Frequently Asked Questions
Whether you're planning your first large-scale conference or you've been running national events for years, the technical production side raises the same questions. Here are the ones we hear most often, answered honestly.
What We Do
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We are a full-service technical production company. That means we take responsibility for everything technical at your event — audio, vision, lighting, streaming, graphics, set design and build — under one roof, with one team, and one point of accountability. We work across corporate conferences, product launches, awards events, broadcast productions, and large-scale cultural projects throughout New Zealand.
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Hire companies provide equipment. We provide equipment, experienced crew, creative input, and production leadership. The difference shows up in the planning phase, where we help shape the technical brief rather than just responding to one, and on the day, where our team is making real-time decisions to protect the event. Most of our clients come to us because they've experienced the alternative and found it wanting.
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Yes. We operate nationally, with teams based in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, and we regularly travel for productions anywhere in New Zealand. As preferred suppliers to Tākina Wellington Convention Centre, Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, Venues Otatahi, which includes Christchurch Town Hall and One NZ Stadium, we are partnered with New Zealand's most significant conference venues — which means familiarity with the spaces, strong relationships with the venue teams, and a faster, smoother production process for our clients. In Auckland, we’ve worked across all of the major venues including Spark Arena, Viaduct Event Centre & the New Zealand International Convention Centre. Our national structure means the same standard of crew and equipment regardless of where your event is.
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Our clients come to us when the event needs to be more than functional — when it needs to be remembered. From large New Zealand corporates running annual conferences to global brands producing bespoke marketing experiences, product launches, award shows and broadcast events, we have delivered for Air New Zealand, Apple, Disney, FIFA, Microsoft, Nike, New Zealand Rugby, Weta FX, World of Wearable Arts, and the NZ Defence Force. The common thread is that they needed a technical partner who could handle complexity without creating more of it.
Planning and Process
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As early as you can. The most successful productions happen when we are involved before the brief is locked — when there is still room to shape the room layout, the screen configuration, the flow of the run sheet. For events with custom elements,, three to six months is a realistic lead time. For a standard corporate conference production, six to eight weeks gives us enough runway, but earlier conversations are always welcome.
That said, our national infrastructure means we are often able to accommodate late and last-minute requests that other companies cannot. If your timeline is tight, it is worth calling us before you assume it is too late.
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It starts with a conversation about what you are trying to achieve — not just technically, but in terms of the experience you want the audience to have. From there we develop a technical design, work through revisions with you, produce a detailed production schedule, and manage the logistics of equipment, crew, and build. Throughout pre-production and on the day itself, you have a consistent point of contact who knows your event inside out — someone who keeps you informed, absorbs the unexpected, and makes sure the event lands the way you planned it. On event day, our team is on-site from load-in through to load-out. After the event, we debrief and document.
On event day, our team is on-site from load-in through to load-out. After the event, we debrief and document
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Yes, and we do this regularly. Our role is to own the technical side so that your agency, PCO, or internal team can focus on what they do best. We are used to working within existing production structures and are clear communicators about timelines, requirements, and dependencies. The more aligned the whole team is in pre-production, the smoother the event day.
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The moment guests enter the room sets the tone for everything that follows. We pay close attention to this; the content playing on screens, the ambient lighting state, the audio atmosphere, the overall visual composition of the space. A well-considered pre-show state does not require a large budget; it requires someone who understands the effect and feeling it has. This is something we actively design into every production rather than leaving it to default settings.
Event Day
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Our crew is on-site well before our anyone else arrives. By the time your team walks in, the room should already feel ready - screens live, audio checked, lighting set, run sheet confirmed, and any presenter rehearsals scheduled and on track. We run a structured load-in and technical check process that is designed to find and resolve issues early, not during the event. A calm, prepared room in the morning is the result of a thorough technical design process in the weeks before it.
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Live events move fast, and things change — that is exactly what our team is trained for. Our approach is to build redundancy into critical systems — backup signal paths, failover hardware, contingency plans for the scenarios most likely to cause disruption. When something unexpected happens, our team resolves it quickly and quietly, without escalating stress to the client or the audience. This is a core part of what we mean when we talk about taking ownership of the technical brief.
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Presenter nerves and last-minute changes are a normal part of live events, and for our team, neither is cause for concern. We build rehearsal time into every run sheet, and our technical team are experienced at working with presenters who are not comfortable on stage or with technology — calm, practical support is part of the job. Slide changes the morning of an event are straightforward; changes mid-session are manageable when the communication lines are clear and the right people are close by.
Technology and Creative Impact
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An LED video wall is a modular display system that can be configured into almost any size or shape, performs in ambient light without the throw distance required by projection, and produces a visual impact. For events where the visual environment is central to the experience — whether that is a high-ambient or outdoor setting where projection falls short, a venue with challenging natural light, or a brief that calls for a custom shape or configuration that a standard screen cannot achieve — LED walls are often the right choice.
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Projection mapping is the technique of projecting imagery onto irregular surfaces — buildings, sculptural set pieces, stage architecture — so that the projection appears to interact with the physical form of what it is being mapped onto. At scale, it is one of the most powerful visual tools available for live events. Streamliner has brought Wellington's waterfront to life for Matariki since 2021, projecting across the entire facade of Te Papa, and as the exclusive projection team for Sky Tower in Auckland, we have turned two of New Zealand's most iconic landmarks into large-scale canvases — just two examples of the work we do at this scale.
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We work closely with Kahuna Designs, our sister company and specialist graphics and animation studio, which means content production and technical delivery can sit within the same project. Kahuna handles motion graphics, animated titles, lower thirds, and custom content built specifically to work within your event's visual environment. For clients, this removes the coordination layer between a separate design agency and the technical team — what is designed is built to work in the room, because both teams are working together often & are working towards the same outcome from the start.
Getting Started
We are happy to have a conversation at any stage of your planning process — even if you are not sure yet what you need. The earlier we are involved, the more useful we can be.
Contact us at streamliner.co.nz