The Willow Creek Leadership Summit 2018 in Dortmund, Germany took advantage of an intercom network over IP supplied by Clear-Com® based around an Eclipse® HX matrix system and LQ Series interfaces.
The Willow Creek Leadership Summit takes places every other year and is a 2.5-day convention for leaders and congregations from various churches all across Germany. In 2018, 12,000 visitors came together at a sold-out event held in Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, which saw an energizing mix of speakers live on stage or as a video stream. The summit was also broadcast live as a video stream to six other locations across Germany. This was a demanding challenge for German rental company Kölnton, which provided the intercom technology for the Leadership Summit.
“Our goal was to use an existing IP-based system without the need to set up an extra infrastructure or lay conventional cables,” said Tobias Becker, Technical Manager for Network, Intercom and Fiber. “Clear-Com’s solutions met all of our technical requirements.”
The central elements were an Eclipse HX matrix system and an LQ Series interface. The V-Series intercom panels were distributed in different rooms and connected over the network to the Eclipse mainframe using IVC cards. FreeSpeak II® beltpacks were used on stage which could be connected natively to the Eclipse mainframe and acted as a wireless matrix stations with individual settings.
“One of the biggest advantages was that I could connect a panel wherever I had network access,” explains Michael Melms, intercom technician at Kölnton. “I simply connected it, set up the IP address – and it was ready to go! As an intercom technician I can concentrate on what is most important: the people, the level adjustments and who needs to talk to whom.”
Communication with the local directors onsite was handled by internet telephony with LQ Series interface providing the necessary infrastructure.
“Communication with the local directors was very easy and we didn’t experience any delays,” added Melms. “I can easily establish connections between LQ Series interfaces using a local network or the internet. That way a decentralized intercom system can be created, which enables integration of external users via mobile apps or SIP telephony, regardless whether they are onsite or anywhere else in the world.”
Another important factor of the setup was the Agent-IC app which allows external users to use their mobile phone as an intercom panel with full intercom functionality within the Clear-Com system.
“The “Bring-Your-Own-Device” concept of the Agent-IC app is such a great feature,” Becker continued. “It’s a perfect and smart extension of the Clear-Com intercom system, it works really well, and is just fun to use. The possibilities are phenomenal – this is how intercom technology should be today!”
A video is available to view some impressions of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit 2018 and the Clear-Com system in action: https://youtu.be/0AEe8vo-ghU