WorldStage Marks 15th Year Providing AV Support Including 120 Channel Fiber Network for Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills

The Milken Institute Global Conference hosted the leading minds in business, technology, government, media, philanthropy, healthcare and entertainment as they presented novel, collaborative responses to the great questions of our time.  Speakers at The Beverly Hilton hotel ranged from IMF Chair Christine Lagarde to documentary filmmaker Abigail Disney.

As it has for the past fifteen years, WorldStage provided AV and lighting services for the event, which is legendary for its early-morning through late at night schedule, wide variety of events and very-high profile presenters and attendees. This year, the conference utilized the International Ballroom plus 12 presentation keynote stages as well as outdoor garden areas within the iconic property.  Each year this conference pushes technical boundaries and maximizes the use of every inch of space on property and this year WorldStage provided a platoon of 150 technicians to ensure the success of the four-day gathering.

“The team at WorldStage is dedicated to making this event a success, partnering with us to grow and evolve the conference to what it has become today.  They continue to introduce new technical solutions that not only add value but solve numerous challenges,” commented Larry Lesser, Senior Vice President, Creative Services at the Milken Family Foundation. 

The 2019 Conference required significant connectivity between all of the presentation areas so WorldStage built a central control area with a “hub and spoke” fiber distribution system. “In past years, we used three smaller self-contained systems instead of one central system,” says WorldStage Account Manager Richard Bevan.  “This time everything was centrally switched and distributed using a Ross Platinum router that provided better engineering oversight, while reducing labor costs.” 

The 120-channel fiber network, engineered and built in WorldStage’s Tustin, CA shop, “centralized feeds from more than a dozen cameras in the outlying rooms, provided record capturing and outgoing distribution to multiple display locations throughout the venue.” says Bevan. 

As the lead technology partner for the conference, WorldStage relies on its multi-disciplinary experience providing and managing a wide variety of audio, display and lighting systems. The International Ballroom design included a 50 x 13-foot Unilumin 3.9mm LED screen as well as two 16 x 9 side projection screens and four cameras for the live webcast.  The Pavilion and Wilshire Ballroom used Unilumin 3.9mm LED screens and Sony Broadcast cameras while an outdoor garden area for overflow audiences was equipped with an Absen 3.9mm LED screen. Christie HD20K projectors were used wherever projection was required.

A centralized, full-property intercom system based around Clearcom FreeSpeak II wireless units was used to keep the constant flow of communications necessary to wrangle 400+ presenters intact – a necessity for the event producers. WorldStage also provided all the broadcast lighting packages for the conference featuring a combination of ARRI LED fresnels and conventional fixtures.

Tami and Josh Lesser led the team at Vision Matrix Productions, which produced the event, and Larry Lesser at Milken Foundation provided executive oversight.  Dennis Menard was WorldStage’s overall project manager for the event and supervised 8 other project managers.