A new conferencing solution for City of Gold Coast

The City of Gold Coast replaced its legacy audio only discussion system in the council chamber with a modern-day end-to-end Televic conferencing system.

City of Gold Coast futureproofs its council chamber’s AV technology.

Modern-day meeting experience combined with quality live streaming capabilities

The City of Gold Coast is the local government area spanning the Gold Coast in Southeast Queensland, Australia, and surrounding areas. With a population of 606,774 it is the second most populous local government area in Australia (City of Brisbane being the largest). Its council maintains a staff of over 2,500. It was established in 1948 but has existed in its present form since 2008.

Looking for a full upgrade of the audiovisual system in their council chambers, The City of Gold Coast turned to Televic partner Pro AV Solutions to seek professional advice. The objective was to replace the existing legacy system with a comprehensive council chambers solution that would provide a modern-day meeting experience for the councilmen, as well as a quality viewing experience for viewers of public live streams.

UniCOS system with automatic camera tracking

Pro AV Solutions proposed the use of a Televic audio conferencing system, that enables the council members to clearly hear, but also read and view what is being discussed at the time. In the new system, every delegate has a Televic uniCOS 10” tabletop unit with microphone, speaker, camera, and multimedia display. This way every council member has access to all audible and visual information on their own uniCOS unit. Participants can speak, see, hear, and interact with delegate stations by combining video, audio, and document sharing. Televic’s conferencing solutions offer an end-to-end system that does not require the use of any other third-party, making it the perfect choice for City of Gold Coast.

Automated camera tracking

The Council’s Chamber now also features two large 138-inch full HD LED displays, along with 4 Televic T-CAM cameras in place that track to pre-determined positions. The cameras automatically turn to the person who has pushed their “Push to talk” button on their UniCOS delegate unit. An extreme wide-angle camera was also placed to capture the ultimate broad angle view of the room.

Plixus electronic nameplates

For the first time, the council switched from traditionally printed to electronic nameplates. The chosen solution, Televic’s Plixus Nameplate, uses E Ink technology to identify attendees elegantly, efficiently and cost-effectively. Frequent changes to seating arrangements and attendee names are handled seamlessly as the digital technology allows for a quick and easy transition, even while the meeting is in progress. In the long run this has improved efficiencies for the staff and saved money on printing costs.

Exemplary project management

Given the significance of these Council meetings and the importance they play in the public’s eye, redundancy equipment was put in place. This way a meeting is not likely to be interrupted, even if there is a technical failure at some point. The Pro AV Solutions team implemented the project quickly, so there was little to no interruption to the Council Chamber’s meetings. Overall, the entire project has been a positive experience for the broader Council staff and meeting participants, who now know that the system is going to work every time.