Since 2008, Dr. DeeDee Freeman has been presenting the God’s Glamorous Girls women’s conference, a three day conference focusing on faith and empowerment for women. A hallmark of every GGG is the opening performance and Dr. DeeDee’s entrance for her opening lesson. This year’s design was driven by Dr. DeeDee’s initial idea of entering to a Beyonce, Lauren Daigle and David Guetta inspired medley performed by the Spirit of Faith Praise and Worship team along with 100 band members from the Howard University Marching Band and guest artists.

With an entrance of this scale we needed a stage set, lighting rig, video and audio system that could carry through the intent and energy to set the tone for the remainder of the conference.

Using the opening performance as inspiration and drawing on years of experience, the Image Engineering design team built the conference’s scenic and technical design in the spirit of a concert. It all started with the LED video backdrop, taking a standard LED wall and breaking it into sections allowing for backstage entrances and the surface to be used as a full canvas or broken into three surfaces each with their own images. The center section of the backdrop also mimicked the shape of the Spirit of Faith Christian Center logo.

A big challenge was over coming the expanse of a convention center and making every attendee, whether in the front row or the back feel as though they were not only connected but a part of the show. The Image team achieved this connectivity by integrating two 60′ stage wings extending into the audience and a B stage in the back of the hall. With these stage positions, we were able to bring performers closer to the audience, facilitate stage changes with no program interruption and provide geometry for lighting, lasers and LED video surfaces to play off of.

The Image Engineering team called on long time friends and clients Daniel Smallbone and Matt Brewer of Lumina Design to provide the lighting design, programming and operation during the show. The Lumina team played off of the angular shape of the LED video backdrop and the stage in their lighting rig design.

With finger trusses extending into the audience, we were able to wash the entire audience, bringing the power and energy from the stage to attendees. Again, in an effort to make all attendees feel immersed in the performances and teachings, it was important to extend what was happening on stage throughout the entire house.