Connection, Collaboration, and Calm Under Pressure for National Nurses United in San Francisco

National Nurses United Global Conference – San Francisco, CA

At large, high-stakes events, connection is everything. Not just the technical kind, but the human kind; the magic is in the collaboration between production partners, technicians, and clients who all share a commitment to keep the message flowing.

When the Global Nurses United Union Conference convened in San Francisco, Talon AV served as the connectivity and technical-production partner, supporting streaming, interpretation, digital signage and attendee Wi-Fi across multiple hotel properties. Our role was to make sure every delegate could see, hear, and be heard, no matter where they were or what language they spoke.

Preparation Pays Off

In the weeks leading up to the conference, our team worked closely with Metro Media Productions who served as both the AV vendor and the General Services Contractor, 4Wall Entertainment, and the Venue IT staff across 3 different venues to map out connectivity for the general session, evening events, and multiple breakout rooms. We built layered redundancy into the plan from the start: bonded-cellular hardware on standby, dedicated subnets for production, and failover options ready to deploy.

We also supported the interpretation partner, Tiller Language Services, whose interpreters used the RSI X platform to deliver live multilingual audio streams. Because interpretation is especially sensitive to latency and dropouts, we designed a separate, monitored network segment just for them. Our goal: to make their experience seamless and predictable, even if the venue’s attendee network fluctuated.

The Challenge

Mid-conference, one of the hotel’s core routers failed. For the client, that router wasn’t just a box of blinking lights, it was the bridge between the stage and 1300 attendees listening to simultaneous interpretation on their personal devices.

The hotel had alternative systems on site, but restoring service would take time. Rather than wait, we pivoted immediately to protect the show. Our goal was simple: lightning-fast recovery and confidence for the client that there were multiple backup paths in place should any system falter again.

The Response

Because Talon AV had pre-positioned cellular systems on site, we were able to activate backup connections for uplink and interpretation ingest systems in moments, and continued to expand coverage quickly. Working through the night, our technicians and partners increased the penetration of cellular backups throughout the general-session and breakout spaces, deploying additional attendee-facing backups on top of the existing production backup systems.

The solution combined rental phones provisioned with fresh data plans, Peplink bonded-cellular routers, and a LiveU uplink, each adding a layer of redundancy. The approach was flexible, modular, and above all, fast. A mix of carriers and data plan options, plus key carrier and data provider relationships meant activating over 40 new lines of cellular data overnight was easy, and by morning, critical interpretation and streaming channels were restored, hotel network issues were mitigated, and we had backups upon backups to reassure the client we could keep the connections alive through our multiple independent network paths.

Partnership in Action

Moments like this underscore the strength of relationships. Talon AV’s onsite crew worked shoulder-to-shoulder with IATSE Local 16 technicians, whose professionalism and flexibility were invaluable throughout the show. Union stewards at each property coordinated late-night staffing adjustments so we could reposition resources without delay. It was a perfect example of how production partnerships, union and non-union alike, come together to serve the common goal of keeping the show online.

The collaboration extended beyond labor. Metro Media and 4Wall provided Audio, Video, and Lighting gear and personnel support, while the hotel’s engineering and IT teams stayed engaged and communicative even as we implemented our own layered contingency plan. Everyone understood the mission: keep the connection alive.

The Outcome

By the start of the second-day General Session, all critical systems were stable, and the client was confident moving forward. The interpreters reported feeling supported and informed, attendees reconnected smoothly, and the remainder of the event ran without incident.

What could have been a show-stopping technical issue became a quiet success story; a moment where preparation, calm leadership, and trust in our partners turned a potential failure into proof of resilience.

Looking Back

This project demonstrated what Talon AV values most: connection through collaboration. Every successful recovery begins long before show day, in how we plan redundancies, empower our teams, and build relationships strong enough to weather surprises.

It also marked a turning point in our own growth.

On the drive home, I found myself reflecting on how far we’ve come, and how different it feels to lead a company that clients now recognize not just by my name, but by our team’s reputation.

For many years, people hired me to solve problems. Now, they hire Talon AV to lead solutions. During this project, a client’s IT manager greeted us by name - not mine, but the company’s - and mentioned our team members before I could introduce them. That moment said it all: Talon has become more than one person’s effort.

I’m so proud of our crew, grateful for our partners at Metro Media Productions, 4Wall, Tiller Language Services / RSI X, and IATSE Local 16, and honored to have earned the trust of a client who knew we would always find a way forward.

Events don’t always go exactly as planned, but when the people behind them stay connected - to each other and to a shared purpose - the message always gets through.

Because at Talon AV, that’s what we do. Talon Connects.

Reliable Cellular Wi-Fi for Sacramento Pride 2025 - Keeping Sales and Ticketing Online

Sacramento, CA State Capitol Building

Client: Sacramento Pride
Location: Capitol Mall, Downtown Sacramento, CA
Attendees: 20,000+
Services Provided: Cellular-bonded Wi-Fi, Live Monitoring & Support

The Challenge

Sacramento Pride takes place in the high traffic Capitol Mall, the streets leading to the California State Capital - an area with known cellular congestion and inconsistent coverage. The event needed reliable WiFi for ticketing, point-of-sale, and production—spread across gates, bars, stages, and HQ. They had failures with past solutions, and past vendor attempts to provide Wi-Fi for part of the event, but their systems failed mid-festival, causing major disruptions to ticketing and operations.

Our Solution

Talon AV delivered a flexible, redundant, and monitored event WiFi solution:

• Carrier Survey conducted ahead of time to select the strongest-performing networks.

• 14 Portable Wi-Fi Units deployed for use at entry gates, bars, and stages.

• Bonded Internet at Festival HQ for secure and stable backbone connectivity.

• High-Priority Data Plans to avoid the slowdowns typical of consumer cellular plans.

• Full-Event Monitoring & Remote Support, with technicians available by chat and phone throughout the event.

One operation system vendor brought their own hotspots - when those hotspots failed this year, the Sacramento Pride team quickly migrated all critical operations to the Talon AV network, restoring stability and keeping the festival moving.

The Result

• 100% uptime across ticketing and POS networks

• Immediate resolution for other failed systems via migration to our network

• Reliable coverage in a challenging urban environment

• Scalable, repeatable infrastructure for future events

Technical Production for a Tech Company User Conference on SF Pier 27

In the Fall of 2024, a leading tech company hosted its first in-person conference at San Francisco’s Pier 27, blending on-site and virtual experiences via the GoldCast platform. Working with our agency partners, Talon AV led the technical team across departments and vendors to make sure every technical detail was spot-on.

Comprehensive Technical Oversight

We handled a range of technical elements and departments, from Audio Visual, to Lighting, to Power, to Network.

• Video & Audio: Oversaw audio building-wide, including general sessions, breakouts, and paging, and oversaw video for both in-room screens and live stream, to ensure high-quality visuals for both on-site attendees and the online audience, giving everyone a unified experience.

• Network Coordination: Coordinated with the in-house IT team, AV team, registration vendor, and production teams to set up a robust network that supported both the event’s internal needs and the live stream for virtual attendees. This meant planning in advance for internet access in hard-to-reach outside locations, as well as managing multiple networks for attendees, presenters, and production staff.

• Power Distribution: Carefully planned power needs between vendors and the venue’s preferred electrical vendor to supply power to everything from catering to AV to expo to lighting, ensuring everyone had a great experience.

• Lighting Design: Worked closely with the design team and AVL Vendors to create lighting that not only lit up the venue but also matched the event’s branding and themes - we paid meticulous attention to color temperature, focus, and locations to light everything just right

• Logistics Management: Coordinated load-in and load-out schedules with the producer and all vendors, collaborating efficiently with production teams, client, venue, and vendors to ensure timely setup and teardown.

Design-Centric Approach

Knowing the client’s focus on design, we paid special attention to elements like set design and lighting color temperature. Our aim was to create a space that was visually appealing and aligned with the event’s goals. This meant choosing lighting colors that complemented the set design, but still worked for the cameras, ensuring both in-person and virtual audiences had the best viewing experience.

Seamless Hybrid Experience

A key aspect of this event was its hybrid nature. We made sure virtual attendees felt just as engaged as those on-site. By leveraging both the GoldCast platform and YouTube, we delivered a live streaming experience that was interactive and immersive, allowing remote participants to engage with the content effectively.

Tight Onsite Window

With only 36 Hours onsite, we had 24 hours to build the event, and 12 hours to take it all down. Coordination between vendors, venue, and production teams was crucial to pulling it all together on time.

Collaborative Effort

The event’s success was a result of the teamwork between Talon Audio Visual and our Agency, Client, Venue, and Vendor Partners. Our shared goal was to bring the client’s vision to life, down to the last detail. In the end, the event was a big success, with great feedback from the client and attendees. At Talon Audio Visual, we take pride in teamwork, in managing complex technical requirements, and in keeping an eye on aesthetic excellence, ensuring every event we handle is both operationally sound and visually captivating.

Project Spotlight - 2024 AI Engineer World's Fair - San Francisco, CA

Talon Audio Visual was proud to support the biggest technical AI conference in San Francisco, CA - the 2024 AI Engineer World's Fair. This marquee event brought together leading AI companies, founders, VPs, and engineers, featuring over 30 companies on the exhibit floor and more than 100 speakers delivering live talks and workshops to approximately 1,500 in-person attendees and thousands more online.

Talon Audio Visual provided technical production services and oversaw all audiovisual technology for the show. We also provided the Show Caller for the General Sessions and managed a team of a dozen breakout producers and over 40 union technicians and stagehands who covered 11 different rooms.

Challenges and Solutions

The project was daunting, requiring hundreds of hours of pre-production planning. Our production team faced several challenges, including multiple sessions, mid-show program changes, and unique tech needs. Here's how we tackled them:

1. Managing Multiple Sessions: With 11 breakout sessions and a General Session that split and re-combined twice a day, keeping everything running smoothly was a significant task. We succeeded through careful planning and quick adjustments.

1. Last-minute Changes: Our team handled numerous last-minute speaker changes and content updates. This required coordination between Talon, our partners, and the many producers and technicians. It also meant many live updates to the run-of-show. Our teams coordinated with presenters and producers to ensure seamless updates without disrupting the ongoing show.

1. Specialty AV Needs: The tech-heavy show featured many live demos requiring rock-solid network connections, complex AV routing, and custom audio filters. Our team collaborated closely with speakers on their last-minute needs and handled these unique requirements with ease, ensuring every demo went off without a hitch.

Teamwork

The success of the event was a true team effort, involving:

• Argus HD Event & Digital Productions: The AV team from Argus HD and their partners provided solid leadership and expertise.

• IATSE Local 16: The union technicians and stagehands showcased their skills and dedication throughout the event, and made the show possible.

• San Francisco Marriott Marquis: The Banquets and Event Services Teams at the Marquis were incredibly helpful, adjusting room setup and reset times, crew meals, and security schedules to support the production, and the in-house IT Team provided consistent network support throughout the event.

The entire production team managed the show and navigated challenges with confidence and grace. The AI Engineer World's Fair was a tremendous success, thanks to our team’s and our partners’ hard work and support. The event's complexity and scale pushed us all to grow, and demonstrated the strength of our teams. Together, we delivered an exceptional event and we are excited to deliver an even better show next year.

Talon Audio Visual's Crucial Role at a San Francisco Healthcare Professionals Conference

In the heart of San Francisco, at the iconic Moscone Center, the stage was set for an international healthcare professionals conference. Behind the scenes, Talon Audio Visual was hard at work supporting our partners at Metro Media Productions ensuring one of their flagship projects was a resounding success.

We were tasked with managing digital signage, Zoom calls, breakout recordings, bonded cellular networks, and live streaming.

Digital Signage: Setting the Stage

To set the stage for the conference, our clients wanted to transform the Moscone Center into an immersive experience. Talon’s team managed digital signage, which included both venue and temporary monitors, LED walls, and BrightSign digital signage players across the venue. We curated content in multiple formats, resolutions, and aspect ratios, incorporating timed updates and live social wall content on the displays. To add an extra layer of dynamism, our team also crafted animated motion graphics content for the massive LED screens in the lobby and projection in the expo. The result was an electrifying atmosphere that captivated attendees and set the tone for the entire event.

Zoom Calls: Bridging Language Barriers

In today's globalized world, language should never be a barrier to understanding and collaboration. For this event, our team handled Zoom calls that provided real-time human language interpretation across multiple rooms. This service extended to the general session and an evening outdoor live performance, ensuring that every participant could engage and comprehend the proceedings. With the power of technology including Zoom, Talon’s hardware and support, the RSI Exchange interpretation app, and a global team of live interpreters from Tiller Language Services, we brought the world together under one roof.

Breakout Recordings and Quick Edits: Capturing Every Moment

In a world that moves at the speed of light, we know the importance of preserving valuable content. Talon Audio Visual took charge of recording and quickly editing breakout sessions. This meant that attendees who couldn't make it to a particular session didn't miss out. Our team's dedication to prompt delivery ensured that the conference's impact reverberated long after its conclusion. Using remotely managed recorders from Epiphan, the files were automatically uploaded to the cloud for our editor to start working on right away.

Bonded Cellular Network: Connectivity Beyond Boundaries

For an outdoor event, we had the unique challenge of setting up a bonded cellular network. This network was responsible for production networking, Zoom uplink for interpreters, and providing attendee Wi-Fi for 300 users of the interpretation app. We had to ensure that this network was robust, reliable, and could withstand heavy traffic.

With 12 cell modems across all three major carriers, six Wi-Fi access points, and a fiber truck between event areas, we created a network that could handle anything thrown at it. The evening before the event, the client informed us of an unexpected increase in the number of translation app users, almost six times the original estimate. We responded with extensive testing and traffic shaping, scaling up the network to accommodate the surge in demand. The result was a seamlessly connected outdoor event that went off without a hitch.

We also provided bonded cell backup networking for key sessions inside the Moscone Center ballrooms during the event.

Livestream Uplink: Sharing the Experience with the World

Finally, to share the conference with a global audience, we managed a livestream uplink via TVU bonded cell video link. This link connected to a master control room where livestream encoding, management, and recording took place. We also had a distributed remote engineering team monitoring the stream. With their expertise and vigilance, we ensured that the conference was accessible to those who couldn't attend in person.

Our Dedicated Team:

• Tim Kerbavaz - Technical Producer: Tim Kerbavaz, a seasoned professional in the audio-visual industry, took the lead on this project. As the Technical Producer, Tim was responsible for overseeing pre-production, gear specification, and acted as the onsite manager and client contact. He also managed the streaming and networking scope for the event.

• Ryan Behrmann - Zoom and Breakout Recording Lead: Ryan Behrmann assumed a critical role in managing Zoom calls and breakout recordings. She spearheaded a team of six local technicians and collaborated closely with the General Session and Breakout operators to ensure that Zoom calls were seamlessly connected and presented in a way that was both visually and auditorily appealing. Her expertise was instrumental in bridging the gap for international participants.

• Jack McRoberts, Networking Lead: Jack McRoberts and his company Copano Media Group provided invaluable network support and additional network hardware to ensure that the increased network demands at the outdoor event ran without a hitch. Jack’s expertise in network management and dedication to ensuring a seamless online experience for attendees made a significant impact on the success of the event.

Our management of digital signage, Zoom calls, breakout recordings, bonded cellular networks, and livestream uplink was only a small part of a bigger production, and we know that the success of this event was a collective effort. Talon Audio Visual was proud to play a pivotal role in supporting Metro Media as they exceeded their client’s expectation.

In the world of live event production, we understand that no two events are alike. Each brings its own unique challenges and opportunities. Our experience at the Moscone Center underscores our commitment to pushing boundaries and delivering seamless, immersive experiences for our clients and their attendees.

As we reflect on the challenges and achievements of this event, we acknowledge the dedication of our team members. Tim Kerbavaz, Ryan Behrmann, Jack McRoberts, and our animator Ray Tarara, along with the rest of the Talon Audio Visual and Metro Media Productions teams, demonstrated unwavering commitment to the success of the production, contributing to the overall success of the conference.

As we look ahead to more events and adventure, we look forward to more opportunities to collaborate and deliver excellence in audio-visual support at future events. You can rest assured that Talon Audio Visual will be there, ready to tackle complex challenges and exceed expectations.

Production with Pride - Davis Pride 2023

It may no longer be June, but Talon Audio Visual is PROUD to be a long time partner of the Davis Phoenix Coalition and Davis Pride - we've been providing the production support to the Davis Pride Festival for many years. Here's a little recap of the fun we had in June!

Raising Funds and Ensuring Access - Captioning and Accessibility Consultation for Children's Miracle Network

When your mission is ensuring that 10 million children receive life saving hospital care each year, you have to sweat the small stuff. Details matter to Children’s Miracle Network, the nonprofit organization that raises funds for children's hospitals across the U.S. and Canada. Among those details are accessibility and equity, areas in the core focus of Talon Audio Visual’s Accessibility Consulting Services. In the Spring of 2023 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals hosted their 2023 Hospital Week event in Sunny Orlando Florida, and reached out to Talon Audio Visual’s Talon Access Service to help ensure that the event was accessible to all their attendees.

Part Telethon, part healthcare industry conference, with a dash of esports, and a live performance from Andy Grammer, it was quite the event. Talon AV / Talon Access provided live human-generated CART captions in the General Session, including for the live musical performance, along with Automatic Speech Recognition Captioning Support in the breakout sessions, and an event-wide accessibility review post-conference for the client and their production teams.

We got great feedback from the Children’s Miracle Network Team, as well as from our partners on the event, one of whom was so blown away she asked us if we could “be [the accessibility] techs for all of our conferences and events? You’re the first I’ve seen that TOTALLY gets what we need to do our job the best we absolutely can.”

At Children’s Hospital Week 2023, Talon AV helped make the great work of Children’s Miracle Network hospitals accessible to all. The positive feedback we received is a testament to Talon AV's expertise in providing comprehensive accessibility solutions.

At Talon Audio Visual, we understand the importance of sweating the small stuff to create meaningful experiences. We invite you to reach out to us for more information about our Talon Access accessibility consulting services. Let us help you ensure that your events are accessible to all, leaving a lasting impact on your audience. Reach out to us today for more information and let's work together towards a more inclusive world.

Awards Season? Let's Get to it!

It’s Awards Season, so here’s a throwback to the UC Davis Alumni Awards, A Night At the Aggies.

AV With Pride - Recap of Davis Pride 2022

As June comes to a close, I know we all have a lot on our minds, but I wanted to take a moment to look back and celebrate as we wrap up Pride Month. I know many large cities just celebrated their Pride festivals this past weekend. Here's a look back to a couple of weeks ago when Talon Audio Visual helped celebrate pride in Davis, CA. As an LGBTQIA-owned live events business, Talon Audio Visual has been proud to be the production partner for Davis Pride since 2015, and I look forward to many more years of a successful and growing festival. Hope you enjoy this look back at Davis Pride 2022. This video is #captioned

Thanks to Jolie Media for the great sizzle reel.

Video Description: A colorful review of the Davis Pride festival, this video opens with footage of the AV team setting up speakers and equipment and then transitions to colorful footage of the performers and audience at the festival. The video ends with Tim, dressed in black, speaking directly to the camera.

Congrats Grads! - Graduation 2022

A video recap of Talon Audio Visual's production for the DaVinci Charter Academy Graduation in Davis CA

2021 - Year In Review

Wow. What a year. 2021 was quite journey, and I'm so thankful for the production partners, freelancers, and vendors who worked tirelessly this year to get productions off the ground.

And I am especially thankful to the clients who came to my little corner of the production world and shared my vision of what virtual and hybrid events could be.

Giving Thanks with a Picnic: Project Recap - UC Davis Gratitude Gala & "Powering Up"​ Film

This last year, my clients at UC Davis came to me with a challenge - reimagine their 2021 Leadership Giving Society Donor Gratitude Gala as a COVID-Safe Event. They had plenty of ideas - a drive-in-movie and a dinner in the round were some ideas floated. The uncertainty of COVID restrictions, need to ensure attendee safety, and a strong desire to return to a fully-in-person event made for a unique set of circumstances, and led this project to a different kind of “hybrid” production.

With the need to keep the event outdoors to meet COVID safety requirements, the event was re-imagined as an outdoor sunset picnic. An army of production vendors transformed an athletic field into a “park” - cocktail tables for two were pre-set with a light picnic basket meal, an open-air bar served beverages, guests mingled amongst a showcase of exhibits showcasing highlights from across campus, and cabanas provided secluded spaces to share a moment with your “pod” while enjoying the live music from the stage. A short spoken program punctuated the joyous reunion with a message of gratitude from senior leadership.

Talon AV provided technical production for the event including audio reinforcement for the music and the spoken program, as well as all power distribution for the stage and exhibition area.

Event Design by Samie Novan, Lonnie Muntz, Korie Gannon, and Jesse De La Trinidad, with rentals from Celebrations and Designer8. Catering from Barn & Pantry, Floral and decor from Dixon Florist & Gift Shop.

Here is a brief Behind-The-Scenes recap of the event:

Keeping the event short was an important consideration, both for safety reasons and the weather - an event in late October provides an uncertain climate for an outdoor function. A key part of this event is showcasing for donors what areas of campus have been most impacted by philanthropy, so cutting the spoken program short meant that this messaging needed another avenue. Talon stepped up here to produce a short film showcasing the ways campus was “Powering Up” for the new in-person school year, in large part thanks to the support of philanthropy.

As a companion to the in-person event, the film served to supplement the shortened spoken programs by bringing the message of gratitude directly to the donors inboxes post event. The video also allows that message to live on past the event, and become an “evergreen” message of gratitude that can be shared beyond the exclusive invite list of the event.

I hope you enjoy “UC Davis: Powering Up”

Virtual and Hybrid Events Recap

Have you wondered what we've been up to for the past 18+ Months? Making Virtual + Hybrid Events! Here's a sampling of some of Talon Audio Visual's Virtual and Hybrid Event Work.

Remote Production is here to stay

As I'm working on #hybridevents I'm seeing reminders in the real world that remote production is here to stay.

What are the ways you see tools and techniques from remote / REMI becoming mainstays of in-person event production?

Production Recap: UC Davis Alumni Awards

Here is a little peak #behindthescenes from a virtual awards show that Talon Entertainment Audio Visual produced for the University of California, Davis Cal Aggie Alumni Association. We built a studio in a ballroom at the Alumni Center and streamed the MC's live as they introduced remote award recipients.

This event was a lot of fun to produce.

Thanks to all the crew for their hard work to make this a great event.

Production Recap: Hybrid Outdoor Graduation

As in-person and hybrid events return, here’s a little recap of an event Talon produced for the Davis Joint Unified School District.

Improving Virtual Meeting Attendee Engagement with an Interactive Coffee Break

Let’s take this online

In mid May, the staff at Veloz, a nonprofit organization focused on electrifying transportation in California, came to me with a challenge. Their July member meeting, scheduled to be an in-person round table in Downtown Los Angeles, was going to be impacted by COVID-19 travel restrictions. Like most event planners, they wondered how to take the meeting online. The conference involved 50 members around a table discussing state policy, industry marketing, and increasing member investment. How would we move it to an online format while maintaining the networking, conversation and attendee engagement of the in-person meeting? How could we make members feel valued and invested in the organization without being with them in person?

Author and Technical Director Tim Kerbavaz takes a selfie during a session break while managing the webinar from the client’s office.

They were familiar with Zoom, and already had a Webinar license, but weren’t sure how to ensure good audio and video quality as their Executive Director hosted the meeting. They also wanted to provide an extra level of engagement for their members as they participated in the meeting.

In order to ensure that all the member organizations were able to participate in the discussions, each member was asked to designate one delegate to have a seat at the virtual Zoom Webinar table. These appointed delegates were invited to the webinar as panelists, so that they could participate in the round-table discussion. Any other member representatives, or attendees from non-member organizations, were enrolled as listen-only attendees to streamline the conversation in the meeting.

In addition to pre-production planning, Talon provided onsite AV support at the Veloz office. We turned a conference room into a studio with camera, lighting, and audio equipment, allowing the Director to host the meeting on camera with high-quality video. Talon staff remotely controlled the production from down the hall in an office suite to preserve social distance and prevent noise or distraction on camera.

Make your guests feel at home, at home

Custom Camping-Style Coffee Mugs were sent out along with freshly roasted coffee beans from a local roaster.

To ensure members felt valued, and to ensure they were alert and attentive for the meeting, each member delegate was sent a Veloz-branded coffee mug and a bag of locally-roasted coffee. We partnered with Sacramento, CA -based Seasons Coffee Roasters. Seasons offers a retail mail-order coffee service, as well as wholesale beans for retail and foodservice, so they were a natural fit to enlist for both coffee and fulfilment of the gift packages. Boxes were shipped to arrive at attendees homes the weekend before the event, to allow plenty of time to enjoy the coffee and be ready for the meeting.

What’s that sound?

Screenshot from the webinar of DJ Jon VonRonk spinning records for the conference audience.

To set the tone of the meeting, attendees were greeted by Sacramento local vinyl DJ Jon VonRonk from Kicksville Vinyl & Vintage spinning records on the webinar, joining us live from his home studio. Because the audio from the DJ’s studio was music, not speech, Zoom’s standard audio processing would have interfered with the quality of playback. To prevent this, we adjusted some key audio settings within Zoom to disable the noise and echo cancellation processing, ensuring the highest possible music fidelity in the webinar environment. While the music played, attendees were presented with some light-hearted polling questions designed to spark conversations and encourage creative thinking before the discussions began in earnest.

Feel-Good Impact

Many members made a point to have their coffee mug in the frame for the call, even a few who admitted it was filled with water because they preferred tea or cocoa to coffee. Throughout the conference, and in a subsequent meeting of the same group, members exclaimed how exciting it was to have a DJ open and close the meeting. “I’ve never been to a webinar with a live DJ before” said several attendees. Some guests lamented that they don’t have music to greet them at all their conferences.

Overall guests responded with great excitement to the “virtual coffee break” and it provided a great example of combining creative attendee engagement tools to keep virtual event attendees interested and connected to the meeting and message.

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Tim Kerbavaz (he/him) is the founder and Technical Director of Talon Entertainment Audio Visual as well as a freelance Technical Producer with over a decade in corporate event production after an early career in live music production management. As both a live event technology professional and a creative geek, Tim serves as an event technology sherpa, guiding clients through production and technology decision making and delivering events to production bliss.

A Music Festival, in this Pandemic?! How Mutek.SF shook up the virtual event scene

Conceptual Signal Flow Drawing for Mutek Nexus 2020

Mutek is an internationally renowned electronic music and digital arts organization that hosts annual festivals in cities globally. The relatively new Mutek San Francisco chapter was faced with a challenge for their 3rd annual festival in May 2020: In the face of Covid-19 should they cancel, or find a way to translate an engaging, creative community festival to a virtual event?

Mutek San Francisco hosted Nexus, their 2020 online music festival, using a bespoke virtual community event platform custom built by Currents.fm for the event. Nexus combined live video streams, video-on-demand, a gallery of online Open GL artwork, live workshops on a variety of creative topics, and community-submitted art, music, and live video streams from the SF Bay Area and all over the world.

Making the event community-focused and highlighting community contributions was key to the experience. In addition to the curated musical performances, live DJ sets, and film screenings, the festival highlighted live trainings and performances from both Bay-Area and global artists, as well as links to other concurrent festivals. The live audience interacted with each other and the artists via text and video chat built into the interface alongside the artwork and performances.

The Currents.FM Live Event Interface

In addition to the task of building a custom audience-facing platform, this event posed multiple content-delivery challenges. With multiple live “rooms” running simultaneously with a mix of live and pre-recorded content from many different locations, there were many sources of content going to several different destinations. There were questions of streaming infrastructure, of video endpoints at both the artist (contributor) and audience delivery endpoints of the signal flow, as well as questions of routing in between. This project required both technology solutions and the team to develop and implement them.

Mutek SF Technical Director John Mitchell brought in streaming engineers Drew Patterson of Fresh AV and myself, Tim Kerbavaz of Talon AV to provide live streaming and virtual event management expertise. Drew provided early-process technical management, and Jessie McDaniel, also of Fresh AV, provided show-day artist and stage management, coordinating live remote performances and asset collection.

As a team, we implemented a mix of technologies to make 4 concurrent live rooms possible. Two of the rooms were a mix of live content from artists’ homes and playout of pre recorded performances submitted in advance. Another room was a film screening room playing a timed schedule of films, and the fourth was a workshop room with live presentations by contributing artists.

Leveraging our live event and online video expertise, Drew and I spun up playback systems in redundant locations, with playback locations in both Texas and California, as well as cloud-based playback and routing.

We used LTN Live Video Cloud, which is a cloud-based video routing system to manage, route, and record live contributions. For timed playback of pre-recorded content, we used LTN/Make.TV Playout, a cloud-based broadcast playout application, and Figure53 QLab, a desktop cue-based playback system for Mac OS. Endpoint destination streams went to Vimeo Live, Twitch, Facebook, and Youtube. 

Author Tim Kerbavaz in the Sacramento Control Room for the Mutek Nexus Festival

These infrastructure choices proved to be essential to the success of the event. QLab’s Wall-Clock triggers and time-based loop cues in LTN Playout made scheduling playback based on time of day an easy feat, and the cloud routing and playback solutions from LTN enabled remote performers from all over the world to each have their own RTMP or WebRTC ingest credentials and for a team of technicians and production staff spread across two states and 3 metro areas to collaboratively manage the same production.

This was a great opportunity to try some new tools and be a part of a one-of-a-kind live music experience. The event pushed the envelope of online events, creating a new model of what a virtual event can look like and letting us stretch to the cutting edge of both video streaming and event platform technology. I look forward to applying these skills and technologies to future projects.

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Tim Kerbavaz is the Technical Director of Talon Entertainment Audio Visual. 

Talon Entertainment Audio Visual provides event AV production services for private, corporate, and community events across the United States. Serving a wide range of events, from political round-tables, to Silicon Valley Tech Company Conferences, to community festivals, to automotive-industry board meetings, Talon AV provides expertise and an exemplary attendee experience.

Presenting the Class of 2020 (Virtually)

I got a phone call in March from a long-time-client - can you make our graduation virtual?

Talon has been producing the live, in-person graduations for Da Vinci Charter Academy for a number of years, and they, like schools all over the world, were struggling to conceive of what a virtual graduation would look like. Da Vinci is a small charter school that emphasizes values of inclusivity, diversity, and student-driven collaboration. Their graduation ceremony features student MCs, awards, and each student’s “15 seconds of fame” - a 15 second video made by the graduate about their time at the high school, followed by live remarks about each student by a teacher whose classes they took.

The set, with Pipe & Drape Backdrop, Socially Distant Lecterns, robo cams, and lights visible.

When Da Vinci approached me to reimagine their graduation as an online event, I knew their event needed more than a pre-recorded video or a teleconference link. Working with school administrators and district officials, we got permission to build a studio in a classroom and broadcast their event live from the high school campus. Over June 10th and 11th, we transformed the media classroom into a studio with pipe and drape, lighting, a few lecterns, two vans full of video equipment, and 4 technicians: Technical Director, Graphics Operator, Robo Camera Operator, and Producer/Show Caller, all all positioned to preserve safe social distancing.

The resulting production was a live multi-camera broadcast with both student-produced and Talon-created assets. The show opened with a live to camera gag between the principal and vice principal at socially-distant (6’ apart) lecterns, followed by a student-produced video featuring the Student MCs, a capstone video, and childhood photos of the graduates. Talon provided formatting guidance and stock music sourcing, but it was student-created from start to finish. The goal of this segment was to feature the work, talents, and creativity of the graduating class and to allow the student team to honor their classmates. The student video then led into Talon-produced live segments including an awards ceremony, and the giving of diplomas, which honored each student by showing their 15 seconds of fame video and then displaying their name and graduation photo in a Picture-In-Picture format while a teacher spoke about their time at the school.

To produce the graduate graphics, speaker lower thirds, and award graphics, the Talon graphics team used an automatic form-fill process that linked a folder of images provided by the school administration with a spreadsheet of student names, awards, and speaker titles. This allowed for last-minute changes, and made onsite script changes easy to accommodate.

We used school-provided internet access, getting approval and dedicated network connectivity for our equipment and permission to bypass school network restrictions and firewalls. We also provided a cellular network backup, so that we could keep streaming even if the network were to fail.

Monitoring the livestream while calling cues, with video village and the set visible beyond the computer monitor.

Live chat, moderated by the technology teacher at the school, provided a way for students and families to interact in real time, and cheer each other on.

Post-event, the video was made available to parents to watch online and to download as a keepsake.

The event went very smoothly, and we were able to accommodate onsite and mid-show changes easily. We had some last-minute content changes during rehearsal that were easily accommodated by the graphics workflow. The biggest lessons learned for me were twofold - allowing ample pre production time and a full day of setup allowed us to adequately prepare equipment and content, and using a flexible, adaptable graphics workflow allowed us to make onsite changes to graphics, graduate photos, and lower thirds without the need to re-render or individually edit assets.

It was an honor to help DaVinci Charter Academy conceive and execute a socially distant program to honor the hard work and dedication of their students and families. With a great team and flexible systems we were able to roll with last-minute and during-show changes, broadcast live to a remote audience, and provide families with a memento when they couldn’t come to an in-person celebration. Special thanks to our friends at Argus HD who provided equipment and staffing support and to DaVinci Charter Academy and the Davis Joint Unified School District for trusting us to produce their event.

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Recording of Da Vinci High Graduation 2020

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Author Tim Kerbavaz, in mask, pausing for a selfie between cues while producing the graduation.

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Tim Kerbavaz is the Technical Director of Talon Entertainment Audio Visual. 

Talon Entertainment Audio Visual provides event AV production services for private, corporate, and community events across the United States. Serving a wide range of events, from political round-tables, to Silicon Valley Tech Company Conferences, to community festivals, to automotive-industry board meetings, Talon AV provides expertise and an exemplary attendee experience.