When our long-standing client Top Banana came to PSP with a brief for a Speedo Launch event at the London Aquatics Centre, the ambition was clear from the outset. This was not a standard conference setup. The venue is one of the most recognisable sports facilities in the country, and the event needed to match the scale and energy of the brand it was celebrating.

PSP delivered a full technical production across audio, video, cameras, and scenic construction, including one of the most striking stage builds we have executed to date.

The Brief

Top Banana needed a production partner who could handle both the technical complexity and the logistical demands of a working aquatic venue. The event required a main stage large enough for keynote sessions and panel content, a high-impact visual display, full audio coverage for the audience, and a live camera feed capturing a swim relay race and feeding it directly to screen.

The scenic centrepiece was the most ambitious element: a stage constructed directly within the dive pool itself, engineered to appear as though it was floating on the water.

The Delivery

Scenic: A Stage That Floats

The stage was constructed at 450mm high within the dive pool. Once built, the pool was lowered to a depth of 300mm, leaving just a shallow layer of water surrounding the base. The result was a stage that appeared to sit directly on the water's surface: a striking visual that set the tone for the entire event and gave every camera angle a production value that would have been impossible in a conventional venue.

The 6m x 3m platform gave presenters and panellists a generous performance space while keeping sightlines clear for an audience seated around the pool.

Audio

Audio was delivered via a d&b PA system, chosen for its clarity and consistent coverage across the natatorium environment. Aquatic venues present real acoustic challenges - hard reflective surfaces, high ceilings, and ambient noise from the water all require careful system design and deployment.

Wireless microphone coverage was handled by Shure Axient, a system that delivers reliable RF performance in venues where interference and range can be unpredictable. Presenters could move freely across the stage without any compromise to audio quality.

Video and Screens

The main display was an 8m x 4.5m UPad LED wall, providing a vivid, high-brightness canvas that worked effectively in the venue's ambient light conditions. Two 98-inch relay screens extended coverage to the wider audience, ensuring clear sightlines for every attendee regardless of position.

Content across all screens was managed and switched live throughout the event, allowing the team to move between presentations, graphics, and live camera feed without interruption.

Cameras and Live Relay

A Panasonic AW-UE100KE PTZ camera was deployed to capture the swim relay race and feed the live image directly to the main LED wall and relay screens along with wide shot cameras. The AW-UE100KE is a broadcast-quality PTZ camera that handles fast-moving subjects effectively, making it well suited to capturing competitive swimming in a challenging lighting environment.

The live relay brought an energy to the room that a recorded clip simply could not have matched, placing the audience at the heart of the action as it happened.

Kit in Focus: Shure Axient Wireless System

The Shure Axient system is designed for environments where standard wireless microphone systems can struggle. It uses a technique called frequency diversity to continuously monitor and switch between RF channels in real time, avoiding interference before it can affect the audio signal.

In a venue like the London Aquatics Centre, where the RF environment can be complex and the consequences of dropout are immediate, Axient gives the crew and the client confidence that the audio will hold throughout.

The Result

The event delivered on every level. The floating stage became the visual centrepiece of the day, creating a backdrop that was immediately distinctive and reinforced Speedo's connection to the water. All of this would not have been possible without our state of the art equipment , and the live swim relay gave the audience a moment of genuine excitement that landed exactly as intended.

For Top Banana and Speedo, this was a production that needed to feel worthy of the venue and the brand. For the PSP team, it was an opportunity to show what careful planning, the right kit, and experienced crew can achieve when the brief demands something genuinely different.