Pool cover on a cruise ship? Sure, we can do that.

Industry insiders know that for custom swimming pool covers, the only company to call is In Depth Events. Our experts have handled everything from wedding receptions in private backyards, Bat Mitzvahs in palatial garden manors, chic clear installations for private events, and corporate parties at hotels, casinos, and country clubs across the US. Our staff is used to the challenges that come with providing clear, frosted, and utility pool covers. In fact, we are the ONLY company in the south that can provide flush mount pool covers for our clients.

In other words – we’re used to challenges when it comes to building custom swimming pool covers and stages. However, when the Tom Joiner people called us, we have to admit that we were taken a little off guard. Every year, the Tom Joiner Fantastic Voyage brings a Christian celebration of music and ministry to its attendees. In the spring of 2018, the cruise ship Carnival Breeze was selected as the host ship or this seven-day cruise. The Tom Joiner people wanted to know – can we build a performance stage over a pool – on a cruise ship?

Of course we can! After several meetings with Carnival staff, several sets of drawings, and several conversations with our engineers, we loaded our equipment on the pool deck in late April using a crane. We had to make sure every last part was in our pack – there are no Home Depots in the Gulf of Mexico. When the night of the build finally came around, our crew faced a rainy night and rough seas. It’s hard enough to build a stage in a swimming pool – it’s even more difficult when the swimming pool is moving around you!

However, our expert stage builders prevailed and finished the build well in time for the headliner, Anita Baker, to perform. The Tom Joiner people were amazed at the transformation of the pool deck, Cardinal’s staff was happy with our respect for their performance area and their engineering staff, and our stage builders went away with a sense of accomplishment for a job well done.

For your next swimming pool cover, make sure to contact the experts at In Depth Events. We look forward to hearing from you, and working with you!

Super Bowl LI 2017 A Production Company’s Retrospective

Super Bowl 2017, like any of the really large, international events, fills the host city with a dizzying array of private parties, AirBNB reservations and car rentals. For a week during February, 2017, all eyes were on Houston for the Patriots vs the Falcons national showdown (with Lady Gaga at halftime). Of course, lots of private events means an increased need for super bowl event production elements like staging, rooftops, lighting, and electrical rentals. As the marketing companies descended on Houston along with the attendees, the production crew got ready for a week’s worth of event services!

It turned out to be a pretty hectic week! Traffic in a grid-locked Houston affected event times. Security was tight, which affected truck delivery schedules with constant X-Ray scans at high security venues. However, our warehouse staff in Houston made switching trucks and gear seamless. Our expert techs worked together to handle over a dozen client events through the week. All of the staff had the opportunity to work with client names like Comedy Central, DirectTV, MKTG and Nike – all in one weekend!

We would like to thank our clients and vendors for making our portion of Super Bowl 2017 a huge success. We’ll have several other busy weekends in 2017 coming soon. After all, SXSW is fast approaching. And large holidays like Cinco de Mayo, Fourth of July and Fiestas Patrias will keep our staff hopping. We look forward to working with both new and existing clients this year. In the meantime, view the list below to see all the shows at Super Bowl 2017 that we helped make successful!

Comedy Central – ManHouse Productions:

The second show for our old friends at ManHouse consisted of taking over the outdoor space at Kirby Ice House for a week and doing live broadcasts of Comedy Central’s new show, “The Barstool Rundown”. In Depth Events staff built the stage as well as a rooftop for lighting and protection. Our work on this show earned us a 5-star rating from our client!

MKTG for DirecTV:

Our first crews in Houston began Super Bowl week with the staging and carpet bones for the DirecTV setup inside the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. A last-minute pickup of 3,000 square foot of silver carpet rounded out the two main 24 foot x 24 foot stages and ADA ramps for this booth.

NFL Network Stage:

There was nothing more exciting than a 24 foot X 24 foot stage in this booth. Other companies provided the lighting, audio and trussing for this booth. But the stage was there first!

Angel City Designs – Hilton Americas:

One of the many host hotels of the NFL needing lighting techs for setup, changeovers, and finally, strike.

Angel City Designs – Lot 97:

Our second show with this prestigious event company out of LA was called “Lot 97”. In initial conversations, Angel City couldn’t even disclose the end client for security concerns. As a result, the site of this location was the identifier for the show – even after we found out who the end client was. We provided a custom 24 foot half round stage as well as regular staging. We also provided a small army of lighting technicians for setup, changeovers and strike.

IMC Productions – Superbash:

This four day party ended with a bomb threat. But still, we provided the stage, rooftop, lighting and generators for this outdoor event. On Saturday night, someone called in a bomb threat to the police. When SWAT and police showed up, they evacuated the event space. Luckily, the threat was a fake, but it still had devastating effects on the party.

Nickelodeon:

Another broadcast event with trussing, staging, labor, and special effects for this wacky taping of a Nickelodeon game show inside the George R Brown Convention Center.

Pro One – Nike:

This outdoor event was held at a local event center. Nike came in to play with a revamp of the football field, portable bleachers, food vendors, and all the other aspects of a “Friday Night Lights” event. We provided generators and electrical distribution, making sure that all vendors had electrical power.

Metroplex Gymnastics:

Not all shows on Super Bowl weekend are Super Bowl shows! The Metroplex Challenge is an annual gymnastics event where we provide staging, audio and lighting. This 11 year repeat client began our week with a three day show at the Ft Worth Convention Center Arena. Check out a highlights video from the event here.

Barrellhouse Media:

Another event that just happened to fall on Super bowl weekend. This stage was for a corporate event.

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!

Image of Event Activation at the Essence Festival

The Perfect Event Activation for the Essence Festival!

At In Depth Events, we work with marketing firms all over the world to help promote their clients brands. Our clients range from sports marketing firms to guerrilla marketing firms – and everything in between! Our marketing firm clients promote cutting edge products and we are here to make the technical production side of their event activation work flawlessly.

Professional Marketing Event Activation at the Essence Festival

For the last two years, the founders of In Depth Events worked with one of the most respected marketing companies in the world on a very specific live activation. The Marketing Arm needed a an event production partner to create an event activation at the Essence Festival. This annual event in New Orleans was started to support Essence magazine and is “The Party with a Purpose” for African-American women from all over the United States.

The end client in this event space used our signature LED Dance Floor as a centerpiece to the activation. Paired with the eye-catching floor is a custom built DJ booth with LED lighting on the front and sides as well. This dynamic look blends perfectly with the other set pieces in the event activation and provides a virtual magnet to get people into the booth and boogie down on the LED Dance Floor – all while getting eyes and impressions on the client logo and branding!

Custom LED Lighted DMX Controllable DJ Booth

The Essence Festival is certainly not our largest activation. However, it offers a highlight to one of our fun, niche products that included some custom work as well. This activation remains one of our favorites because of the great companies we get to work with, the fun atmosphere of the activation and the seamless way that all the elements come together to promote the client brand.

Are you interested in finding out how In Depth Events can help your clients brand? Ask Us a Question today and let us know how we can bring your activation ideas to life!

Extreme Weather Conditions at Live Events

Outdoor events and activations are in a class by themselves. In addition to the difficulties of production requirements, parking and crowd control, you also have to add fencing, porta-potties and the tempestuous moods of Mother Nature. In this post, we’ll discuss how to plan for bad weather conditions at live events and the specific conditions that our technicians are trained to look for when determining whether or not to continue an event in bad weather.

Unpredictable weather and live events

Image of Safety During Bad Weather Conditions

Safety During Bad Weather Conditions is the Number One Priority for In Depth Events

In our home State of Texas, weather can be… fickle. It’s an old joke here that “If you don’t like the weather in Texas, just wait a minute and it will change.” Of course, our touring and logistics groups handle activations and experiential events all over the nation. We’ve been drowned in Denver, deluged in Duluth and snowed on in St Paul. We’ve been hailed on in Helena, had sleet in San Antonio and tornadoes in… well, you get the idea. The point is we are very experienced with bad weather conditions at live events and how to make sure the equipment and your attendees are safe before, during and after bad weather strikes.

As a production company, we have to be ready for all types of weather at an outdoor event. Rain gear and pop-up tents are part of every single pack that goes on the truck. All of our electrical distribution systems are water resistant and rated for outdoor use. Our ballast plans for our rooftops are specifically designed with high wind conditions in mind.

Speaking of rooftops – whenever we do a stage and roof system, we will always have a roof tech on site to monitor the roof and the weather conditions at any time there is activity on the stage. On most of our outdoor rental stage and roof system builds, you’ll see a weather station including an anemometer and a rain gauge on the structure. Monitoring the weather at all times is a big part of our commitment to safety on the event site.

Make sure your event company has a bad weather plan

After the rain – back to the show!

Especially when using rooftops or mobile stages – it’s imperative that production company that you have contracted has a bad weather plan. With our company, it’s our Rooftop Emergency Procedures. This document has very specific tolerances for wind and rain and clearly explains our responsibility to our clients in case of bad weather.

In addition to this document, it’s also important for everyone to sit down long before the event and discuss the issues related to bad weather conditions at live events. The promoter, production company, venue owner and (if possible) the municipality should all be given well-defined roles and responsibilities for dealing with bad weather. Knowing these roles beforehand can save precious minutes and provide a well-organized response for attendees.

Do you have questions about weather and your outdoor activation, concert, or festival? Ask a Question of the bad weather safety experts at In Depth Events. We’re happy to take our knowledge and experience and apply it to your event. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you!

Category: Events