Scaling the Heights of the G20 Summit

NO OPTION B

And the scope was certainly large. Alongside the host broadcast services provided by NEP Australia, Riedel and the BCEC provided video feeds to security details, delegates, media rooms and internal TV screens – all of which had to be on the air 24 hours a day, without fail.

“‘Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy. There is no Option B.’ That’s what we were told, and so Mediornet immediately sprung to mind,” Saunders said. “We would get requests during the event – ‘I need to see the Leader’s Room in Office 7 in Exhibition Hall 3!’ – and bang! Three seconds later there it was. Without Mediornet it would have taken us 15 minutes to re-patch everything.”

The security around the event was tight. Even the broadcasters were not allowed in certain areas, meaning that the BCEC had to provide its own feeds for many of the requirements. “G20 allowed us to capture the attention of the international business events audience and showcase [our] expertise in cutting edge audiovisual, technical capabilities and skills,” said BCEC senior project manager, Rebecca Bell.

Mediornet provided transport of the vision feeds to and from the main conference rooms, media suites, hospitality areas, security zones and delegate offices. It also allowed the BCEC team to embed and de-embed any audio source to and from the video streams, so if a delegate needed to hear a specific language on their video feed it was only a mouse-click away.

To support the event, the BCEC expanded its single-mode fibre network, significantly increasing capacity. “As video marches right past HD and into the realm of 4K, multi-mode cable is really going to start limiting people. So this new cabling is really going to help the convention centre in the future,” O’Neill explained.

Mediornet’s ability to route signals in real time was critical to the event. A total of 37 frames were installed throughout the BCEC, giving complete path and signal redundancy to the large number of HD video channels, Ethernet tunnels, and audio and comms channels. Riedel also provided a 24-hour confidence crew for the week of the event, ensuring that nothing went wrong.

SITE-WIDE RADIO

Riedel further provided a site-wide digital radio solution for the BCEC and other stakeholders with a new fleet of Hytera. Installed in two sites, the radios were able to seamlessly roam between the two buildings that make up the BCEC.

“The BCEC is a challenging site. It consists of two buildings over a rail corridor,” said Riedel operations manager for the event, Jason Owen. “It’s not as simple as throwing up a single repeater base and hoping for the best, so Hytera’s IP Site Connect was really the only option.”

Using a digital transmission standard instead of analogue, Riedel was able to double the amount of channels in the same spectrum, as well as adding a layer of security to the communications. The IP Site Connect feature of the Hytera radios also allows for connection into bigger, city-wide transmission systems, allowing users to roam between an event site and a wider area – perfect for runners or transport units.

SHORT NOTICE

Bosch conference and security systems were the primary communication tools used for the summit, and Congress Rental was selected to supply technical equipment in 15 separate rooms across the three venues including conference microphones, high powered radiations, transmitters, headphones, receivers and cameras.

“The greatest challenge for this event was that we only got confirmation of being the successful tenderer six weeks prior to the event,” Congress Rental managing director Jeremy Ducklin said. The supplier is part of the Congress Rental network of companies, however, allowing access to additional equipment from Singapore, Austria, Slovenia, South Africa, Greece and Switzerland at very short notice.

OPEN TO INTERPRETATION

BCEC hosted the majority of the meetings across the two days. For the Leaders Plenary, 34 Bosch wired conference microphones were used, with interpretation support staff using 32-channel digital infra-red receivers, which enabled them to simultaneously interpret the speaker’s language. The conference mics provided leaders with the interpretation support, made possible through the built-in channel selectors.

Five HD Conference Dome cameras were mounted in the roof trussing system to provide a close up view of all leaders for the interpreters and senior delegates, as well as a wide shot screening the entire conference room. The queuing system feature allowed the Prime Minister to see a list of leaders wishing to speak, and select the leader in the order of his preference.

A finance ministers’ meeting was held in a separate room from the Leaders Plenary at the BCEC and required 34 wired conference microphones and three HD Conference Domes. Seamless integration allowed the cameras to automatically capture the person speaking at the ‘live’ microphone and project them onto surrounding screens.

Other key events included the summit opening meeting at Parliament House, a leaders’ lunch meeting at BCEC, and a formal dinner at the Queensland Art Gallery. Bosch Integrus wireless distribution systems were deployed across all three locations and included high power radiators, 32-channel infra-red receivers and transmitters. The Bosch Integrus Radiator system was essential in providing 16 channels for the wireless Dual Discussion mics and ensuring the conference venue was covered with powerful, uniform IR-radiation.

“The event went exceptionally well,” Ducklin said. “In terms of reliability, Bosch is the best available, that’s why we’re such big fans. 90 per cent of our stock is Bosch. For the G20, of course, nothing went wrong.”