Sand In My Shoes goes hybrid

For more than 20 years, Media Stage has been producing the “Sand In My Shoes” award show for the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. This year was no exception! The Chamber was thrilled to be able to host the event in person again, and even add a hybrid element with virtual participation as well.

It was a two-day production between a full set day and then show/strike the following day at JW Marriott Marquis in Miami. Our set consisted of two widescreens on each side of a center stage to allow for rear projection. The stage was dressed with tropical foliage to match the green colors of the GMCC logo and branding.

We provided multiple cameras for IMAG, displaying three different shots for the presenters on stage and key shots of people in the audience. David Lawrence Jr., Chair of The Children’s Movement of Florida and retired Miami Herald publisher, was this year’s award recipient. He sat with his wife at a table front and center, so we made sure we had a good angle to show him while he stood up to be acknowledged.

We also provided pipe and drape with up-lighting to dress the stage along with general stage wash and an audio complement suitable for the ballroom filled with 300+ attendees.

We pre-recorded the first segment of the show and fed it back into a viewing platform for the virtual audience to watch while the in-person audience ate dinner. After dinner, our webstream operator was able to showcase two virtual presenters on both screens to interact with our live host on stage. We tested this ahead of time, and our A-1 ensured everything was programmed properly to enable the two-way communication.

We always welcome any opportunity to produce hybrid events such as these; not only does it allow us to demonstrate our usual in-person AV offerings, but we can do so while reaching a much larger audience.

Thank you to everyone at GMCC for trusting us with this event once again!