This independent annual event celebrates everything that’s good about peer support. It brings peers from across the country together to network and share their knowledge and best practices through workshops, creative activities and debate.

The event also includes The Marsh Awards, which recognise excellence in mental health peer support in England and Wales. The awards are run by The Marsh Christian Trust, Mind and Peerfest partner organisations.

The event was staged in the Richardson Suite, the hub of the conference facilities at The Hawthorns. Around 300 guests attended throughout the day, for a range of events, including a poetry writing and performance workshop, a Bollywood Dance workshop and the chance to Sing Together for Mental Wellbeing.

Growing with support

Peerfest has been growing each year, with ZiaBia Events Management & Consultancy working closely with the event’s national planning team to ensure it develops into a large-scale experience, but with a local, cohesive feel.

ZiaBia, established in 2012, offers a wealth of experience and passion for excellence, with a reputation for creativity. They deliver a wide range of events, across a broad spectrum of clients operating in diverse sectors.

Regardless of the event’s size or budget, ZiaBia delivers the same levels of enthusiasm, energy, tenacity and competitiveness, always with an eye for quality, which extends to their supply chain partners.

TechPro brings the professionalism

TechPro was appointed to provide AV services for the event, with ZiaBia Director Debbie Bell, recognising that a single source for lighting, video, sound and staging, would help take Peerfest to the next level of quality.

Our project managers collaborated closely with Debbie and the Peerfest National Planning Team to ensure we delivered an impressive event, whilst keeping costs to a minimum for this charity event, supplying all of the required equipment from our large stock in our Tamworth warehouse.

Following the site survey in advance of the event, undertaken by Project Manager Mike Foyle, all the required equipment was specified, supplied, installed and managed by the TechPro project team, making best use of the space for the varied events throughout the day.

Projecting a professional image

To ensure the day delivered the best look and feel in its short history, we specified two Stumpfl 2660mm x 1500mm screens to get the best from the video projected by our Panasonic PT-RZ970 HD laser projectors, even in a well-lit room.

Additional content was played to the crowd at various points through the day via our large Samsung DM65E led displays, with everything under the control of our video technician, operating a Barco PDS-902 seamless switcher.

Ensuring every word is heard

Critical to lively events like Peerfest, where people come to not only enjoy the day’s activities, but share stories, listen to advice and learn from best practice, is the ability to hear clearly the words of all the presenters.

Good audio quality was guaranteed by specifying our Yamaha QL1 digital mixing console, with a Yamaha Rio1608-D digital stagebox, outputting the sound through Nexo PS10 R2 loudspeakers and Nexo LS600 subwoofers.

To manage the large number of presenters and contributors, particularly during the Awards section of the event, we mixed Sennheiser lapel and handheld wireless microphones, to deliver content with the minimum of fuss.

Peerfest 19 also featured a choir session and for this we provided an additional drum mic package and Shure SM58 microphones on stands to pick up every note, with four Shermann Audio V25 concert quality loudspeakers enhancing the experience for the listening audience.

Quality shining through

Despite the small budget, the ZiaBia team were keen for the event to look and feel like a high-end event and lighting is one aspect that can make a big difference to a corporate event space, playing a big role in setting the right mood.

To ensure we could create the right atmosphere for the different parts of the day, we combined large ETC Source Four 750W lamps, with a number of smaller Selecon Acclaim 650W lamps, used to highlight key elements.

Atmospheric lighting was delivered with Chauvet COLORado 72 Tour LED battens, Chauvet COLORdash Par-Quad18 LEDs and Chauvet Q-Wash 560Z LEDs, all controlled by one of experienced lighting technicians using an Avolites quartz lighting console.

Set and rehearse

The ZiaBia team understand the value of appointing an experienced AV services provider like TechPro, which allowed those involved with the event to concentrate fully on delivering something truly engaging, entertaining and educational, knowing the day would run without a hitch.

It’s always good working with experienced live event agencies like ZiaBia, who know what they want and have the same commitment to quality we do here at TechPro. Ensuring their client gets value for money and understanding the difference high-quality AV services can make to even the smallest events, helps ensure a smooth day for everyone. We work hard to enhance their reputation with our professionalism and we leave nothing to chance – a great combinationHenry Pratt
Projects Co-ordinator, TechPro

The Hawthorns allowed us to set and stage the event space the day before, with everything loaded-in quickly, set up, connected and checked well in advance of the first attendees arriving the next morning. And as usual the TechPro team ensured another flawless delivery of a live event.