Real World Productions

Gud Holdings Limited

In the year 2000, GUD Holdings the owner of iconic Australian brands such as Victa lawnmowers and Sunbeam appliances was facing significant challenges to all of it's business units. Under-performance coupled with gloomy analysts forecasts combined to send the share price tumbling to to $1.50 and a real question mark hung over the future of this long established company.

However the arrival of new Managing Director Ian Campbell marked a turning point for the diversified holding company. Under his direction all GUD units have been restructured and are now performing at record levels whilst the market has rewarded the revamped group for it's turnaround with a steadily increasing share price currently over $10.00 and still heading north. Real World is proud to have been associated with GUD over that period handling the staging and production of the company's Annual General Meeting.

AGM's are an important event for shareholders when they can speak directly to the board and senior management as well as vote on matters affecting the company. They are also a critical day for the Company Secretary's office and the Shareholder Relations division as they manage the big day for shareholders.

With a long history of producing and directing AGMs, Real World is uniquely aware of the special needs of such a diverse group of stakeholders inherent to such a meeting. For GUD we designed a clean and simple on-stage look and contracted all the staging, audio, lighting and video projection.

We then produced a walk-in loop video that reflected to look and feel of the current year's Annual Report.

After receiving copies of the scripts for the Chairman and CEO, presentations were designed and produced to support each address. After reporting on the year's performance the official Business of the Meeting includes agenda items such as re-election of directors and other issues. Supporting visuals and explanatory information related to voting are an important component in maintaining a well run meeting.

click on a thumnail image for a larger view

While all that is happening we are simultaneously recording the meeting in a number of ways.

Video recording is done for archival purpose and serves as a backup audio record.

Audio recording of the complete meeting is done to dual cassette tape which allows overlap and handed to the company secretary immediately after the meeting in case exact audio reference is needed by press or shareholders.

Audio is also recorded to DAT tape or CD for post production of notated Audio CDs. The entire meeting is edited and separate Audio CD tracks are created for each speaker and each question in the Business of Meeting. If the meeting lasts for less than 74 minutes a single CD is produced. If the meeting lasts longer, double or even triple CDs produced.

The DAT audio record of the AGM is also used for the web stream of the presentations. Working either onsite or back in the studio, Real World creates a version of the presentations featuring the audio and synchronised visuals. Produced in highly compatible Flash 5 format these stream are immediately viewable by over 98% of all browsers and are optimised for instant and smooth playback even over a dial-up 56k modem.

click to view a sample of a streaming Flash presentation

Hi bandwidth versions feature live video along with the speaker support material.