Internet Week New York Returns to Metropolitan Pavilion with Scharff Weisberg for Expanded Stage/Exhibit Areas

For the second consecutive year, Internet Week New York selected The Metropolitan Pavilion as its headquarters for the festival celebrating New York City's thriving Internet industry and community. Scharff Weisberg is the exclusive AV and lighting equipment provider for the venue.

"The Metropolitan Pavilion is the perfect space to show off technology," says Adam Kahan, senior vice president at Empire Entertainment, who managed all aspects of producing the headquarters from load-in through load-out. "The venue gives us a lot of floor space on the ground level, and Scharff Weisberg is an absolutely outstanding partner from the technical side."

This year Internet Week's expo required both the North and South Pavilions where they had two stages, a classroom, lounge, gallery, and exhibitor spaces. An additional theatre space, located in the Altman Building, was also booked for the event.

"We set up the AOL Broadcast Stage on The Metropolitan Pavilion's south side and the Content Stage on the north side," Kahan recalls. "We needed two areas because there were so many sponsors and events. Our biggest challenge was audio -- we had to make sure the audio was directional and confined as much as possible. Scharff Weisberg was extremely helpful with this key concern of ours."

The AOL Broadcast Stage hosted keynote speakers Sen. Charles Schumer and online publisher Arianna Huffington as well as additional panels. Scharff Weisberg met Kahan's audio needs with a Meyer speaker package, a Midas Venice 240 16+4 audio mixer and an eight-channel wireless mic system with six lavs and two handheld mics. Video gear included a Christie LX120 projector projecting onto a scenic backdrop, two 50" plasma monitors, laptops and Image Pro switchers to manage content, and a camera feed that enabled USTREAM to live stream all presentations.

Stage lighting consisted of a dozen ETC Source Four 575W ellipsoidals and four MFL PAR Bars with an ETC Express 250 console for lighting control.

The Content Stage was used as a performance stage for the band Cold Cave and the DJ's and panels throughout the week. Panels included a live stream of the room from an Apple iPhone as a part of the USTREAM presentation, questions via Twitter utilizing Balloon technology, and more.

Scharff Weisberg supplied a large audio complement for the front of house with eight d&b Q1 speakers flown and stacked four on each side of the stage, a complement of Meyer subs and loudspeakers, and a Yamaha PM5D mixer. For the band performances, Scharff Weisberg also furnished a complete audio package.

Video gear included a Barco R12 projector projecting onto a scenic backdrop, two 50" plasma monitors, laptops, and Image Pro switchers to manage content, and a camera feed that enabled USTREAM to live stream all presentations.

Lighting featured a dozen ETC Source Four 575W ellipsoidals and a dozen MFL 575-watt PARs with an ETC Express 250 for lighting control.

Several Internet Week exhibitors had very specific AV needs that Scharff Weisberg was tasked with filling. Netted/The Webby Awards linked to two PCs with Xbox Kinects for interactive content and custom designed a game incorporating Tweets of the event. Visitors stood in front of a pair of 9x12 screens swatting the air to knock pigeons out of the air; the birds were displayed via two Barco SLM-R12+ projectors.

Ford Motor Company had three areas to showcase its products - two indoors and one outdoors. Scharff Weisberg provided 16 Enliten White Light WFL PowerPar MSRs and lenses to spotlight the vehicles. One area also featured a Christie LX380 LCD projector displaying a QR code onto the wall as part of an ongoing promotion.

For Millennial Media, Scharff Weisberg supplied four 42" plasma screens and partnered with EDNY on custom covers, which made the plasmas resemble popular cell phones with content highlighting various apps and media platforms. Eight Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlast LEDs delivered additional color around scenic elements.

Scharff Weisberg also furnished five 42" plasmas for other exhibitors, a 50" plasma for the classroom and a Christie LX380 projector for a wall display highlighting festival information and scheduling.

"Scharff Weisberg went above and beyond for us-- and we threw things at them late in the game," says Kahan. "They were outstanding at helping us achieve our goals and great about working with us on budgetary issues."

Guy Bostian was senior event manager and Amy Johnson Cook event manager for Scharff Weisberg.