Thousands of concerned citizens and dignitaries met in Montreal, Quebec recently for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The Conference gathered approximately 10,000 government delegates, business and civic leaders and environmental activists. This eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 11) was the largest ever and was held in conjunction with the very first session of the Conference of the Parties (re Kyoto Protocol) in Japan.
AVW-TELAV played an important role in this gathering, supplying a full range of services:♦ Simultaneous Interpretation
♦ Audio Visual
♦ Name Handling Systems
♦ Webcasting (a dedicated room was built for onsite encoding - rarely done!)
♦ Multiple Sound Distribution Centers (MSDC)
♦ Digital Recording
AVW-TELAV was contracted to provide services for two plenary rooms, each requiring translation for six official UN languages (English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese). Between the two rooms over 800 Digimic microphones were required. The plenary rooms were provided with a Name Handling System (customized to UN specifications), to better manage proceedings. A Line Array Sound System was installed in plenary room one, while a Meyer Sound System was installed in plenary room two. Each plenary room had two 16' x 20' screens with double converged Barco projectors.
There was a large media component which required a total of 32 MSDCs to broadcast the English, French and Floor languages from both the plenary rooms and the press conference area to the media work area. In order to assist the media to listen to the negotiations and the press conference area, it was required to broadcast all languages from the three rooms for a total of 19 channels over our infrared receivers. Over 3,000 infrared receivers were required to execute the event.
Approximately 100 monitors and plasmas were provided so the sessions were viewable throughout the Palais des Congrès de Montréal.
All plenary sessions and press conference theatres were broadcasted live in English, French and Floor languages.
Simultaneous Interpretation was provided in five of the 25 workshops. Over 600 Digimic microphones were placed throughout the 25 meeting rooms and several of these rooms had to be digitally recorded. Data projectors were provided in all 25 workshops for PowerPoint presentations.
AVW-TELAV staffed a total of 55 Technical Service Representatives to install and execute the plans - all had to be accredited by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
"We would like to extend our gratitude to the whole team that assisted us with all issues regarding conference technology before and during the conference. Your personal commitment to the success of the conference greatly facilitated our task," said Salwa Dallalah, Manager, and Conference Affairs Services for the United Nations, UNFCCC Secretariat from Bonn, Germany.
The Chief Facilities and Operations section of the Canadian Climate Change Secretariat, Jacques Joly, commented: "Without the technical knowledge, competence and dedication of the lead staff of AVW-TELAV the overall success of the conference could have been quite different, particularly given the limited time frame and pressures to deliver this international event in Canada".
This was a truly world class event, hosting delegates from approximately 189 countries and AVW-TELAV was there bridging communication by providing extensive audio and visual solutions.