digital/interactive event infrastructure
I was the interactive and technology lead for a number of events produced by Jack Morton Worldwide.
In November 2000, I served as lead technologist for the production of a major investment bank's annual technology conference. Tech 2000 consisted of four days of presentations by representatives of major technology companies (with as many as five presentations occuring simultaneously), keynote speeches, analyst discussions, and special events.
Working as a freelancer, from my studio as well as at the Jack Morton Worldwide Boston office and on site in Baltimore, I designed, budgeted, and led the development of the networked multimedia installation for the event. This installation was designed to help guide the attendees though a complex facility and schedule, to assist with communication and to answer questions, and also to show that this bank's conferences are on the cutting edge of technology.
The hotel atrium was the central traffic area between the entrance and the presentation rooms. Plasma displays ran a Director-based application with a Tech 2000 theme animation and real-time updating information such as the current presentations, schedule
Plasma displays at the entrance to each presentation room showed the name of the current presenter and the name of the presenter to follow. All information was automatically updated from the backend database.
The site infrastructure (installed at a hotel in Baltimore for the event) consisted of a T1 Internet connection and ethernet LAN. A local NT server maintained the conference schedule database, intranet Web server, and other services. ASP scripts retrieved schedule information from the database to drive the kiosk and plasma display applications. In addition to the more than 30 networked PC's installed to drive the plasma screens and kiosks, approximately 20 laptop PC's were installed in the "Cyber Café" for general Web-browsing use.
In addition to displaying public information, the database server and a set of private intranet pages and forms allowed the event staff and producers to track and update information pertaining to individual companies and presentations.
A networked PC retrieved the logo of each presenting company and displayed it on the lectern. The network was also used in the presentation rooms for transferring presenters' assets (e.g., PowerPoint presentations) from the Speaker Ready room. The produc
I developed the initial concepts and high-level design document in conjuction with the event producer and the client, consulting with the staging and scenics vendors and the event technical director for issues such as support, furniture and power. A great deal of thought (based on experience from previous events) went into identifying the needs of the event attendees and how the available technology could be applied to meet these needs. From the initial design document, I developed the budget for the network, computer, display technology and custom software development, and refined this document as necessary based on feedback from the executive producer. We worked with the art director for the event for issues relating to graphic design and overall look. The user interface screen-ready graphics were developed by the art director/designer based on my high-level interface design. I wrote the technical spec for the hardware rental and network installation vendors.
The development team consisted of a programmer responsible for database development and ASP code, myself responsible for the front-end Director and HTML development, the art director responsible for graphic design, and several production assistants who were responsible for asset acquisition and data entry; I led the development effort, tracking resources, budget, and schedule. The producer, art director, and I developed the specs for the scenics vendor who fabricated the support structures, kiosks, furniture, and signage.
On site for the event, I was the central point of communication for the installation and maintenance of the computer, network, and display technology - coordinating with the on-site Webmaster, the hardware vendor, the network vendor, the event producer and the client.
The Director-based kiosk displayed a map of the facility - with the current and next presentations displayed for each presentation room. Facilities and services could also be located on the map. The kiosk also allowed users to view schedule and conferen