Wilson Alers (left) & Oscar Colom, co-founder (right)

In partnership with Revlon and CND, Media Stage produced and served as Master Control for the virtual education summit “Nailathon” for salon professionals, nail technicians and beauty enthusiasts of all kinds on October 5th. The event was attended by roughly 5,000 viewers who all actively participated in a diverse agenda of both training and entertainment.

Some highlights of the event included CEO of CND Jan Arnold introducing new product lines, professional techs performing live demos, a “Next Top Nail Artist” awards ceremony and interactive insight from CND brand ambassadors all over the globe. There was an ongoing live chat for viewers to react to the content and interact with one another.

Jan Arnold Regarding technical execution, we utilized two live studios: our onsite studio and a studio in Los Angeles that was local to Jan. We dressed our studio with a surround-style green screen to display a main event graphic as the backdrop for our talent. Barb Fogelman, Revlon North America Director of Education, cohosted from our studio along with Global Education Director Roxanne Valinoti who was remote from New York.

In advance of the event, we sent Roxanne one of our “Virtual Home Kits” to achieve the same polished look and green screen effect that we had in our onsite studio. When we took the shot of Barb and Roxanne together, it appeared as if they were in the same location with a split screen showing complementary sides of the event logo backdrop.

Roxanne Valinoti (left) & Barb Fogelman (right) Whether it was remote presenters, award winners, or Jan and her team in the LA studio – our TD switched between live shots, graphics, videos, etc. and framed them based on the run of show and how the conversations and demos played out. This entire show was 100% truly live with no pre-recorded sessions, so two full days of tech checks and rehearsals ahead of time were absolutely necessary.

Just as we had a live champagne toast (complete with virtual confetti) to conclude the event on show day, we would like to toast the entire team at Revlon and CND. Jan, Barb, Roxanne and CND Shows and Events Manager Elizabeth McKenna all did a phenomenal job visualizing this event and bringing it to life virtually. It is no small feat to make that transition from what would have normally been an in-person show; we applaud all their hard work and commitment to a production of the highest quality!