Building a “Adaptive room” Experience in San Francisco
Every once in a while, we’re handed a project that pushes us to the absolute edge of our creativity and precision. A few months back, a pharmaceutical client asked us to bring their bold vision to life in a San Francisco ballroom — and it turned into one of the most challenging and rewarding events we’ve ever produced.
The Idea
Picture this: five different presenters, each on their own stage, inside a giant LED box. Guests were seated in swivel chairs, able to turn and follow the action from one stage to the next.
When one speaker wrapped up, they introduced the next. The LED content swept around the walls in their direction, and the audio shifted zones — creating a subtle “wind effect” that literally pulled the sound toward the next stage. The room itself seemed to rotate, guiding the audience naturally from one presentation to the next.
It was elegant, it was immersive, and it was… a huge technical mountain to climb.
The Challenges Inside the Room
The ballroom was beautiful, but far from production-friendly. Chandeliers, decorative walls, and limited rigging points forced us to get creative with every inch of truss and every motor. To pull it off, we had to build five distinct PA zonesthat didn’t bleed into each other while still keeping the sound natural and seamless.
“It was like playing 3D chess,” one of our audio engineers said. “Each zone had to be perfectly tuned — one wrong move and the illusion would break.”
And remember: this wasn’t a sprawling convention center — it was a relatively small ballroom packed with gear, LED, and staging. Precision wasn’t just important; it was everything.
The Challenges Outside the Room
If the technical hurdles weren’t enough, logistics nearly stole the show. This event required six full semi-trucks of equipment. The catch? Downtown San Francisco doesn’t allow semis anywhere near the venue.
Our solution was unconventional but effective: we rented a cul-de-sac from the city, parked the semis there, and spent an entire day transferring gear into smaller box trucks. Over 20 box truck runs later, everything finally made it into the ballroom.
“I’ll never forget looking down that cul-de-sac,” one crew lead joked. “It looked like a parade of box trucks lined up one after another — like rush hour, but on our terms.”
And after the show, we had to do it all over again to load out.
“By the 15th run, we were running on caffeine and pure adrenaline,” another tech laughed. “But the client never saw any of it — which is exactly how it should be.”
The Payoff
By the time the first presenter took the stage, every late night and logistical headache was worth it. The audience was completely drawn in by the format — swiveling naturally, following the content, and experiencing a flow unlike anything they’d seen before.
“You could see the lightbulbs go off in people’s heads,” one stage manager recalled. “They weren’t just watching a show — they were inside it.”
The client’s vision was daring, but the execution proved that with the right mix of planning, teamwork, and problem-solving, even the most complicated ideas can become seamless experiences.
At the end of the day, that’s what we love most about this work: taking on the impossible and making it look effortless.
