The 46th annual World Series of Poker will have 23,000 players this year according to executive producer Mori Eskandani. The event returns to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV May 27-July 14, 2015, a 2,522-room property owned by Caesars Entertainment. An enormous undertaking, the WSOP occupies the Pavilion, Miranda and Brasilia Ballrooms, with the main event and set in the Amazon Ballroom.
YouTube is known for the spontaneous creativity of the artists and fans who post their videos to the site, and it was in that spirit that the inaugural YouTube Music Awards (YTMA) streamed live on Sunday, Nov. 3. The awards honoring the songs and artists that were viral hits globally this year were presented live at Pier 36 in New York City, and the 90-minute show lived up to YouTube’s promise of an untraditional event. Several of the winning artists, including Arcade Fire; Avicii; CDZA; Earl Sweatshirt; Tyler, the Creator; Eminem; Lady Gaga; Lindsey Stirling; and M.I.A., created live music videos on sets placed throughout the venue.
The week-long press event to launch Sony’s PlayStation 4 (PS4) console, held a trendy boutique hotel in lower Manhattan known as The Standard, High Line last fall, was a virtual feast for the eyes, meshing elements of high- and low-tech, including ad hoc and supersized video projection, an “interactive” LED walkway, hundreds of LED lighting fixtures simultaneously blasting color into the night and outdoor guerrilla gaming zones.
Dodd Technologies Serves Up a Visual Feast for Multi-Venue, Three-Day Convention
Working a three-day convention event with thousands of attendees and a plethora of live video content is already a challenge for collaborating companies, but add in a live concert event as well as video walls in two other locations, and the juggling act becomes trickier. But Indianapolis-based Dodd Technologies was up to the task of tackling the ExactTarget Connections conference, which included speakers Jim Collins, Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a presentation by Pinterest.
“It looks like the rings of Saturn,” said one observer, craning his neck to grab the attention of his companion to his left.
Nearby, another individual, standing amid a small huddled mass people, blurts out, “It makes my eyes bug out.”
Still others remain silent and still, not verbalizing their thoughts as they lay supine as if glued to the floor, their eyes turned skyward, mesmerized by a series of mysterious and monolithic elliptical bands, which float above their heads, changing colors at regular intervals.
Upfronts are standard industry events where media companies and studios showcase their latest products and trumpet their latest programming to advertisers and the media. (For MTV’s 2013 Upfront, see PLSN, June 2013, page 42.) But when you work on the YouTube Upfront, things are a little more hectic and involved.
The way TV works has radically changed over the decades, from only three major networks and one screen per household to an explosion of options, not just with an expanded array of networks delivered via cable and satellite, but a whole new array of interactive media platforms as well. But one tradition that’s still holding steady, and keeping those on the live side of the entertainment industry busy, is the TV network “upfront” — elaborate corporate events designed to pique the interest of TV advertising buyers, the press and other VIPs in advance of the annual crop of new TV programming.
