February 2010

International Conference

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

After successfully completing the Fifth Summit of the Americas (VSOA) event, the AVW-TELAV team was back in Trinidad and Tobago to provide the technology for the prestigious Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Trinidad and Tobago is a geographically small Caribbean nation and one of the world's leading gas producers.

With the opening speech given by Queen Elizabeth II, CHOGM 2009 brought together leaders of the 53 Commonwealth member nations who discussed such topics as the world's economic crisis, the admission of new members, climate change and the holding of the Commonwealth Games. Under the direction of Henry Derix, Director, Technical Development, 25 technical specialists installed and operated equipment for:

• 16 meeting rooms on two cruise ships;
• several meeting rooms for the Finance Ministers meetings;
• two press conference rooms at the Media Centre;
• and the main activities at the Hyatt Regency Hotel/Convention Centre.


The gear arrived in Trinidad in a cargo aircraft loaded with 705 pieces of equipment, weighing almost 60,000 lbs.

Once the equipment arrived in Port of Spain, the country's capital, several pieces were taken by ferry over to the island of Tobago for the start of the Commonwealth Youth Forum, which was one of the highlights of CHOGM 2009. The spectacular opening ceremony held at the Vanguard Hotel was enthusiastically received by over 170 delegates and invited guests. AVW-TELAV provided the lighting and audio for this event. Generators had to be brought in to deal with the extra demand for electricity to power the AV requirements.

Audio and lighting were provided during formal meetings, executive sessions, dinners, and the Gala event. AVW-TELAV also supplied simultaneous interpretation equipment for a highly-publicized press conference—translated in French and English— held by the French President.

Ensuring the success of the event, AVW-TELAV partnered with Landry & Kling, a global cruise resource for corporate event planners, independent meeting planners, incentive companies, special event and production companies, and its sister company Seasite.com, which provides meeting-friendly search criteria for over 250 ships and 35 cruise brands.

"Joyce Landry and the entire team were impressed with the invaluable AV production services your company provided onboard the ships during the recent CHOGM event in Trinidad," said Maureen McKeon, a representative of Seasite. "Thanks again for all your hard work in Trinidad that helped make both VSOA and CHOGM successful events!"

For more information about Seasite, visit its website .