TechPro has been working in conjunction with TMB Events Ltd to provide full technical support to the annual Wella Business Network Live conference since 2013.

The Event

TechPro has been working in conjunction with TMB Events Ltd to provide full technical support to the annual Wella Business Network Live conference since 2013.

The event, which brings together Wella’s vast network of salon and retail stockists with a view to sharing best practice and business guidance from both across the hair and beauty sector and beyond, has a reputation for providing meaningful support and learning opportunities in an empowering and motivational environment.

However, in 2024, it was felt that the event had outgrown its previous home and the decision was taken to instead host the gathering at the Liverpool’s prestigious Rum Warehouse – a beautifully renovated 1950’s warehouse with picturesque views over the city’s historic dock.

The Brief

The move to a new larger venue, saw a greater emphasis on our ability to provide a solution which would not only make the best uses of this iconic space, but also deliver a broader spec of equipment to meet the evolving needs of the client, including the addition of more aerial rigging and a secondary projection screen to enhance the production.

Our brief included the full set and stage design and build, alongside professional PA systems built to ensure all attendees didn’t miss any of the content from the stage, which consisted of individual presenters (both internal and external to the business), with Q&A sessions with the audience after each session.

Because there was also a panel discussion that would include full participation from the audience, both verbally, and written (should the participants not wish to stand up), we also needed to deliver a system which would allow for effective engagement and communication amongst all participants, be they an ‘expert’ on stage or someone in the audience.

It was also imperative that all lighting used across the event space be representative of the Wella’s corporate branding, considering both static aesthetics and stage lighting functionality, with ability to also provide energetic, enticing disco lighting during the evening entertainment too.

The Solution

TechPro has successfully delivered this event uninterrupted for over a decade. Our team’s knowledge of client expectations, willingness to deliver seamlessly, and within budget, year after year is a huge factor in why we continue to be the client’s first choice for AV support.

Wella Business Network Live is unique event, with a great client team that understands our capabilities and how the team likes to operate, meaning there is an element of trust and recognition in TechPro’s ability to meet the brief, even though the venue and scope of the event had changed.

To meet the specific requirements of the panel Q&A at the new venue, we recommended using Slido – a polling platform for live and virtual meetings and events – which would enable optimum interactivity. Audience members were simply asked to submit their questions into Slido if they didn’t feel like they wanted to stand up any ask anything verbally, then these questions were accessed directly by the host and posed to the presenters / panel for response.

Professional radio belt-packs and head worn / lapel mics were then utilised with licenced frequencies to offer a robust audio solution, ensuring that everybody on stage could be heard when delivering their responses. These were also utilised throughout the conference during all other speeches, or sessions undertaken by the roster of motivational speakers and industry experts.

From a visual perspective, twin screen projection was used alongside HD Panasonic projectors to display bold client videos, presentations and Slido content across the conference programme. The specification of the screens utilised were as such to ensure everybody could clearly view the content on screen from anywhere within the audience, at any time.

For the lighting, we provided a system which combined a static generic stage wash to ensure everybody on stage is seen clearly by all those in the audience, with a mixture of LED colour change static fixtures and LED moving fixtures to create dynamic lighting states in a professional way.

The lighting rig was specified to cater for any evening entertainment and party needs too, thus we worked to enhance the switch from corporate environment to disco with the addition of party lighting states.

Conclusion

Thanks to our in-house project management expertise along with our established network of freelance technicians, we were able to ensure a flawless delivery of all the AV requirements of this conference, with a full day rig, operation of the live day, evening segment and half day conference on the second day, leading into a full de-rig.

In our 11th year supporting on this event, we fully understood the service levels expected of us, and were able to utilise our previous experience and existing knowledge of the client’s exacting requirements to effectively navigate the challenges posed by the event’s new setting at Rum Warehouse.

It is this commitment to forming long-lasting, creative relationships, whereby the client can be confident that we have their best interests at heart, and the technical know-how to back-up our recommendations, which is why we continue to be a supplier of choice for Wella Business Network Live.