney’s ICC for ten days, with over 15 rooms in use, including the Expo Area, The First State Super Theatre, Darling Harbour Theatre and various meeting rooms. The conference began with meetings and dinners at the Sofitel Darling Harbour, adjacent to the Convention Centre, where Infrared Equipment was installed.
For the remainder of the conference, delegates were given an RF receiver for the languages of Hindi, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia, Korean and Thai. RF transmitters were positioned throughout the ICC for perfect signal distribution. CSI provided the receivers and RF transmitters.
Silent Conference & Simultaneous Interpretation
The week prior to the Global Conference, Infrared equipment was used to create a “Silent SI Meeting” allowing delegates to participate in two separate meetings in the same room - having all the advantages of silent conference with interpretation. The Congress Team was able to seamlessly integrate both solutions using their knowledge of the BOSCH Central Control Units (CCU), Transmitters and Audio Media Expanders (AME). While also providing and monitoring the BOSCH DICENTIS Wireless Conference Microphones.
Expo
ICC’s EXPO Hall held a session encouraging wellness, fitness and kindness, with delegates participating in exercise routines, listening to the simultaneous interpretation of the instructors through the RF receivers.
Dante Audio Networking IP Solution
First State Super Theatre
Attracting over 7,000+ delegates the Main Platform sessions were held in the First State Super Theatre.
Behind the scenes, six two-person booths and two three-person booths were set up in a remote room, with vision and audio patched to provide the remote interpretation support.
Due to the complex nature of audio distribution within the ICC, Congress Rental provided Dante audio networking to run analogue audio feeds. Dante utilises software, hardware and network protocols to deliver uncompressed, multi-channel, low-latency, digital audio over a standard ethernet network. This allowed us to run nine separate audio signals with a single CAT6 cable.
Interpreters were organised and provided by CSI, guaranteeing high-quality interpretation throughout the event. Congress Rental’s interpretation software control allowed the technicians to monitor the hardware inside each booth to ensure everything was working perfectly.
Darling Harbour Theatre
Setup behind the stage included eight ISO-4043 compliant booths, software control, RF transmitters and a camera feed of the event, inside each booth.
Challenges
Logistically, this was a complex event due to huge equipment requirements, last minute changes and coordination of room monitoring. Requiring Congress Rental and Conference Systems Inc. technicians and management to be across all aspects of the event. There were 13 installations, across 11 rooms and 8 equipment movements.
Congress supported a last-minute meeting with audio and a vision feed from a small wide-angle camera to the interpreters. A faulty vision cable discovered before the event’s commencement was resolved through the quick thinking of Congress Rental staff, to have no impact on the event.
CSI and Congress Rental worked effectively together to create a memorable event and shared valuable interpretation information from their many years of experience.