IR Magazine carries the world's best articles covering the investor relations' beat. Their annual awards - a series of prestigious black-tie events held around the world -- are the definitive measure of IR performance in their respective countries. The gala event awards companies and individuals who excel in a number of categories related to investor relations including corporate governance.

The seventh annual Canada Awards ceremony - attended by over 450 IR practitioners -- was held at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. AVW-TELAV was given free reign to design and implement all presentation concepts for the gala, and we decided to think big - as in "Big Band".

A ten-piece band, reminiscent of the late thirties "big band" era, was made the centerpiece for the evening. Not only did the band provide uplifting, energetic entertainment, it was also incorporated into the show's proceedings. For example, the band was used for live stingers and the bandleader frequently engaged in banter with the MC. The main challenge in going with the band concept was in having to work around the constraints of a narrow room.

Instead of squeezing in the band off to the side, we put them front and center, just as it was in the big band heyday. The MC and other presenters were set in front of the band avoiding having to delicately juggle space horizontally between band and presenter in a narrow room.

To highlight the sense of occasion, we employed pinspotting over each centerpiece on the dining tables. On the band we used spotlights, MAC Intelligent lighting, and scrollers for color changes on the set.

Sound was handled by a premium Meyer system and video was projected on two independently controlled screens.

The event, in which over 25 awards were handed out, was a big success. In fact, participants and IR conference planners were so enthused, they completely changed the New York Awards Gala - which was being held less than 30 days later -- to mimic what was done in Canada.