This month, we created an immersive event experience for the Underground Kitchen’s new EnviroDining series.
80% of marketers believe dynamic live events are critical to a business’s success. According to Bizzabo, an overwhelming majority of industry professionals believe live events are the single most effective marketing channel, far outranking email, content marketing, and social media campaigns. Events transform one-time clients into loyal customers for life.
The power of light doesn’t just make your event more interesting- it can literally transform it, whisking your audience thousands of miles away. This is the principle behind EnviroDining.
A Taste of EnviroDining at the Underground Kitchen
With three 14,000 lumen HD projectors and a custom-built graphics playback system, EnviroDining guests can travel far from Richmond, Virginia without ever leaving their seats. The new 9-week culinary experience uses technology by AVP to awaken the senses, immersing each guest in soothing island tones and dynamic scenery evoking the atmosphere and setting of each course on the menu.
The first EnviroDining series takes place here in Richmond, with the goal to develop this experience into a unique nationwide tour.
How We Did It
The concept for EnviroDining began with a private event hosted at BES studios for a discerning customer. After receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback, we worked with the Underground Kitchen to develop EnviroDining into a product extending their brand of novel dining experiences.
- The original proof of concept event included three 14,000 lumen HD projectors, with content fed from a custom-built graphics playback system. These three projectors were seamlessly blended along the venues existing walls to create an immersive experience that surrounded the audience with various settings themed to the individual courses.
- An additional system of three projectors extended the imagery onto the tabletop. As guests were seated, their names were displayed in front of their seats, to be swept away with an animated flourish and replaces with various video effects to complement the surrounding environment.
- A system of automated moving-head lights rounded out the design, providing color and some additional movement to the seating area. This was complemented with a set of color-changing LED lights under the tables, giving the room a high-end glow.
For the local series, Underground Kitchen is hoping to provide their guests with a ‘taste’ of EnviroDining. The experience will take place over the course of nine Friday evenings, hosted at the Underground Kitchen’s home office in Manchester.
- At the scaled-down version of the event, a three-projector system will wrap the audience in themed settings, with colored lighting keying off each theme to complete the look.
- Rather than projecting directly on the walls, AVP has installed a series of projection surfaces to create a visually striking tiled mosaic.
- Our media servers mask out these individual surfaces, creating the high-end look of floating content.
How You Can Use It
EnviroDining guests’ names appeared upon the table as they were seated, only to be whisked away and replaced by animations matching the surrounding scenery.
Immersive content displays can transform any event. You can use this technology to broadcast interactive statistics, brand messages, or facts about your company to tell your own dynamic story.
In our increasingly tech-centric world, the way we process information is changing, and static content displays are no longer enough to grab customers’ and employees’ attention. Integrating immersive content displays helps businesses get that attention, but it also offers the opportunity to communicate once-dry facts and figures in entirely new ways.
“Business presentations are moving away from one-dimensional presentations towards immersive, tech-enabled projections. Displaying content in an engaging, virtual manner suits the technification of society.” -TrendHunter
More than ever, professionals are discovering the benefits of using immersive AV technology to deliver presentations, project information at conferences TED-style, offer product demonstrations, or conduct site surveys. TrendHunter says that in 2018 more and more companies are moving towards dynamic, interactive projection technology to engage millennial employees and customers.
“It’s like painting with light – a way to add textures, colors and even feelings to an environment. You really can project anything – from sponsor branding, all the way through to cinema-style narratives.” -Kristen Cooper, HelloEndless
Art displays use immersive content displays to project beautiful, complex, or changing video imagery onto blank canvases. This technology is also used by museums to tell stories with data mapping, and even used by aspiring architects to demonstrate plans for Smart Cities.
“The most powerful immersive marketing experiences are ones that build stories which surround and engage you through the use of technology.” -Susan Bonds, CEO of 42 Entertainment
California’s JCB Wines used projection technology to create interactive wine tastings. When a glass of wine is placed on the table, virtual image collections and details about the wine appear alongside it, guiding visitors through the tasting experience. Networking events like LinkedIn’s Talent Intelligence in NYC use immersive technology to project data insights and information about attendees, including moving visualizations of their LinkedIn profiles, career aspirations, and strengths.
“Brands are employing festival tactics at their own events — immersive experiences, Bluetooth technology for session tracking, sensory elements and the like.” -Kevin Brewer, LEO
Many businesses are adapting Coachella-esque AV tactics to the traditional business marketing world. Businesses, artists, and even homeowners incorporate immersive content displays to emblazon buildings with moving patterns, dynamic logos, or interactive messages to transform ordinary buildings into rich, high-end-inspired statements of creativity and class.
The possibilities are endless. And here at AVP, we’ll work with you every step of the way.
Tips for Your Next Immersive Event
- Choose your content wisely. While it might be tempting to display any content you have with dynamic projection technology just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should. Remember, the images and words you display will pop out to your guests. You want to deliver a sensory experience they’ll remember. Make sure you highlight what matters most.
- Don’t be afraid of video. The graphics playback system custom-built by AVP for EnviroDining allowed not just moving images, but video to display and immerse EnviroDining guests. While everything at your event doesn’t have to be video, think about how cool moving elements look to your audience and what they do to an immersive experience.
- Plan your immersive AV features for your event, not the other way around. Your event is engaging, and projection technology should enhance that and add dimension, but make sure there’s a central experience provided by you to guide your guests. With EnviroDining, every AV display was tailored and specially designed to enhance the event itself– which focused on an adventurous journey through fine dining. Concept matters.
- Think outside the box. Feel like there’s no way immersive projection technology could augment your event? Think outside the box. Think from your customer’s perspective, and ask yourself what would really wow them and bring your message home.