Swimming Pool Covers – An Event Planners Guide

Create an amazing look and maximize event space!

A stunning clear acrylic pool cover at a private event

In the production world, swimming pool covers are used as temporary flooring for a live event. There are a lot of options available to the event planner when it comes to the rental and installation of swimming pool covers. But first, let’s talk about some scenarios where a swimming pool cover might be used:

A marketing firm or DMC may rent the pool deck at a hotel for an evening, open-air cocktail hour. The client doesn’t want a ‘swim party’ atmosphere; rather, a semi-formal sophisticated gathering is the goal. By covering the swimming pool with flooring, additional space is made available for cocktail rounds and seating.
At home wedding receptions can benefit from pool covers as well. Many times, the bride’s family will have a pool cover installed when the reception is to take place in the home. Not only does a rental pool cover allow additional space for guests, it also keeps younger guests from exploring (and possibly, falling in to) the edges of the pool.
Corporate clients as well as family clients can both benefit from using swimming pool covers as dance floors. Imagine an effect where your guests appear to be dancing on the surface of the pool and you’ll see why a see-through acrylic pool cover provides your guests with a truly unique experience.

The three types of flooring available for rental swimming pool covers.

Swimming pool covers can be customized by changing the actual surface of the flooring. Below you’ll find the surface options available for swimming pool covers.

Wood Surface – most wood topped swimming pool covers have a black surface, although vendors can provide a white wood surface or other color to client specifications. This is the most cost effective option for rental swimming pool covers.

Frosted Acrylic Surface – this surface consists of a semi-opaque acrylic. It allows light to project up from the pool to the floor itself. This surface is best suited for cocktail and casual atmospheres.

Clear Acrylic Surface – this flooring type is used in black tie and elegant events. The surface is completely clear, allowing guests to be able to see through the floor into the pool.

Clear Plexi Pool Cover at Hotel Grand Opening

This clear acrylic swimming pool cover was used at the grand opening of a hotel.

NEW – Flush Mount pool cover rentals – With the previous three types of surfaces, pool covers had to built up over the surface of the swimming pool which creates a “step up” onto the floor. No more! In Depth Events can now provide a flush mount swimming pool cover. This means that the swimming pool cover is inset in the pool and custom made to be at the same height of the pool surround. Take a look at this blog post for Flush Mount Pool Covers to see how a custom pool cover might benefit your event!

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At In Depth Events, we are swimming pool cover experts with experience doing LOTS of them all over the United States! In addition to providing wood or acrylic swimming pool covers, we can also provide the decor lighting, audio needs and other production elements your clients demand. Make sure and Ask Us a Question about how a swimming pool cover can add to your next event. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you!

Image of Event Production Plans and Rolls

How Engineer Certified Drawings for Events Can Make (or Break) Your Activation – An Event Planners Guide

Custom structures at your indoor or outdoor activation

If you are an event marketing professional, then you have probably used a production company to build a custom structure for your client at an activation or trade show. Custom structures built from truss or staging can be used as elevated seating for attendees or VIP’s, gateway arches or signage towers. These structures can be huge show elements, massive custom stages or as small as a single piece of trussing. However, they all have one thing in common – they are subject to inspection by a city official and will need engineer certified drawings for events of this kind.

In an indoor activation, the person from the city is typically the Fire Marshall or a member of his or her staff. In an outdoor activation, it will typically be a city building inspector. However, this is not an absolute – either one can show up at either event type. Both have the power to write very expensive compliance tickets to your end client, hold the doors closed until you comply with city regulations, or in extreme cases, close your event and escort all attendees out of the event space.

So what is an engineer certified drawing?

With any custom structure, the city can require an engineer certified drawings for events. This is a CAD drawing of the structure to be built with detailed instructions on how it is to be flown (in indoor environments), ground supported (for both indoor and outdoor shows) and ballasted (for outdoor events).

These engineer certified drawings for events may incorporate elements of the venue for flown rigs and will definitely incorporate tolerances for wind speed, ballast weight and banner types for outdoor structures. These drawings are created by a engineer who is certified to do business in the State you are working in. When the drawing is complete, the engineer will apply a stamp to the drawing which signifies the structure is safe to be built.

It’s vitally important that the engineer and production company work together in the creation of the original drawings, as well as the execution of the structure build. If the structure is not built to the specifications the engineer has outlined, the city inspector can fail you (also called a ‘red tag’) and require changes to be made before a second inspection is carried out. If the build is correct, you get a green tag and a sign off by the city to have your event.

Here’s a list on how most permitting is done in US cities:

The client or show designer has the initial idea.
A production company is contacted and they take the idea and turn it into a rendering or quote for client review.
On review, the production company contacts an engineer licensed in the State. The engineer reviews the drawings or specifications from the production company, then creates his own set of drawings showing ballasts, accepted tolerances and detailed installation instructions.
Once drawings are complete, a permit request is filed with the city with the drawings attached. Some cities will require an event permit to be filed first. Occasionally, a permit will not be required, but a review of the drawings will be required.
The structure is built on site and the city makes an appointment to review. Hopefully, the structure is passed, or green tagged. If it fails the review, you will have to request a second time slot for a re-review. Typically, a city official can only fail a structure if it is not built to the specifications that are in the drawings.
The event happens and exceeds your clients wildest dreams. You are so impressed with the production team that you take all members of the production company on a week long, all expenses paid vacation to Hawaii.

It’s always a good idea to have an engineer certified with the State to be on site when the city inspector or fire marshal is scheduled – even if the engineer was not the one who created the original drawings. Any certified engineer licensed to practice in the State you are working in can provide a stamped ‘letter of compliance’. This is basically a letter stating the production company has built the structure to the drawings supplied in the permitting process.

Wow – this is some great information. And you are an incredibly talented writer. Any other advice?

Well, since you asked – certainly!

Dealing with city officials can be incredibly frustrating. It’s important to remember that their job is ultimately to make sure your attendees are safe. Fire Marshals can be downright obstinate about exits being blocked, but there is a good historical reason for concern. A city inspector can (and will) hold the doors closed to your event until your production company reads the plans correctly and installs the right amount of ballast to a gateway. The majority of them are not trying to make your life difficult – they simply have a job to do. And frankly, it’s a job you really want them to do to the best of their abilities.

With that in mind, treat city employees with respect and they will do the same. Be positive, polite and factual. (This works well for police officers, DMV employees and social security employees as well.) If you don’t know the answer to a question, find the production company. If they don’t know, call the engineer who put the drawings together. Answering a city inspector with “I don’t know” will not work well. Select one knowledgeable person to meet with the inspector, not a group of people who don’t know anything about the build. Your clients are the absolute wrong person to meet with a city inspector. If you step back and allow the production company and engineers to interact with city inspectors and fire marshals, you’ll be much happier (and stress-free).

We hope you’ve enjoyed this article. When you are ready, take a moment and Ask Us a Question of the professionals at In Depth Events. We have nationwide experience with building structures with engineer certified drawings for events and we’ve love the opportunity to show you our skills. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you!

Confetti Cannon Rentals Vs Confetti Blower Rentals – An Event Planners Guide

Using Confetti Rentals at Live Events

Looking for a fun, exciting special effect for your live event? Use confetti – it’s a BLAST!

OK, so now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about how confetti rentals work for live events.

Most clients that rent a a confetti cannon are looking to either do a product reveal at a corporate event, introduce a headlining act at a concert or festival or provide a highlight moment at an awards presentation. Confetti is also used for longer lasting effects such as a prize giveaway at a store opening, a special effect during the length of an entire song at a concert or celebrating a win at a political event.

Before we go too deep into the differences between blowers and cannons, lets talk about the confetti (or media) itself. Traditional confetti is small pieces of tissue paper, but you can use all sorts of other media as well. Streamers are the second most common type of confetti media. However, we’ve have clients use glitter, feathers, and even custom cuts of paper like small stars, hearts or even company logos. Confetti media is limited only by your imagination!

Confetti Cannon rentals

Confetti Cannon on an outdoor rooftop structure

Most people use the term ‘confetti cannon’ as a general term for any device that spreads confetti, but it’s actually a very specific piece of production equipment. A confetti cannon uses a pressurized air tank that is a part of the unit itself. When the actuator is enabled, it releases the entire tank into the barrel (or, in the example above, the barrels) of the unit. The barrels are loaded with the client selected media, and can fire the media up to 100′ in the air. So, a confetti cannon is a one shot effect. Once the effect has been shot, the tank has to be re-pressurized and the barrels reloaded.

Confetti Blower rentals

Confetti Blower at an outdoor concert event

A confetti blower is different from a confetti cannon and is used for events that require a long lasting confetti effect. A confetti blower uses a CO2 tank that is separate from the unit itself. You can hook up one tank of CO2, or, you can hook up multiple tanks to each blower for really long effects. A blower also requires a technician to drop the selected confetti media into the hopper as it is discharging. When the actuator is enabled, the blower takes media from the hopper and projects it up to 100′ into the air. The primary difference between a confetti cannon and a confetti blower is that a blower can blow for as long as you have CO2 in the tank and a technician to feed the hopper. A single, small tank of CO2 can last for up to 45 seconds at full open, and can broadcast up to 10 pounds of confetti media per minute. With multiple tanks hooked up, you can easily broadcast media for as long as you need the effect and fill the air of the stadium, ballroom or outdoor venue with hundreds of pounds of confetti!

I hope this blog has been informative for our event planner clients! For more information on confetti rentals and whether a confetti cannon or confetti blower is right for your evnt, please Ask Us a Question today. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you on your event!

Image of Stage and Roof Systems for Live Events

Using Stage and Roof Systems for Your Event: A Guide for Event Planners

At In Depth Events, we’ve built hundreds of rooftops for outdoor events. Whether your event is using a load bearing stage and roof system or a non load bearing stage and roof system (also called a genie roof, or a shade roof), the basic rules that apply to safety and successful use are the same. Below, we’ll go over the most important guidelines for a successful show!

Pre-planning with your production vendor

Vital to the process of setting up a successful event is pre-planning. In most cases, the stage and roof systems are central to the event, so it’s important to get an overhead site plan in place early in the game. Begin by placing the stage and roof in a central location, pointing away from any close residential areas. Then, you can sketch in vendor booths, points of entry and exit for audience and placement of vendor booths and port-o-potties. Once you have a working diagram, check for crowd flow.

It’s better to have your stage and roof systems on high ground for a variety of reasons. It’s better acoustically, because it allows the PA to throw farther. It’s helpful for visibility as well. Most importantly, if it rains, then the performance area doesn’t get flooded out.

All stage and roof systems need to be guyed down. In some cases, we’ll use ground stakes to guy a rooftop down. However, if the rooftop is to be placed on concrete, or in a grassy area where power, gas, or sewer lines are underground, we’ll use water ballast. It’s important to know which type of points we’ll be using long before our trucks arrive.

On site with your production crew

All production companies want you to have a successful event. However, we need your help to make this happen! First and foremost, make sure you or a senior member of your staff is on site at the pre-arranged load in time to show the crew exactly where the rooftop is going to be placed. Have a printed version of your overhead and a printed version of the schedule of events ready for the production crew chief. This simple step will solve the majority of timing and placement issues.

The production crew chief will need to be able to access a senior member of your event staff at all times during the event. If you are using radios, make sure he has one assigned to him and knows where to charge it up during off times. If you are using cell phones, make sure to swap numbers and check them. Communication is key!

Finally, please provide the basic necessities for your crew. Many times, a crew will show up to begin the build two days before the event starts. If the porta-potties are not scheduled until the day before the event, things can get messy. Also, please make arrangements for water and ice to be available to your stagehands as they build your rooftop, during the run of show and for strike. (The occasional pizza delivery doesn’t hurt, either!)

Promotional banners and soft goods

It’s common for banners to be used for both load bearing and non load bearing rooftops. Each rooftop has different sizes available for banner hangs, so make sure and check with your event professional to see what these sizes can be – and let them know you are planning on hanging banners on our structures. We’re happy to hang these banners for you, but please be aware of these guidelines:

All banners MUST BE made of blow through material. Flat vinyl banners will not be hung. Smilies are not acceptable.
All banners must be grommeted on all four sides. Grommets must be placed on 18″ centers.
Our crew chief or rooftop supervisor has the final authority on any banners hung on our structures.

All banner art should be above center. The most common banner placements are teaser banners (above the stage, on the downstage truss), backdrops and flybay banners.

Safety, Safety, Safety

At In Depth Events, we are rabid about the safety of your talent and your attendees. We make every effort to make sure our structures are safe, and we will always have a rooftop operator on site to make sure that all components are functioning properly. In fact, in many cases, we’ll use portable weather stations mounted to the rooftop itself to monitor weather events in real time.

Your on-site operator will always be watching for one of four occurrences that will cause us to bring the rooftop down.

#1: Heavy rain. Drizzle and small storms don’t affect us. A raging downpour does. If you see frogs coming from the sky and small rivers forming, we will bring the rooftop down.
#2: High winds. Our roof systems are rated for moderate winds, but high winds will cause us to bring the roof down. If you see Dorothy and Toto, it’s time for the roof to be lowered.
#3: Lighting in the area. Lighting strikes within a few miles of our rooftops are bad news. A metal structure higher than anything else around it is a natural conductor. Unless you want your hamburger well done, we’re dropping the roof.
#4: Someone runs a car into one of our uprights. Yes, this really has happened before. If someone driving on your show site manages to hit the large aluminum structure in the middle of the event area, he’s probably hit it hard enough to impair the structural integrity. The roof needs to come down and be checked.

In most cases, we can re-raise the roof and continue with the show once the danger has passed. However, the rooftop operator has sole authority on lowering the roof and on re-raising it. If your rooftop operator tells you it’s time to bring the rooftop down, there is a good reason for doing so.

Hopefully this blog has been informative for our event planner clients! For more information on In Depth Events and our event production capabilities, please Ask Us a Question today. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you on your event!

Category: Event Planner Guides