Events and community · Ayrshire

The Sir Tom Hunter Challenge: screen, sound and lights for school pitches to Sir Tom

Ayrshire secondary pupils pitch their business ideas to a live audience and to Sir Tom Hunter himself, in the format the West Coast Accelerator uses on real businesses. Lairds provide the screen, projection, microphones, audio and lighting in support of The Hunter Foundation.

Basis

Equipment and crew given in support

The brief

The Sir Tom Hunter Challenge puts school pupils from across Ayrshire through the same process the West Coast Accelerator uses with local businesses: develop an idea, build a pitch, and present it in front of a live audience and a panel. Sir Tom judges and presents the prizes himself. The Hunter Foundation needed the final to look and sound like the real thing.

What we did

Lairds provided the pop-up screen and HD projector for the pitches, microphones for the presenters and the panel, background audio and lighting, and the crew to run it. Small in equipment, significant in what it is for: a teenager presenting to Sir Tom Hunter should not have to worry about whether the microphone works.

The result

The pupils were impressive, and we look forward to seeing which of the ideas turn into businesses. Working with the West Coast Accelerator, Ayrshire Chamber and The Hunter Foundation is part of how Lairds gives back to the community that the business comes from, and we have learned as much from those organisations as we have given.

The final

What went in

• Pop-up screen and HD projector
• Microphones for presenters and panel
• Background audio
• Event lighting
• Crew for set-up and the event

Dundonald Castle pop-up cinema

Our own cinema in a fourteenth-century castle

A pitch night or school event?

The equipment is the easy part; having it run without a hitch while a nervous presenter is on stage is what matters. Tell us about the event.