The CCD welcomes Panasonic AV in to events offering

A sign with the phrase ‘Céad Míle Fáilte' or ‘A hundred thousand welcomes' greets guests on arrival to The Convention Centre Dublin, developed to provide a world-class conference venue in the heart of Ireland's capital city.

Designed by Pritzker award-winning Irish-born architectKevin Roche, The CCD quickly became a landmark building on Dublin's skyline. Its stunning glass-fronted atrium gives visitors panoramic views of the River Liffey, Dublin city centre and the Wicklow mountains.

Opened in September 2010, the building's 22 event spaces are split over six floors, and include a 2,000 seatauditoriumwith full theatrical stage and fly tower, 4,500 square metres ofexhibition space and capacity for 3,000 delegates inthe ground floor Forum space.

The venue specialises in conferencing, hosting hundreds of national and international association and corporate events, public exhibitions, award ceremonies and gala dinners every year.It played host to the televised UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying draw.

The venue offers turnkey event solution services which includes access to the technical department, a team of 15 made up of sound, lighting, AV and rigging technicians.

Technology backbone

Panasonic technology forms the backbone of the AV offering for customers at The CCD.

“We have default settings forthe rooms, but change thingsdepending on the type of event. It's really important that the AV is plug-n-play, so that we can turn rooms around quickly,” said Gareth Neville, Head of Technical at The CCD.

Five medium sized conference rooms are each equipped with 5,000 lumens laser projectors (PT-RZ570).Two of the larger 'Liffey' rooms areeach equipped with 10,000 lumens laser projectors (PT-RZ970).The installation was integrated by System Video.

Tom Carroll, Founder at System Video, said, “One challenge we had to overcome was that the projectors are housed in a tech room at the rear of the auditorium, so we needed to specify projectors that were bright enough to cut through the glass and cover extensive throw distances.”

Smaller spaces

Smaller event spaces are equipped with lamp based 3,500 lumens WXGA projectors, while the largest spaces have a choice of two 20,000 lumens or two 13,000 lumens lamp projectors. Atotal of four meeting rooms are equipped with Panasonic 65 inch professional Full HD displays.

The two 20,000 lumens PT-DZ21K projectors are often combined with a 14m AV Stumpfl projection screen. For installations with multiple projectors, the venue uses Panasonic Geometry Manager Pro Software for edge blending, reducing the set up time and ease compared to just the remote.

Customer Expectations

Gareth Neville, Head of Technical at The CCD, “Our customers expect a high standard of AV, cutting edge, easy to use and fully supported by our inhouse technicians. The CCD offers a turnkey solution in terms of our AV package, and we can provide whatever it is they'll need for the event.”

“The technology needs to be flexible, reliable, and high end so we can seamlessly deliver to our client's event vision.”

“There's no point in clients coming here and using equipment that doesn't meet or exceed what they have in their own offices. We have to offer them a high standard, but it should also be familiar so that, if they want to, it's intuitive enough for them to operate themselves.”

Transition to laser

Recognised as the first carbon neutral constructed convention centre in the world, The CCD's contemporary design meets the highest standards ofenvironmental sustainability. This sustainability is a driver behind the move towards replacing lamp projectors with laser units.

“Laser technology is very important, all of our recent purchases have been laser

units. As a sustainable building, quieter, more efficient projectors that don't require replacement mercury lamps is important,” said Gareth Neville. “As we upgrade our other units, as they reach the end of their useful life, we'll be looking to laser again.

The view is backed up by Tom Carroll from System Video, who said, “As an organisation, we are selling almost exclusively laser projectors. Only last week, I was with a client and I noticed a projector was still on as we left the room, his reply was, ‘it's laser, it'll run for years without a problem'.”

Reliability and high performance

Finding technology that performed reliably and fitted in to the different spaces within the building was a key consideration, according to Gareth Neville. “The Panasonic projectors are sleek, they fit the spaces, they're aesthetically pleasing, they're quiet and they're reliable.

“It ticks all of the boxes in terms of our design brief and there is a quality of service backing the equipment up.”

Tom Carroll added, “We have found Panasonic to be both reliable and high performance and on any occasions where we've needed to call on their service team we've found that things are resolved speedily and responsively.”