Event tech hire specialist Blue Hire provided and managed a groundbreaking 325 Samsung VR2 headsets and S7 phones for a large accountancy firm’s interactive management training programme in East London recently.

The Blue Hire team tested the client’s content in the headsets prior to the event and delivered the hardware to site, making sure all the units worked in situ.

With each participant required to stare at the play button to start the programme, the sheer weight of numbers pushed the process to its limits in terms of the timings and skill sets.

“It was the biggest VR gig we’ve done,” Matt Pithers, Project Manager at Blue Hire, says. “The principles, painstaking testing of material and kit, are exactly the same for any event though. Obviously, with that many people there will be a big variety in terms of VR experience, but we managed to keep everybody on track and the client was delighted.”

Blue Hire provides a support technician for every 30 participants in a VR session, to rectify any problems with the hardware or individuals’ experience. But the testing and the explanation in front of the programme means there are few issues.

“You have to keep an eye on the phones’ batteries, we ran four VR sessions over the course of the day on this project, but they all stood up to it very well,” Pithers says.

Around the same time, Blue Hire supplied a Telford International Centre team with synchronised VR playback to more than 120 headsets at Celtic Manor. With participants sitting in groups at round tables Blue Hire created a local area network (LAN) rather than connecting to the Internet, giving the client complete control over the experience.

“Some of the content we are supplied can be hard to fit with VR, depending how it’s been made,” Pithers says. “While we’ve yet to have a project stall because of content, the earlier we can get involved with the process the more straightforward it is.

“Our reputation is a product of supplying proven hardware that meets or exceeds the spec. We guide the client to give the best experience and minimum failure and our teams are on site to put any problems right, quickly and efficiently.”

Alongside VR and AR equipment and solutions Blue Hire supplies screens, video walls, high-powered laptops, furniture, technical staff and more besides.

Adam Parry
Author: Adam Parry

Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.