LMG brought the Salt Palace Convention Center to life for Qualtrics X4: The Experience Management Summit. We spoke with Kris Rodriguez, the lead lighting designer, about how he leveraged LMG’s innovative technology and services to transform the venue into an incredible experience through flawless execution.

“The full scope was to deliver a lighting package to support all expo-related properties across seven different expo halls at the Salt Palace Convention Center. These were divided into about five area zones based on different themes, such as XM Park customer meeting areas, partner exhibits, brand districts, and ending with theater breakout sessions,” explained Rodriguez. “The main objective was to transform the space into an artistic creative element without utilizing any house lighting.”

“The Sparks design team did outstanding work producing renders and 3d models in the pre-production phase. Our main goal was to support their creative vision by ensuring their digital creation would translate accurately to reality. The aesthetic they had developed with the Qualtrics team was an urban, street-style look. We incorporated extensive scaffolding with large banners and graphics mounted to it, reminiscent of what you might see on the side of a building downtown. Our aim was to accentuate the industrial look while maintaining a clean, polished appearance.”

“The majority of our fixtures were LED driven instruments which expresses how far the technology has come. With our main fixtures being the Robe iFortes and Esprites, the shutter capabilities of these fixtures allowed us to frame kiosks and signage quickly and consistently. We also used some of the newer GLP X5 bars to create visual effects around focal elements in the expo area.”

“Beyond moving lights, LED lekos were used to pin spot each of the meeting rooms and highlight the hallways in those spaces. The small size and wide wash of the Nitro 510Cs helped to discreetly backlight signage on scaffolding without the need for additional overhead rigging. On the networking end, LMGs new Agora network kits tied the various control areas together and allowed us to combine multiple VLANs into a single truncated network. This was far more efficient than running multiple individual lines for different networks.”

Rodriguez praised the Agora Fast2 networking switches as “the most innovative tool in the whole package,” noting their ability to “simplify the network needs” and “utilize fewer devices to connect everything together in different topologies without having any kind of conflicts.”

Achieving Seamless Execution

Meticulous planning was crucial for the multi-zone event. “We had a working deck that we could refer to with all the updated renders… that we were able to use to develop the floor plan and layout,” said Rodriguez.

The lighting team also created detailed documentation to streamline the process. “We created a lighting workbook that helped break down all relevant information into a single document, from scheduling to instrument cheat sheets, which became an excellent resource for such a large event,” Rodriguez explained.

Overcoming Challenges with Advanced Solutions

Integrating the lighting system across the entire convention space was a challenge. However, LMG’s support ensured smooth execution. “To describe scale, we had miles of power & data cable and there was a physical mile of truss in the room,” noted Rodriguez. “And of the hundreds of fixtures, only having to replace three of them is a really good feat.”

When hanging certain vertical lighting fixtures, LMG supported the team with a custom bracket solution.

“Having worked alongside LMG for many years, I’ve come to appreciate their exceptional support system. A great example was when we needed to hang Sceptrons vertically as chandeliers. We reached out to LMG’s Director of Lighting Systems Marc Cloutier for help with a custom bracket that would allow us to suspend them vertically without balance issues. Through his suggestions, we created a 3D printed prototype, tested it, and had the final brackets manufactured in time for the show,”

said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez expressed how everyone’s involvement was essential to their success, giving honorary mentions to their Sparks team and the LMG crew. “The other members of the Sparks lighting team included Ray Zwarich and Andy Lasseter who supporting the design and Jason Loesch as our Production Electrician. The LMG team included Josh Bailey, Stephen Barringer, Justin Mosher, Gary Curtis, and the dynamic duo Afton and Logan Gerring.”

“Given the scope of the work and time constraints we faced, their flexibility and experience were crucial in facilitating the full installation and bring everything together.”