Themed as "Shaping the Energy Future: Partners in sustainable solutions", the congress featured significant global participation and dealing with communication barriers was just one of the challenges faced by the technical team onsite.
Having secured preferred supplier status with ITE for the WPC Congress, Gearhouse started fielding technical enquiries from exhibitors around the world from as early as June and ended up supplying 25 stands with plasma screens, cube walls, DVD players, audio systems and exhibition lighting in the exhibition areas, as well as lighting, power and trussing in the Ballrooms.
The main ballroom opened with the congress in the morning and then was partitioned off into three breakaway rooms during the day, requiring the lighting and trussing design to have the same capabilities. For a cleaner look, trussing was hung off 6mm steel cable rather than chain hoists and configured in a series of box trusses with each truss carrying a separate lighting system to service the individual breakaway room.
The lighting also accommodated the Spanish design for the Closing Ceremony which opened with a South African act and featured a symbolic handover to the Spanish team which will be hosting the next World Petroleum Congress.
Three levels of exhibitors for the 18th World Petroleum Congress kept Gearhouse SA's Project Managers Helen Surgeson and Catherine Landry busy over the duration of first South African-hosted World Petroleum Congress at the Sandton Convention centre between 25th and 29th September.
