Creative Forces Collide at Iowa State

Display technology is a core part of the fan experience at sporting events. However, displays can’t be brought to life without creative, engaging content and an experienced producer; a team working together seamlessly behind the scenes to ensure a unified production.

At Iowa State University, this team consists of on-site Daktronics Event Producer, Bryan Perry, along with Ellen Sandager and Kyle Beck from Daktronics Creative Services. We caught up with this team to learn more about their collaborative work.

As the Daktronics Event Producer at Iowa State, what sports do you support?

Bryan: I support six sports including football, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, wrestling, and gymnastics.

With content needed for many sports, what does the development process look like each year?

Bryan: We start by meeting with Iowa State prior to each sports season to figure out initial concepts for intro videos, other graphic elements and deadlines. I continue to work with Iowa State on a song choice for the video, along with treatment ideas and video shoot date with players. I assist with those shoots and develop a plan for what we want to shoot and which athletes to feature.

Ellen: We talk, A LOT. Since Bryan really serves as an extension of Iowa State, he can help us forecast the amount of content needed for each sport. Once we have an initial understanding of potential content needed, we set up recurring meetings with the sport-specific marketing personnel from Iowa State to dive into the details. Bryan is able to gather and deliver us assets directly, which saves Iowa State a considerable amount of time. Once all assets and project scopes are solidified, we can start the production process with our team of Digital Artists and ultimately send out content previews.

Kyle: The nice part about us all being Daktronics employees is that we’re able to keep a constant dialogue. We can ask one another questions quickly and easily, which is a huge benefit. It’s as close as you can come to sitting next to one another.

How does your partnership with Bryan at Iowa State compare to the work you do for other schools?

Ellen: It doesn’t compare. The amount of time and attention to detail Bryan provides, I’ve yet to see matched with any others who don’t have a dedicated event producer.

Kyle: With Bryan at ISU, we maintain a constant conversation that’s mutually beneficial. We all have visibility to each other’s workflow and can help each other along the way. He can ask us questions about what would look good and we can ask him questions about how things work that we probably wouldn’t feel comfortable asking another client.

What is your favorite part of the content planning process?

Bryan: I enjoy doing the shoot work for our intro videos. I like working with the athletes and capturing footage that fans will get to watch that season. I also enjoy editing the song for the video. Sometimes it’s an easy process, but other times it serves as a good challenge to edit the song in a way where builds to a big moment at the start of a game.

Ellen: The overall passion Iowa State has for pushing the limits and doing more each year is exciting to be a part of. Seeing it come together in-person is really rewarding.

Kyle: I really like planning new content with Bryan and finding ways to get ISU absolutely the best bang for their buck.

Looking back, what has been your favorite project to work on at Iowa State?

Bryan: I would say the historical intro video we created for 2015-2016 men’s basketball season. The first time it played, I watched our players as they watched the video board from the bench. I could tell they really took to it. That, along with crowd reaction, got the players fired up.

Ellen: A couple years ago, Kyle, Bryan and I were talking about how cool it would be to have player headshots encompass the entire centerhung canvas, as opposed to repeating content on several displays. This past year, that idea transpired into a single canvas for their intros videos at Hilton Coliseum. It really elevated their fan experience as we were able to produce something fans had never seen before.

Kyle: The single canvas template is also my favorite. It started as something so small, and to see how they are using it now is so cool. It really opens up a lot of future opportunities.

What are you most looking forward to for the upcoming years?

Bryan: A high energy football season. Last year saw many great moments on the field and I think we can capitalize on that this year and produce some cool content all-around.

Ellen: A non-severe weather trip to Iowa!

Kyle: Every year I look forward to seeing the concepts that ISU first brings to us for their videos. A lot of times there are too many good ideas to put into one video.

To learn more about Daktronics Event Production, visit our website.