Event Lighting: How To Make Your Event Shine | BREC

Event Lighting: How To Make Your Event Shine

Ever walked into a venue and thought ‘Wow! It is most probably down to the music, lighting design and colour. Not many event planners think of this but these elements are key to creating the right atmosphere and experience for your guests.

It is so much more than putting a spotlight on your host, guest speaker or performer. If your light is too bright your event may look stark and cold. If it’s too dark your guest may miss important elements of your event or design.

Creative use of simple lighting techniques can change the look and feel of your event by enhancing the space, creating a desired ambience in the room and supporting event themes. So how can you transform your event using simple lighting and colour schemes? Here are some creative ideas you can use to make your event extraordinary!

We had a chat to Alan Burke, BREC’s Technical Manager about event lighting techniques and how to use them in a live event.

Top Five Tips to Lighting Your Event.

1. Gobo Branding

Gobo’s are a great way to create an interesting effect to promote the brand, conference, event or to open ceremonies. You can project moving gobos onto ceilings, floors, and walls, they are a great way to add visual interest. A gobo originally is a beam of light with a metal custom stencil over it that creates a pattern. As technology progressed, glass gobos were developed that could incorporate colours and detailed imagery.

2. Stage Wash
Wash lighting is a general fill of light and colour evenly across the stage through the use of light fixtures and coloured lighting gels, also known as Fill. This brings the audiences focus to the stage when there is an announcement or presentation.

3. Uplighting
The most popular lighting effect used in events and conferences. Strategically placing lighting fixtures on the floor and pointing them up, is an effective way to dramatically improve the ambience of an event space. Depending on your event you’ll want to select appropriate colours.

4. Faux Foliage
Don’t have enough budget for plants? Lighting can be a unique alternative. You can project trees/plants to the wall and create a natural look.

5. Pin Spot
Often used to highlight small details through narrow beams of light. It can create a dramatic effect that transforms the centrepieces, décor elements and table settings into incredible pieces of art. Pin spotting will make your event design a more dynamic visual experience.

Deciding the style of your event can be hard sometimes but it’s important to consider the role that colours play in creating an atmosphere. The colours you choose say a lot about your event message, brand and theme. Here are some colours you can use to create a different atmosphere for your guests.

Warm/Light Colours – Red, yellow, orange or a combination of all can help create a relaxing vibe. These combination are great for encouraging interaction and communication between people as it reminds people of warm weather and positivity.

Cooler Colours – Blue, green and purple are recommended for creating a calm and somewhat soothing atmosphere. These colours are used a lot for award events or gala dinners as it tends to give a professional but harmonious vibe.

Bright Colours – The combination of warm and cool colours in vibrant tones such as neon. You can use this lighting to flaunt an exciting element which will stimulate a festive, party mood for your clients/guests.

Planning an event? Contact us now to get started on your amazing event planning experience with the BREC Events Team.