L'Oréal Professional
Three brands. Three stages. Three days. The annual PPD conference for 500 international delegates at the InterContinental London The O2.
A Conference Built Across Three Brand Worlds
The L'Oréal PPD Conference brings together the three pillars of L'Oréal's Professional Products Division for an annual gathering of international delegates: L'Oréal Professionnel, Kérastase and Matrix. Each brand has its own audience, its own product narrative and its own visual identity. The brief was to build a venue experience that gave each one its dedicated stage and dedicated technical production, then bring them back together into a single shared evening programme.
The conference ran for four days at the InterContinental London The O2. Day 0 was rigging and load in across both halls. Day 1 was the plenary session for the full 500 delegate audience on the main L'Oréal stage. Day 2 was the breakout day with three concurrent stages running parallel content for each brand: L'Oréal Professionnel for 182 delegates, Matrix for 252, Kérastase for 42 in the most intimate setting.
Day 1 closed with a DJ party until 1am. The Kudos AV crew had until 6am to break down the main hall and rebuild three separate stages by morning for breakout sessions. The day finished with a second DJ dinner running until 3am.
500
International Delegates3
Production Zones676
Total LED Panels4
Days of Delivery
A 676-Panel LED Matrix Across Three Stages
A single conference at this scale needs three completely separate LED environments running independently from each other. We built them all in house.
The main L'Oréal stage on Day 1 used 338 ESD Lumen Dazzle 3.9mm panels: three 5.5m by 3m centre screens running 4224 pixels wide as a single canvas, five 2m by 1m top banners across the top, and ten vertical side banners (five each side) framing the stage at 1m by 2.5m each.
The Matrix stage on Day 2 used 183 Unilumin UPAD III 2.6mm panels: three 4.5m by 2.5m main screens delivering 5184 pixels wide, with a top banner and four 1m by 2.5m side banners. The Kérastase stage used 155 of the same 2.6mm panels in a more intimate configuration with one banner each side.
Every panel was pixel mapped to specific content. Backgrounds rendered in HAP codec for instant playback. Presentations in 16:9 with minimum 12 point font for clarity at distance. VTs at 1920x1080, MP4 high bitrate or MOV ProRes. Nothing was scaled or stretched.
676 Total Panels
- L'Oréal Day 1: 338 panels (3.9mm ESD)
- Matrix Day 2: 183 panels (2.6mm Unilumin)
- Kérastase Day 2: 155 panels (2.6mm Unilumin)
- Pixel mapped per zone, not stretched
- Native 16:9 content, no upscale loss
Barco E2, Two Watchouts and a Three Camera Cut
On the main L'Oréal stage we ran a Barco E2 image processor as the central video switcher, controlled live from a Barco EC50 panel at front of house. Six DisplayPort feeds came in from two redundant Watchout media servers (Watchout I and Watchout II) running all background plates, brand idents and VT playback. PowerPoint ran on two separate machines (main and backup) into HDMI, with a Mastercue clicker for the speakers to drive their own slides.
Three cameras at IMAG positions fed a Blackmagic ATEM mixer with an ATEM panel for live cutting. Camera feeds ran out to two 50 inch comfort monitors at stage left and stage right so the speakers could see themselves. Every camera angle was simultaneously recorded for the post event content edit.
The Barco E2 had six outputs configured: Output 1, 2 and 3 drove the three 1408x768 main screens. Output 4 drove the left banner stack at 1280x640. Output 5 drove the top banner row at 2560x256, pixel mapped via a Novastar processor since the banners did not run a native 16:9 aspect. Output 6 drove the right banner stack.
On Day 2, both Matrix and Kérastase stages ran a smaller Barco S3 processor with Milumin servers (iMac and MacBook Pro) for media playback. The reduced canvas size made the S3 the right call: same level of control, less overhead, simpler signal path.
Central Processing
- Barco E2 image processor
- Barco EC50 control panel
- 2x Watchout media servers
- 3x IMAG cameras
- Blackmagic ATEM switcher + recorder
- 2x 50″ comfort monitors (SL, SR)
- Novastar processor for banner mapping
- Mastercue clicker for speaker slides
d&b Y-Series, Flown, ArrayCalc Designed
A 500 delegate conference room with three branded LED zones cannot use floor standing speakers. They would block sightlines from half the room. Every dB had to be flown.
We designed the system in d&b Audiotechnik's ArrayCalc V11.2.2 software before a single cable was run. The main hangs used d&b's Y-Series: a six cabinet main array of four Y8 line array tops and two Y12 long throw bottoms, flown at 5.5m height with a frame angle of minus 8 degrees. Total flown weight: 141kg, sitting at 22 percent of the rated load limit. The in fill array beneath used three cabinets (two Y8 plus one Y12) at a steep minus 40 degree frame angle to cover the front rows without interfering with the main throw.
The entire flown system was compliant with DGUV-17, the German rigging standard that has become the European benchmark for live event safety. The 22 percent load figure is not a flex, it is a deliberate safety margin. A rig at 80 percent might still be technically legal, but we would never put one over an audience.
For each breakout stage on Day 2 we ran a separate scaled system, designed for the specific room size and audience count. The Matrix and Kérastase rooms used smaller d&b configurations matched to their capacity.
d&b Y-Series Flown
- Main array: 4x Y8 + 2x Y12 (141kg)
- In fill array: 2x Y8 + 1x Y12 (80kg)
- Flown at 5.5m height
- 22 percent of rated load limit
- DGUV-17 rigging compliant
- Designed in d&b ArrayCalc V11.2.2
- Separate scaled rigs for breakouts
62 Intelligent Moving Heads on the Main Truss
The main hall lighting plot called for a rig that could transition from corporate keynote wash, through brand award reveals, into a full DJ show, without re rigging or re patching. We hung 62 intelligent moving heads on the main load bearing truss with a separate 10m light truss above for atmospheric layers.
18x Robin Pointe
The Pointe is a beam, spot and wash hybrid we use for high impact ceremony moments. Eighteen across the rig delivered tight beams for audience entrances, focused spots for the speakers, and full wash for the brand reveal sequences. Programmed cue to cue against the show script.
16x Robin LEDBeam 150
The LEDBeam 150 is a compact moving head ideal for fast colour change arrays. We used these along the truss front edges to frame the LED screens and pulse with the music for the DJ sets.
16x VLZ Spot
Sixteen profile fixtures handled the precision lighting: gobos for brand idents projected onto scenic surfaces, sharp speaker key lights, and architectural projections during the awards sequence.
12x Alpha Wash 700
Clay Paky Alpha Wash 700s gave us the broad wash coverage for the room and the audience. Smooth colour mixing for the brand palette transitions between L'Oréal red, Matrix teal and Kérastase gold.
grandMA Console Control
Every fixture was patched into a grandMA console with show files pre built from 3D pre visualisation. The lighting operator ran the show live, cue by cue against the run sheet, with the AV crew driving the cue triggers from the production timer.
Five Lighting Modes
The same rig delivered five distinct atmospheres: arrival wash for delegates, plenary keynote at neutral colour temperature, awards spotlight mode with full beam shows, brand reveal sequences in each brand palette, and full party mode for the closing DJ sets.
Three Stages, Three Audiences, One Crew
Day 2 split the room three ways. Three brands, three stages, three concurrent rehearsals, three live shows running in parallel from 8.30am. Each one needed its own crew, its own video processor, its own audio rig and its own content stack, while the wider show ran as one coordinated production.
From One Stage to Three, Between 1am and 6am
Day 1 finished at 1am after the DJ party. Day 2 had to start at 7am with rehearsals on three completely different stages. That gave the Kudos AV crew a five hour window to dismantle one production and build three.
The team that came off Day 1 stage was straight onto the overnight crew. The 338 panel LED matrix had to come down. The flown sound array had to be lowered, re patched and split into three smaller hangs. The Barco E2 was de rigged and replaced with two Barco S3 processors. The lighting truss had to be re focused, the fixtures re programmed for three new room layouts. The Milumin servers were swapped in for the breakout content. Cable runs were re pulled, the comfort monitors moved, the camera positions reset.
By 6am all three stages were lit, focused and patched. By 7am the rehearsal crews were running through their content on stage. By 8.30am the delegates were walking in for breakout day.
A Day 1 to Day 2 turnaround at this scale is the test of an AV crew. There is no margin for "we will fix it in the morning". By the time the rehearsal crew arrives at 7am everything has to be ready: stages built, sound flown, lights focused, video processors patched, content servers loaded. That is what an in house team that has done this before delivers.
Kudos AV Production TeamComplete Multi Brand Production Delivery
Every element designed, built and operated by the Kudos AV team. No subcontracted equipment, no subcontracted crew. One point of contact through pre production, delivery and de rig.
L'Oréal PPD Conference, London
InterContinental London The O2 · 12 Photos
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