RMIT Open Doors Global Activation
Since we share the same trail blazing philosophy, RMIT often calls on design&deliver to produce unique, large scale, elaborate events – such as city-wide student parades and leadership forums – that are beyond the scope of their in-house production team.
event typeOpen Days
event locationCBD Campus, Melbourne
# event staff24
Event video
The Story
Brief
Approach
Outcome
In 2017, RMIT approached design&deliver with arguably the most ambitious brief we’ve ever undertaken. They wanted us to showcase the university’s global reach to students with an interactive, live-streaming pop-up in four countries across the world… simultaneously!
What became known as ‘Open Doors’ was a live video activation that brought together prospective Australian and overseas students to demonstrate the university’s global network. Using a custom-made, free-standing door as a portal, students in Melbourne were able to interact with those from Vietnam, USA and Canada in real time.
For an event activation of this scale, design&deliver sent different production teams to Ho Chi Min, San Francisco and Vancouver – while synchronising local production and support crew in Melbourne and each overseas location.
We spent endless hours developing three identical and completely mobile live-cross rigs for the overseas locations. This involved customising DSLR cameras for two-way video monitoring, coordinating stable and cost-effective HD internet connectivity and all audio elements. The entire project was managed from a Melbourne-based command bunker that could have been mistaken for NASA’s Mission Control.
We designed and constructed three bespoke doors for the Melbourne campuses that created a unique portal to the international sites – each housing oversized 9:16 ratio LCD screens, with audio and visual elements that could be controlled from our Australia base.
All overseas logistics, including transport, accommodation and visas, were taken care of and we provided event management and onsite venue support on behalf of RMIT at each international location.
After months of pre-planning and testing, we were more prepared than a team of boy scouts! And, once we hit the go-button for the first simultaneous live-cross we delivered eight consecutive hours of HD audio and visual broadcast across all locations.
To coordinate all these necessary elements was a massive responsibility, which required all of our technical expertise and creative thinking. Considering the scale of the operation and the final budget that we were able to realise RMIT’s vision for, we are super proud of this project.
“I want to express my gratitude to design&deliver for all your hard work on the RMIT Open Day Doors activation. This was a huge project which has come together because of the dedication and enthusiasm of so many. We have already received so much positive feedback about the project, including from Victorian competitors who are very jealous of the unique idea. Without the team at design&deliver this unique idea would not have become a reality. Thanks again D&D!"
Sandra Scalzo, Assistant Director, Marketing and Recruitment Engagement & Vocational Education
