Our man on the spot during the European presidency

The European presidency is halfway through. From 1 January to 30 June 2024, Belgium holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union. These are busy times for the diplomat delegates, civil servants, and ministers calling the shots, but also for the technical crew behind the curtains.

Whitemilk, on behalf of Inetum-Realdolmen and assigned by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, works in a small space next to the production room in the renovated Arenberg room, where the most important meetings are held. Our AV Project Coordinator Enzo is keeping guard. He provides third-line support on-site when one of the hired AV rental companies hits an issue they can’t solve or a local runner spots a problem on the floor during a meeting. He’s the man with nerves of steel, knowing that every second counts when hundreds of people are hanging on his every move. He knows the system like the back of his hand. And he rocks his three fresh new suit jackets as he speeds towards Brussels almost every day.

The lead up

In early 2022, Whitemilk finished off the Europe room, with enough gear to make your head spin: 199 microphones, 100 monitors, 330 translation headphones, 28 translation booths, 6 video cameras, and 2 projectors with as many screens, all working seamlessly together. Since then, a total of about twenty rooms have have been equipped for Foreign Affairs, including the minister’s office and the main conference rooms in the Egmont Palace, where all the action goes down during the European presidency.

What made it exciting

Due to the renovation works at the Egmont Palace, especially the renewal of the roof, we were fashionably late to start the technical, audiovisual integration in the spacious Arenberg room. Work kicked off for a large powerteam at the end of September, leaving us precious little time for testing and debugging. While during a presidency, there’s no room for any glitches.

Probably the most complex project ever. Until now.

Enzo Tselios: "It’s almost magic. An example: we ensured that from the Arenberg, all footage, audio and video, and translations, can be streamed to six different locations: the listening rooms. Picture this: in the Europe room, a crowd of 300 tunes into what happens in the Arenberg, in their chosen language. We also wanted people to be able to walk in, start up the touch panel, choose their template and… let magic happen. Lights turn on, discussion systems pop up, screens descend, projectors turn on, interpreter booths are rebooted, tested and good to go, camera tracking systems are triggered… All of this should be highly secured. For the interconnected rooms, we installed 11 audiovisual racks containing 15 network switches, forming one extensive AV network connected via fiber across multiple buildings. We designed and developed solutions our suppliers and manufacturers believed to be impossible. This is probably our most complex project ever.”

Bring on the second half!