Events, Host Broadcast & Media Services Case Study
The London Conference on Libya
On 29th March 2011 more than 40 Foreign Ministers and representatives from key regional organisations gathered at Lancaster House for the London Conference on Libya. These included the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, OIC Secretary General Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, U S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, NATO Secretary General Rasmussen and Foreign Ministers from across Europe. The conference was hosted by the UK Government and organised within a very tight timeframe, following the deterioration of
conditions in Libya.
With just 6 days notice the Foreign and Commonwealth office called upon Feltech to facilitate the conference, including accreditation of
the world’s press, creation of a fully equipped media centre and live host broadcast coverage of all of the days events.
Family Photo, delegates at Lancaster House
Steadicam arrivals coverage
MCR in action
Delegates meet in the Lancaster House Long Gallery
Ban Ki Moon delivers his keynote speech
Hillary Clinton addresses the press
Spread across three main locations in central London, the Conference took place at the grade II listed Lancaster House on The Mall with an International Media Centre at the QEII Conference Centre half a mile away across St James Park. The series of press conferences that followed the meeting were held in the Locarno Suite at the Foreign Office, King Charles Street.
Feltech provided live host broadcast coverage of the entire event, staging, branding, accreditation services and a fully equipped media
centre for 400 TV, radio, written press and stills photographers.
As well as providing the technical infrastructure Feltech provided highly skilled technical and production staff across the three venues.
Two outside broadcast trucks and multiple satellite uplinks were installed to distribute the signals live to Feltech’s Master Control Room (MCR) based at the media centre, and on to broadcasting hubs at BT Tower and Winchester.
Key highlights packages of the day’s events were also replayed throughout the day on the host broadcast “Pool Channel” to ensure the media maximum access to the material. A series of radio booths were set up at the media centre to allow visiting Radio journalists to cover the Conference.
Security is paramount at major international political conferences and Feltech’s team of accreditation specialists worked closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth office to ensure all necessary systems were in place including bespoke online registration. The Feltech team were also on hand on the day to issue badges and sort out any last minute registration issues.
To ensure the media could access high quality footage of the day’s events without compromising the event security Feltech provided a Host Broadcast “pool channel” covering all the day’s action as it happened.
Using Feltech cameras positioned in key locations within security cordons the production team were able to provide unbiased best coverage of the event on a dedicated channel, available live in the media centre or via satellite to those broadcasters unable to attend.
Provision of a pool channel has many benefits. The Host Broadcast crews are able to access the most advantageous camera positions providing the best footage, from which all interested media can then select the material they require. The number of crews in secure areas “on the ground” are minimised and pictures obtained are of better quality than would otherwise be available.
To supplement the core coverage of the conference Feltech had camera crews on standby to cover any additional opportunities as they arose, including bi-lateral meetings between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague. This ENG footage was then played out on the pool channel for distribution to the media.