In 2007 our Company has worked at the XI St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). Within the shortest possible time we have set up and put into maintenance a television studio to provide the Forum with comprehensive broadcasts using 7 internal information television channels. These contained live broadcasts of all Forum major events some of which were repeated later. In addition, we constantly broadcast all main news, announcements and advertising promo reels.

Having become a good St Petersburg tradition, the XI SPIEF has taken place at the LenExpo exhibition centre – the state-of-the-art modern facility fitted with advanced equipment. It has run for three days starting on 6 and ending on 8 June 2007. The Forum’s main organizers were the Ministry for Economic Development & Trade, the Federation Union of Russia, and the St Petersburg municipal authorities.

As the major summit between the Russian Federation and the CIS member countries, the SPIEF core objectives have entailed further development of partnerships between the leading nations of the world community, as well as discussions and debate of a range of topical issues of both political and economic nature.

The chief principle used in organization of St Petersburg Forums is an atmosphere of trust, friendship and respect among all its guests and participants who come to join ranks in discussions aimed at finding the right solutions to political and economic questions. The actual results achieved as a result of these Forums are most important accomplishments, but while such events take place, a great deal of attention must be paid to the comfort of their attendees. It is to be expected that work schedules of many guests can be extremely busy. That is why it was deemed necessary to set up an appropriate TV network which would not only inform all Forum participants about all major events taking place, but also provide their live broadcasting on air with no delays.

The internal television system was chosen as the main information source for the Forum guests, and our Company was invited to develop and implement this. The XI SPIEF Foundation entrusted us with the task of setting up the vital live broadcasting network.

According to an outline the Forum administration presented to us, the broadcast was to be made via 7 internal television channels, some of which were also used for repeating of programs that reflected the major events held as these unfolded. Each broadcast was accompanied by advanced graphics, including the text crawls displayed in both English and Russian languages. These were put into effect by using the ATLAS graphic station technology which in turn operated on the basis of sophisticated software. Its use allowed us to bring into play a range of graphics and text crawls informing the viewers about the Forum’s breaking news and key events.

A specially designated 6th channel was used as an internal television network that broadcast an international program formed by the VGTRK (Russian State Television & Radio Channel). While in operation, it was also supported by the ATLAS graphics and text crawls.

The 7th channel was mostly utilized for broadcasting of all latest events concerning the SPIEF that took place outside its plenary halls, such as arrivals of the VIP guests, interviews with key speakers, advertising materials supplied by sponsors and other relevant info about St Petersburg and its vicinity.

All events broadcast on internal TV channels were accompanied with simultaneous translation for all major languages. The viewers were given the IR receivers that allowed them to choose and listen to the right language channels. Their numbers were reflected together with other relevant information on the screens.

The Forum guests and participants were welcome to watch all events on the large plasma screens installed all around the LenExpo. These were also present at the Forum Press Centre, the Registration Hall, in front of many plenary halls and in many other locations.

The SPIEF working schedule was compiled to split the sessions in each hall with breaks, giving their participants enough time for rest, coffee, lunch and dinner breaks, and so on. The pauses occurring in between the Forum’s main events would be filled by broadcasts of previous sessions, the current schedule and other relevant info. In addition to this, a number of announcements would be shown advertising not only the forthcoming events, but also those taking place in town: music and dramatic theatrical shows, concerts, film screenings, entertainment programs, various excursions around the city centre and its environs, etc.

Having studied the details of the technical agreement concluded with the SPIEF Foundation, our specialists have set about installing their equipment. It took us three days to accomplish this purpose, mostly because the TV complex had to have been set up virtually from scratch.

The television studio was located inside the 6th pavilion of the LenExpo Exhibition facility on the ground floor next door to the SPIEF Press Centre. The studio was split in two parts: one for broadcasting, another for editing.

This contained three workstations for use by an operator, an editor and a program director. According to the Forum schedule, he/she would form all 7 television channels by

• switching all incoming signals received from the plenary halls;
• broadcasting all previously recorded materials of conferences, working sessions, business meetings, round tables, etc. on the basis of video servers;
• renewing the newsreels every two hours with a view to broadcast these during the informative advertising programs.

Each operating workstation was meant for simultaneous work with two TV channels. This was made possible, thanks to various features of the our program software operating in accordance with the Forum schedule

Besides, the XI Forum schedule was compiled in such a way as to make breaks between the sessions some of which might have lasted from 1 to 1,5 hours. Therefore, these would not always be broadcast on air immediately, thus permitting to redistribute some duty assignments between the staff more efficiently and at the same time work with fewer employees. In fact, only 9 of them were actually involved operating 7 TV channels, while, as practice shows, some other TV companies might have used in similar circumstances as many as 50 employees in order to produce one television program.

In the broadcasting studio facility an editor was stationed preparing appropriate textual information to be accompanied by the ATLAS graphic designs to go on air. Thanks to ATLAS, the majority of text crawls would appear on screen automatically. However, certain elements (e.g. captions for speakers) were managed manually. The automated appearance of graphics on screen was stipulated in technical clauses of the contract. For formation of graphics we had to use patterns which included configurations and duration of display of the various information blocks, as well as pauses between their repeated appearances on air. Later the program editor filled these patterns with the relevant information.

The graphics consisted of text crawls (including relevant data about the XI SPIEF schedule that appeared in two languages), the current captions accompanying speeches made by the key participants, the Forum logo, certain pieces of information about the events to be broadcast: their exact time, numbers and locations of halls from where they were transmitted, etc. An important requirement has been to provide the regular displays and/or hiding of texts. These would reveal the names and digits of channels which carried out the simultaneous interpretation of events. All other Forum-related data was displayed on screen at all times, informing participants about the forthcoming announcements and other events taking place in St Petersburg on that day.

This cutting-edge facility was used for making television programs of the 7th Information and Advertisement Channel, as well as for recording and cutting of six television signals coming from all Forum’s plenary and conference halls, with additional ones received from the VGTRK On Air Broadcasting Studio. We have used an AVID non-linear editing station for news editing and playing of advertisement blocks. For recording and editing of materials received through the other six channels we have used the EVS LSM-XT videoservers. A constant exchange of information went on between the AVID station and EVS servers, including video clip files. This allowed us to use many of these for future archive and storage.

We have invited an experienced TV operator to ensure production of quality work who was to film many episodes at the XI SPIEF venue as well as outside it. For instance, a number of episodes were shot around St Petersburg, at Pulkovo international airport, etc. These information blocks would be renewed every couple of hours as soon as the operator delivered the filmed materials to the studio where our specialists would edit them to select appropriate footage for broadcast.

Thanks to the presentation of all relevant information in such an efficient manner, all participants and reporters could follow all the major events as these went on. They could also know their accurate location, exact starting time, quantity and names of key speakers, other attendees, etc. Everyone could easily watch any event from any Forum location on large plasma screens.

The use of an internal television has achieved an important two-fold objective. First of all, it has led to a significant reduction in both event participants and their viewers. On the other hand, the new technologies allowed the media work far more efficiently (e.g. a journalist coming late for a session might be denied admission to a hall where it took place; however, he/she would still be able to watch it on plasma screens in a nearby vicinity). By the same token, some Forum guests observed and followed the specific sessions they were interested in without interrupting their lunch or dinner breaks.

Another essential accomplishment we have achieved was a development of an archive for storage of recorded information. Later it could be given to those who wanted to review it, the archive itself being handed to the Foundation at the end of the Forum. The fragments of broadcasts were later sent to companies whose management and key employees were accredited at the Forum. For instance, quite a few reporters used many of these archive materials as they reviewed and analyzed the Forum’s key events. In addition, some materials were also made available on Internet at the Forum’s official website. On request, some could be presented as a tape or a DVD.

The modern complex created by us has already become an advanced one not only in Russia, but all over the world. In fact, there had been previous experience of direct broadcast of materials recorded during past vital events. However, on many occasions, only one television channel would be utilized to provide few selected text crawls informing of the forthcoming events or broadcasting the most significant sessions live on air.

In the light of these facts, the newest technologies we have developed and implemented turned out to be of great interest to many Russian and foreign TV companies. For example, as soon as the XI SPIEF was over, several workstations were purchased by Moscow-based TV channels: RBC (Russian Business Consulting) and 7TV sport channel.