Commitment. Action. Accountability. Because every person matters.

Over 30,000 delegates, 40,000 room nights, 500 temporary staff, 2,000 volunteers and 3,000 media representing 140 countries met in Toronto, Ontario during the XVI International Aids Conference this past August. In fact, it is said, the only event that draws more media attention is the Olympics.

AVW-TELAV is well acquainted with events of this size and complexity. Not only have we provided audio visual, simultaneous interpretation, and logistics management solutions for past Olympics in Montreal, Lake Placid, Los Angeles, Calgary and Atlanta, we have also had the privilege of providing similar services to previous Aids conferences in Montreal and Vancouver. Needless to say, we were once again proud to provide technical support and expertise to the XVI International Aids Conference in Toronto.

The aim of the XVI International Aids Conference was to focus on the promises and progress made to scale-up treatment, care, and prevention. Conference sessions and activities were designed to engage all delegates in dialogue about strategies and initiatives to meet shared goals of expanded access to effective HIV treatment and prevention. Delegates were encouraged to use the International AIDS Conference as an opportunity to identify roadblocks and solutions, and develop a shared agenda for action. Participants from around the globe gathered in Toronto to share the latest evidence, ideas, and lessons learned in HIV/AIDS research, policies and programs.

Supporters and presenters during the conference included the Governor General of Canada - Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Bill and Melinda Gates, former President of the United States Bill Clinton, Alicia Keys, Richard Gere, and Steven Lewis (one of Canada's most respected commentators on social affairs, international development, and human rights).

The following is an overview of the event and AVW-TELAV's involvement:

Media Centre
The Media Centre was located in Hall C in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and consisted of one main press conference room and two smaller conference rooms. Although all press conference rooms had full audio visual support, the main press conference room was also set with video, lighting, and simultaneous interpretation equipment for three languages. To support the media's efforts to provide accurate and timely news to their native countries, we also provided the following solutions:
• closed-circuit video monitors to display the proceedings from the General Session and/or main press conference room to the entire Media Centre ;
• feeds to rebroadcast the audio into five languages;
• audio and video feeds from the host broadcaster to 52 media broadcast booths;
• 63 computers, 10 printers, and a local area network to accommodate 150 high-speed connections;

Opening Ceremonies
The Opening Ceremonies were held at the Rogers Centre. Here we provided 2,000 FM broadcast receivers for simultaneous interpretation into five languages. Audio feeds were also provided in each language and sent to the Media Centre at the Convention Centre.

General Session, Concurrent Sessions, and Skill Building Workshops
Some 6,000 delegates could view the General Session proceedings on five screens that projected PowerPoint, image magnification, and video playback. A Meyer's line array sound system was used for speeches and entertainment.

The four adjoining session rooms and the John Bassett Theatre (perhaps best known as the host venue for Canadian Idol) were used as overflow for the General Session.

Full audio visual support was provided in the 12 concurrent session and 11 workshop rooms. Rooms varied in size from 400-1000 people. The proceedings from all 23 session rooms were recorded digitally on CD.

Networking Area
Closed circuit video, PowerPoint, and audio feeds were provided for five overflow theaters in the Networking Area. These theatres displayed the sessions from the five largest session rooms, two floors below. Over 14,000 feet of cable was run in order to accomplish this, any feed was assignable to any of the overflow theatres, using a matrix switcher.

Speaker Ready Room
In the Speaker Centre, we installed some 50 computers, 10 printers, and a local area network to accommodate 90 high-speed connections. A crew of nine was on hand to assist presenters with previewing and editing their presentations.

All Concurrent Session rooms and Skill Building Workshop rooms were networked to the Speaker Ready Room using our Presentation Management system. All presentations were collected on-site and distributed electronically to each meeting room via a secure local area network.

Global Village
The Global Village was located in Hall A at the Convention Centre. This area housed exhibit booths, displays, and performance stages. AVW-TELAV provided full audio visual support for three meeting rooms and two performance stages.

Computer and network Support
AVW-TELAV provided all of the computer and network support for the conference, working closely with the Convention Centre's Communications department. In total, AVW-TELAV installed 371 computers, 121 printers, and 20 local area networks capable of handling a total of 398 high speed connections.

AVW-TELAV is proud to provide the communication tools to support dialogue aimed at controlling and preventing the global Aids epidemic. This conference was a monumental undertaking - for example, each day, we fielded a crew of more than 101 in order to run the show. And despite the daunting size and complexity of the event, the technical support provided by the AVW-TELAV team was flawless.