Modular stage design for corporate events

The stage is the first thing the audience sees when they walk into the room, and at a company convention it has to say something about the brand before anyone speaks. When we are asked for stage design for corporate events in Mallorca, that is where the work begins: what message the client wants to get across, and which pieces we build it with.

There are two ways to arrive at a good stage. One is to make everything to measure. The other is to start from systems that already exist and dress them for each event. We usually mix the two, and the balance depends on the event, the budget and whether the brand will be coming back.

What we make, and what with

We have a joinery workshop and a print, routing and cutting workshop. With them we make counters, modular walls and 3D lettering and shapes in foam board, Reboard, acrylic, polystyrene and other materials. Our joiners also build custom furniture to work the technology into the set: a front panel that hides a monitor, a counter with a built-in screen, a plinth with its own light.

To dress the space we have in-house graphic production, a colour range of event carpeting and the Pipe and Drape system, a frame of poles with drapes for closing off backdrops, dividing areas or hiding what shouldn’t be seen.

The modular side of corporate stage design

A modular system has an obvious advantage: the pieces can be put together in many ways. A modular wall can be the back of a stage today and the back wall of a stand tomorrow. The Pipe and Drape curtains can be adjusted in height and length to suit the room.

What changes from one event to the next is the skin. Printed graphics, carpet colour, lighting and brand elements are what make the same skeleton look like something else.

That makes the build quicker and more predictable, and less gets made for a single use. We believe a production should think about sustainability at every stage, and deciding what is made to measure and what is solved with pieces that go back into storage is one of the choices that weighs most.

A question worth asking early

If the brand holds the event every year, it is worth asking which pieces could be used again next time. A counter with interchangeable graphics will last several years. A 3D piece carrying one year’s slogan usually won’t.

Three corporate stages

Upfield: the brand’s green everywhere

At Upfield’s international convention at the Palma Congress Centre (Palacio de Congresos), everything revolved around the brand’s green. We carpeted the stage in green and at the back placed a front panel with the logo between two LED screens. On the stage there were white armchairs for the talks.

To one side we built a moss wall with the group’s brands framed on it: Flora, Rama, Blue Band, ProActiv and Country Crock. Wooden crates and plant pots finished off the stage. Separately, there was an exhibition area with counters, graphic panels, roll-ups and a wall of yellow flowers with the logo.

The structure was simple; the character came from the colour, the plants and the wall.

XING: a lounge on stage

For XING’s 2017 Kick-Off at the Auditorium de Palma we turned the stage into a lounge. We brought in white shell armchairs and low tables on rugs, floor lamps and a white bar with high stools. At the back, a large-format screen showed planets, a galaxy and the kick-off logo, and the slogan One Team · One Vision was projected onto the front of the stage.

Here it was almost all furniture. It is a way of doing stage design that often gets overlooked: with good furniture and good lighting, you don’t need to build much.

CBRE: a sculptural piece

At CBRE’s event at the Castillo Hotel Son Vida the stage backdrop was sculptural, made of white waves, lit in green and with the company name in relief. In front of it, two armchairs for the conversations. In another room we installed a wide LED screen between two branded panels, with illuminated free-standing CBRE letters.

This is the opposite of XING: a piece made for the event that gives the stage all its personality.

How we decide the balance

There is no formula. It depends on the type of event, the budget, the build time the venue allows and what the brand wants to convey. What we always do is plan the set together with the technical side: where the screen goes, where the light comes from, where the cables and speakers are hidden. A beautiful set that blocks the screen or throws a shadow on the speaker is no use to anyone.

You can see more of our work under stage design and event production and on our page about stage design in Mallorca. And if you have an event in mind, tell us about it.