The Conundrum

Introducing St John’s School, Leatherhead. Every summer, the entire school, along with proud parents, gather for the biggest day of the year; a ceremony-style speech day followed by a ball to celebrate the leavers and achievers.

Like lots of schools and businesses, St John’s don’t have indoor capacity for 2,000 people. But they were very keen to make the most of the stunning school grounds and hold the event on site.

The outdoor area was large enough to house a 57-metre-long marquee. But the space was extremely narrow; not ideal for a large, multi-age audience all wanting the best seats in the house.

St John’s needed a way to engage 2,000 people and keep everyone’s eyes on the action. And, with their leaver’s ball planned for the same date, they needed a smart way to turn speech day into a gala night.

The Solution

With ever-decreasing attention spans and an audience ranging from aged 11 to 111 (ok, maybe not quite 111), we needed a way to make everyone feel as if they had front-row seats.

We know that real, in-the-moment engagement comes from seeing a speaker’s lips move and seeing emotion in their eyes, so we came up with the idea of installing lots of different cameras and screens and doing a live relay of close-up shots.

We built a stage (with disabled access) at one end of the marquee with 5 screens all the way down the centre. We used a mix of 3 different cameras – wide, side and close-up shot – and set up ‘in sync’ audio (AKA clever stuff with delays) so the speech lined up with the visuals for the 2,000 spectators.

The side-shot went down particularly well because it captured the excitement on pupil’s faces as they walked on stage.

Matt Turner

Founder, Clownfish Events

From speech day to sparkling night…

We had just 6 hours to turn the marquee into a spectacular space fit for a dinner and ball, so we pre-prepared all the rigging points for an efficient changeover. And when the screens came down, the lights went up.

This year’s theme was Las Vegas so we installed a bar, giant dice props and palm trees and even a baby grand piano. We organised a DJ, a live piano set and plenty of Clownfish games for a showstopping end to the school year.

The Outcome

The Headteacher and staff at St John’s were blown away by the result. From speech day smiles to giddy, grinning gala guests, St John’s gave its upper sixth formers and their families a day and a night to remember.

And the best bit? Doing a live relay meant we could record the whole ceremony, so St John’s didn’t have to pay for a separate video company. They can use the video footage for end-of-year videos, highlight reels and promotional films to keep the celebrations going.