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Shows Backstage Tour

NOAC Shows are one of the big highlights of the conference. However, very few participants realize the great deal of work that the Shows Committee does for every conference.

Three members of the NOAC Web Site staff were given a special, all-access backstage tour of the Shows area at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Video room at the arena is a room full of the latest audiovisual equipment. All video editing and re-editing takes place here. The video director has live streams of all cameras, and controls the mixing of those onto the main screen in the arena. Specialized graphics computers create and control many of the special effects seen on screen.

Video staff estimates that there are several miles of video cable running through the backstage area of the arena.

Another portion of the Shows Staff develops and arranges photograph slides for use on the large screen on the arena floor. So far, they have developed approximately 2000 slides in their on-site darkroom. Slides must be arranged in a certain order in specialized trays to be viewed on the screen.

A professional sound editor works almost around the clock to produce and edit custom sound and effects for the show. Almost all of the audio is done during the conference, therefore rehearsal time is limited. A sound director also records voice announcements and voice-overs for the show.

A licensed pyrotechnics specialist, in cooperation with the Knoxville Fire Marshall, arranges pyrotechnic effects for the shows. The pyrotechnics department works with everything from a flaming medicine wheel to grid rockets across the stadium, including fog effects on stage. A majority of the effects are wired to electric matches which ignite pyrotechnic materials. These are then connected to a central control panel to be set off on the proper cue.

A Master Carpenter and his staff started months ahead of the conference to build the stage for the Theme Show. The stage was built in an airplane hangar, and transported by truck from Illinois, and reassembled by shows staff in about two hours at the beginning of the week.  It was then dismantled and reassembled Tuesday night after the show.

The Shows Committee is a group of very hardworking individuals who produce one of the highlight features of the conference. Be sure to check out the videos that were presented at the show. 

Revised 8/02/00.