We often get asked what we can do in our studios and it’s rare that something comes up that we haven’t seen here in some form or another.

Like most months February and March were busy and varied in both studios. Here we describe just some of the jobs we have helped out with in order to provide a glimpse of what you can achieve in our fabulous studios.

The best way is to show you in the words and links below.

Meet The Adebanjo’s

Once again we welcomed our favourite pan-African TV sitcom producers Debra Odutuyo and Andrew Osayemi the creators of ‘Meet the Adebanjos.’ They were here to film some greenscreen in our smaller soundproof studio 2.

The show tells the story of an old-fashioned Nigerian Dad’s struggle to instil his African values in his black British household. – http://www.meettheadebanjos.com/

MTA is mainly broadcast on free to air TV across Europe and the African continent since 2011. It was recently ranked as the number 2 sitcom in South Africa and so far they have made 50 episodes over three series.

Most if not all of MTA has been filmed in south London. It’s a tribute to the determination of the indie film-maker. We’re glad we have been able to help a little along the way.

 

 

Bonzie Music Video

Once again we worked with Director Rob Chandler who once again was making a video for American artist BONZIE., see the last video they made together – As The Surface Rose (Official Video). We helped out providing a small team of DoP, 1^st AC, DIT and sourcing a Jib and crew.

We cant tell you what we filmed but it involved A LOT of time in make-up, greenscreen and this ….

From across the pond!

Three days earlier we helped co-produce a job that was about 180º different from the Bonzie Job as is possible.

The Director flew in from the US to film participants from the UK. They were filming a TV panel type show where Doctors talked about some specific issues. The show is put together for US Pharmaceutical Astellas and made available to subscribed Doctors and clinicians.

Our role was to recruit the crew of DOP and three cameras, sound for five, DIT, build a set, organise all the lighting and set up three 50” confidence monitors for the panellists. This show also marked the first time we had seriously tested the extensive acoustic improvements we have been making over the past few months.

 

Jazz & Blues TV

Here’s a good thing – good music!

Jazz & Blues TV were in to film a pilot episode for their planned online TV show. They used the studio in a simple blacked out configuration with a few lights and the simplest of sets. Here’s a photo.

As we say – Nice Music indeed.

 

We always try to be FUN, FRIENDLY & FLEXIBLE.

020 7737 0007
[email protected]

www.camberwellstudios.co.uk

 

  by Lee Ali – Founder/Managing Director of Expo Stars 

Engaging visitors and creating a positive first impression at exhibitions is a fine art, and when executed badly can have a huge negative impact on the exhibitor’s ROI.

One of the most effective ways to attract and engage visitors at exhibitions is to outsource external booth staff from a specialist talent or staffing agency.

This process can either be an excellent investment helping Exhibition and Marketing Managers meet their ROI, or it can be the making of a bad nightmare, producing next to nothing for your hard-earned marketing dollar and causing you endless tension during the exhibition.

Based on our extensive experience of staffing over 3000 exhibitions worldwide since 2007, we would like to share with you the key criteria you need to consider, to select the right people for the right tasks, and manage them effectively during the effect to help you get the most out of your investment.

Please note that we use the term “booth staff” to collectively describe Booth Hosts/Hostesses, Brand Ambassadors, Spokesmodels, Narrators, Presenters, Emcees, Lead Generators, Sales Staff, Crowd Gatherers and Interpreters/Translators.

 

Choose the right staff agency to work with:

As an Exhibit Manager, it is important that you shop around and get the best value for money staffing option available, to meet your budgetary requirements; however, quality must not be compromised for the cheapest quotation. Going for the low cost option can often prove to be very expensive in the long term.

To select the right agency, you should be asking the following questions as a very minimum before settling on the agency to work with you:

• If an agency is offering a very cheap rate to you, imagine what the agency will be paying their staff? Are the staff going to be motivated to work at your stand for an amount sometimes less than minimum wage?

A well-paid booth staffer means that they are motivated, happy and willing to go the extra smile to help you achieve your objectives.

• What is the agency’s staff selection process? Do they give you any options to choose the staff or do they send whoever is available on their database?

Always ask to see profiles of available staff and if necessary ask to interview them by telephone or even Skype video to determine if they are the right people to help you meet your objectives.

• How many people do they have on their database and how do they recruit them? An agency that claims to have 20,000 people on their books does not always have quality measures at the top of their recruitment policy.

It is worth asking the agency what their recruitment criteria is so that you can determine if the quality of staff is important to them versus the quantity of their staff database.

• What is the agency’s back-up policy if the selected Promotion Staff go off sick or they do not show up?

A good agency will have an account manager on standby during the event to find you a replacement within a reasonable timescale should any emergencies arise.

 

Select the right staff for the specific tasks you need doing on the stand.

Exhibitors often make the mistake of selecting booth staff for their looks and first impressions based on their profile photos and images. Taking time to check staff credentials closely and interviewing prospective candidates can help you choose the right staff to fit in with your company brand, your internal staffing team and your objectives and key tasks.

There are four key tasks that can be executed by external staff at any exhibition stand are:

• Hospitality
• Proactive Attendee Engagement
• Product Demonstration /Presenting.
• Data Capture

As you would do for internal company recruitment, determine what kind of person you are looking for, what their role/objectives will be at the event and how they will work with your team. Communicate this to your selected agency and ask them to find you the candidates that fit your selection criteria.

The key criteria you need to consider before selecting your booth staff:

• What kind of experience and qualifications does the candidate have?
• If it is an international event, do they speak the right languages?
• Does their physical appearance complement your brand?
• Have they worked in your specific industry sector before?
• What kind of personality do they have?
• How long have they been working for that agency?
• What was their previous feedback from any exhibition type work?

 

Book well in advance

If you are booking booth staff to deliver a marketing message and increase the footfall to your stand then why leave such an important task until the very last minute? If you want to execute a successful attendee engagement strategy, then you need to start preparing at least 3-4 months in advance.

By booking booth staff at the very last minute, you will have a limited number of staff choices, the staff will not have time to prepare, and you risk no-shows as there might be communication issues between you, the agency and the respective booth staff.

All the best staff are booked 2-3 months in advance. The very best professionals are booked 6-12 months in advance. So, get your orders in early!

Provide appropriate staff training and briefing before the event.

To achieve positive results from booth staff you need to prepare them accordingly in line with your exhibiting objectives.

When you hire external staff, you need to provide them with a clear schedule or briefing document that contains clear objectives and tasks.

 

 

1. This schedule or briefing should be communicated to all selected staff at least 7 days prior to the event.
2. Schedule must contain detailed information about onsite contact names, dress code, objectives, job roles, exhibitor USP’s, any promotions at event and your expectations from the staff. If there are scripts to be learned, then you should send these at least 1 month in advance.
3. Make time for a training/briefing session with your team 1 day before or a minimum 2 hours before the show starts. For presenters, you should arrange a rehearsal a day before the event.
4. Make the sales information simple and clear to understand– try to focus the booth staff on asking qualification questions to visitors to find out if your services are relevant to them, and give them 3-5 USP “Wow” statements to communicate to visitors. The key is to engage visitors in conversation qualify them and move them on to the next stage of the sales process.

 

Effective Onsite Staff Management

The key to a successful day on the show floor is to ensure that you manage the promotional staff on the stand in a motivational manner and create a positive working atmosphere. Just because they are external agency staff doesn’t mean that you can shout at them, demean them, linger at them, try to chat them up, or be just plain rude to them. They are people too, with feelings, just like you. All they ask is for you to treat them with respect, and professional courtesy in a business-like manner.

You should treat external booth staff as part of your stand team; praise them for their hard work, and ensure that they get some breaks to recharge their batteries. A debrief them at the end of each day is recommended to ask for their feedback on how things went for them. They will see and hear things that your team may not be aware of on the show floor and can give you some vital

information about your prospects, customers or even competitors so you need to give them a platform to communicate these things to your company.

One of the biggest staff management issues at the booth/stand is promotional staff receiving directions from multiple managers present at the exhibition stand, these sometimes being contradictory directions to what they have been previously given. This causes confusion, misdirection and unnecessary tension between the booth staff and the exhibitor staff.

To avoid this issue, nominate just ONE internal person to be the main point of contact for all external staff to avoid any conflicts of interest and communicate this to all internal staff so that they know who oversees the promotion team to avoid any conflicts of interest.

About Expo Stars:

Expo Stars is an exhibiting performance agency. We ensure your stand is staffed with highly trained, highly qualified, professionals who can not only make a positive first impression for your brand but also attract and engage the right people and pre-qualify them, so that your internal company staff can spend the time talking to real prospects.

www.expostars.com
[email protected]
Tel: +44 161 834 9478

Hiring a film studio no longer has to put you out of a budget and can take your production to the next level.Converting your home into a professional sounding and looking studio is now history too.

Considering that studios nowadays offer you everything you need for your film production.

 

 

Green Screen

So what is a green screen? Well, firstly it’s the basis of all special effects, from your favourite movies and even the weather forecast. The technology behind it is actually pretty simple, your background is either green or blue and later on, in post production, you can use a software that will help you transform the background.

You can buy green screens at electronic stores and even eBay, but they are really expensive and require a lot of care and space. So why not hire a film studio that is equipped with a green screen for a more cost effective approach?

White Cyc

White cyc? Sounds like a super technical term but quite simply describes a large curtain or wall. Those are always flat and mostly curved at the bottom too for a smooth look – like if there is no ending. White cyc can be used for many different purposes such as photo shoots or music video productions.

If your upcoming production requires one of those backgrounds, your best option is to hire a studio with a white cyc. Film studios don’t just offer different backgrounds, but often much more that can come in useful.

Studio vs Home

We understand that a home studio can be more convenient at times, but does convenience equal best quality? Not always. Hiring a studio that is fully equipped with lighting, video, audio and post production equipment and even staff that can help you out if needed, can be of such importance. It’s a cost-effective solution, considering that film studios are equipped with everything you need.

Additionally, if you pick our studio for your upcoming project we can even offer you a camera hire service through our sister company Aim Image.

The Camden Studio

Located in central London, The Camden Studio offers a fully soundproofed and air-conditioned studio space for hire, equipped with a green room, make-up facilities, and a production office.

The Studio accommodates all lighting requirements and in association with Aimimage & Ice Film, offers exclusive combined studio hire packages with camera equipment and complete crewing service when required. For more information visit our website.

When I was younger, (cue the nostalgic music) shopping was very much a physical experience. A slow meander into my leafy town centre was a highlight of my Saturday afternoon as it was filled with a plethora of sights and smells.

My favourite weekend haunt was a sleepy little model shop, which stocked WWI & WWII self-assembly kits of replica Boats, Planes, and Tanks.  I spent many a Saturday afternoon in there spending all my hard earned pocket money.

But today’s generation has witnessed the rapid rise of the “mega mall” encompassing major Towns & Cities somewhat quashing and ousting these type of shops from our high streets. The modern shopping experience as we know it has become a conformed, Americanised “all under one roof” environment.

So what about all those wonderful bespoke specialist shops? Where have they gone? The perception to the untrained eye is that these have all but vanished and today’s generation is sadly missing out. But it seems that these unique bazaars and Aladdin’s caves have only disappeared from our High Streets and not our lives.

The internet has taken the place of the High Street and become a haven for the virtual shopper offering even more unique and wonderful retail experiences. Successful online retail entrepreneurs have realised that to survive and thrive in a tough market the switch to an online presence is the only way forward and with the massive increase of E-commerce, online marketplaces, and support services at hand, business is booming.

Last year, E-commerce was classed as the fastest growing retail market in Europe, with the UK reported online sales for 2016 being in the region of £60.04Bn, a 14.9% growth on 2015.

This statistic shows that independent retailers no longer need to have a physical presence on the High Street as the digital generation still prefers to shop in those unique shops albeit from the comfort of their homes. Supporting industries and services have underpinned this as they are now more than capable to offer help, fulfil and facilitate any online retailers need to any suit any capacity.

QMS offers a full support package for the online retailer. We ensure that the key aspects of secure storage, Pick’n’Pack excellence and strong communications and systems free our clients up to do what they do best i.e. develop their businesses.

With a 10,000sq ft. fully monitored 24/365 secure warehouse based just off the A3 in Guildford, the QMS Pick & Pack service can offer the following to any growing online retailer business:

 

• Easy systems integration – scalable and flexible, quick set-up and management
• Ability to fulfil single orders, consignments and pallets
• A wide understanding of many different market sectors and product types
• A comprehensive range of competitive postal and courier rates
• Experienced and dedicated operations team ensures a quick and professional service

To Find out more about our Pick & Pack fulfilment service solution and how we can support your online retail business you can get in contact by emailing us at [email protected] or fill in our online contact form http://www.quantum-marketing-services.co.uk/contact-us/ or call +44 (0)1483 863 300 to speak to one of our team.