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Client Spotlight: Chicago’s Q Center

Posted by Andrea Keating on November 12, 2012

When it comes to playing big in the conference center business, there are few firms as impressive as Chicago’s Q Center.

Originally Arthur Andersen’s Center for Professional Education, the 95-acre property has evolved in the last 40 years to a preeminent location for meetings, conferences, and executive learning retreats for Fortune 500 companies, and associations. It’s also a go-to place for social events, as well as gatherings for military, education, religious, and fraternal organizations from around the world.

It’s easy to see why. Situated in a wooded area near the river, it’s a site that inspires creativity, innovation, and great meetings. So it was a privilege to interview Laura Beasley, executive producer at Q Center’s Q Creative.

Creative Insights

Andrea Keating: Tell us a little about your company, and its video department. What is the size of the department? And what equipment do you have in house?

Chicago's Q Center from front

Laura Beasley: I am an executive producer with Q Creative, which is located west of Chicago. I have been here for 15 years—and I love my job.

Q Creative is a full-service event and media production team. We have 16 full-time employees and a large extended team of freelancers who work with us very regularly. On-site, we have four edit suites where we use Avid and Final Cut. We also have a full production studio and control room, and a variety of cameras for both studio and remote production. Plus, we have a dynamic lighting and scenic equipment department—and that comes in handy because we produce some really high-end, incredible events.

Andrea Keating: What trends do you see for the future in terms of video and equipment?

Laura Beasley: We are definitely seeing a move toward the use of DSLR cameras. Our clients love the images we get with the focus on the DSLRs. We actually see a huge advantage in this trend, and in the need for the shooter/producer/editor model. The affordability of a small and capable production team is a real benefit for budgets and quick-turnaround shoots.

Recently, we’ve also been encouraged by an openness among clients to something different than just a standard-looking talking-head video. The ability to shoot creatively using varied lenses, backgrounds, focus, and angles is exciting right now, and clients are looking for creative ways to differentiate their messages.

Andrea Keating: How did you hear about Crews Control, and how long have you been working together?

Chicago's Q Center from side

Laura Beasley: Q Creative has been working with Crews Control for as long as I can remember. I’ve been with Q Creative for 15 years, so it has been a while. Not only do we work with Crews Control when our budgets are big, but we have successfully worked with them when budgets don’t allow us to send a producer to a location. We’ve been able to manage a crew by phone, or by just giving directions by phone, and having them meet with our clients or interview subjects and run the interview based on our directions. This is a tremendous benefit to us when we can’t send a producer, either due to staffing or budgetary constraints.

Andrea Keating: What did Crews Control do to help make your video project easy, professional, and successful?

Laura Beasley: First, and foremost, Crews Control makes the planning process incredibly easy. We sometimes get very late-breaking requests, and Crews Control has never once told us that they can’t find us a crew, be it a video crew in Chicago or in international locations. There have been times when we’ve had a request with less than 12 hours’ notice, and Crews Control always saves the day.

Chicago's Q Center from back

The wonderful thing is that not only can we expect that Crews Control can find a crew, but it’s a quality crew, one we can count on. Our clients think we are amazing because we have a network of crews all over the world. They always ask me, “We have a shoot in X, do you have a crew there?” It’s nice to always be able to say “yes, we do” knowing that Crews Control is our partner for success in any location.

Andrea Keating: What are some of the details of a recent project that stand out in your mind?

Laura Beasley: I have had shoots recently in both Bangalore and just this month in Singapore. The fact that we had amazingly helpful, talented people who could help us literally around the world is such a fantastic assurance. When our producers travel to another country, sometimes working alone for our clients, they always know when they get with their crew the team will be complete. We also have often found that networking with our Crews Control teams around the world and their experience in that area helps us find the best B-roll shooting locations to truly capture the local flavor we are looking for in our productions.

About Q Creative

Q Creative’s full-service, onsite events and media team help engage your participants, and improve their retention of your key messages. It starts by setting the stage. Q Creative can customize your meeting space with the right staging, lighting, projection, and audio support—providing the right backdrop for a successful meeting.

Click here to see our photo gallery.

Oct QCenter2

Once the stage is set, the corporate-event planning team helps transform a meeting with rich, powerful presentations. And because everything is onsite, Q Creative makes it possible for you to do more within your budget. Use our wireless interactive voting system and turn attendees into participants. Your audience provides real-time feedback that is instantly displayed on-screen. Make it an interactive event, or create fun, competitive games to engage your audience.

Get more value from the content you create at Q Center. Capture your entire corporate event and make it available in digital format for later review. Combine recordings of your presenters with PowerPoint slides, video clips, transcripts, and supporting documentation in an easy-to-distribute package.

Examples of Q Creative corporate-event production services include:

  • Set design and staging
  • Lighting and special effects
  • Projection support
  • Audio support and music
  • Video recording and speaker image magnification
  • Wireless, interactive voting system
  • Graphic design and animation
  • Live webcasts, video conferences, and satellite broadcasts
  • Video openers, closers, and candid modules (live or taped)
  • Vendor fairs
  • Video editing and duplication
  • DVD and CD-ROM production
  • Corporate event production services

For more information on Q Center you can visit their website at qcenter.com

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