Facilities

Our Venues

Seating and Furniture

Although they vary in scale, all of our venues have the same basic setup, with seating for the audience and a slightly raised stage with chairs, a coffee table, jugs of water, glasses and a lectern. Our venue staff will ensure there is a chair on stage for each participant, and if you wish the lectern can be removed from the stage. However if you use the lectern, it must be pre-set.

Microphones

All our venues except the RBS Workshop Tent are fitted with sound reinforcement systems including an infra-red system for people with hearing difficulties. Wherever possible all event participants will be fitted with radio microphones which clip onto the lapel or neckline of your clothes. They also have a transmitter unit which clips onto a belt or waistband.

For some larger panels, or for events outside the four main theatre venues (see below), you may be fitted with a clip-on microphone on a cable, seated in front of a microphone on a stand or asked to pass a handheld radio mic between participants depending on the format of the event.

The venue manager will meet you in the Authors' Yurt (hospitality area) to help you fit your microphone (if required) and advise you on exactly how microphones will be set up for your event before you move to the venue.

For more information on specific sound facilities, including audio playback and roving question and answer microphones, see the section below relevant to your venue.

Carousel Slides

Please note that the Book Festival does not support carousel slide projection - see the section under AV Guidelines for more information.

The four larger theatres

Each stage has a simple fixed backdrop at the rear, into which is mounted a projection screen. A video/data projector is focused on this screen. This is used for our standard event presentation (see below) and can also be used for projection of PowerPoint, photographs, videos etc.

Each event will be staffed by a venue manager, who will operate sound, lighting and projection equipment as required. These are highly competent technicians who are used to operating live shows without rehearsal, and they will do their utmost to put you at ease before your event.

Every theatre has a roving radio mic (two in the RBS Main Theatre) which our ushers will take around the venue to amplify questions from the audience. The four larger theatres also all have CD players and facilities to connect your own equipment (eg laptops) on stage.

RBS Main Theatre

This theatre seats 570, however the wide and stepped seating-bank creates a sense of a smaller and more intimate venue, with the back row only a little over 10m away from the stage. There are two roving mics in this venue for audience questions, and five lapel radio mics. The lectern is also fitted with fixed microphones. This theatre is fully blacked-out.

ScottishPower Studio Theatre

The ScottishPower Studio Theatre, with a wide, tiered seating-bank and a partial blackout, has a capacity of 240. The back row is less than 10m from the stage. There are four lapel radio mics, a roving mic and the lectern is fitted with a fixed mic.

RBS Corner Theatre

The RBS Corner Theatre is a longer, thinner venue, with several rows of flat seating and a small tiered bank at the rear of the venue to give an overall capacity of 175. The furthest seat is around 12m from the stage. There are four lapel radio mics and a roving mic. The lectern is not fitted with separate mics in this venue. The venue is not blacked out but the projection equipment is effective even on sunny days.

Peppers Theatre

The layout of the Peppers Theatre is very similar to the RBS Corner Theatre, with a capacity of 190. It has four lapel radio mics, a roving mic and a fixed mic fitted to the lectern. The venue has a partial blackout and the projection equipment is effective even on sunny days.

Other smaller venues

We have four smaller venues on site, which have more varied uses. Because they are more flexible, and share some equipment, it is even more important that we have advance information of your requirements in these venues to allow us to be ready for you.

Writers' Retreat

This venue is used for workshops with flexible seating and a capacity of 20, or public events with 70 seats arranged in rows. There is a small stage at one end, but no backdrop. One of our venue managers will be present to operate the sound system except at workshops which are not usually staffed. The venue has four small fixed microphones on stands beside each chair and a roving mic for audience questions. At times the roving mic is not available due to limitations on available radio frequencies on site.

We can support some AV facilities in this venue (see the section on shared equipment below). The venue is not blacked out and has a glass wall along one side although a curtain can be pulled across if required.

RBS Imagination Lab

This venue is used primarily for children's events and can be set up in a variety of ways with fixed seating, cushions on the floor or a mixture of both. It has a raised stage on one wall and a sound system with two lapel radio mics, a roving mic, two fixed mics on stands and facilities to connect electric instruments as well as CD playback. The venue is not blacked out, and all events in this venue will be supported by one of our venue managers. In addition, the venue has access to the shared equipment listed below.

RBS Workshop Tent

This is an intimate venue for children's activity workshops, with a capacity of 25, and is not normally staffed. There is no stage or blackout and the size of the venue means that no sound system is necessary. However the venue does have access to the shared equipment listed below.

Shared Equipment

The above three venues can usually be provided with facilities to play audio CDs and AV presentations if agreed in advance. As none of the venues have screens fitted, visual presentations will be shown on a plasma screen on a wheeled stand, which is shared between these smaller venues and the Party Pavilion (our sponsor hospitality area).

Highland Park Spiegeltent

Probably the most unusual venue on the site, this is a luxurious, traditional mirrored tent brought specially from Belgium. The capacity ranges from 150 to 180 (depending on the event) with the option of seating in rows, seats around cabaret-style tables, and booths around the perimeter of the tent. As well as spoken-word events, the venue hosts lunchtime and evening bands, a bar and a catering operation. Normally the audience will be served coffee and pastries at the morning events, while the bar remains open (to audience members only) through the evening debates.

There is a raised stage at one end of the venue and a lectern with a fixed microphone is available though not normally on stage unless requested. When not at the lectern, amplification is provided by five small fixed microphones on stands beside each chair. In addition there is a roving mic for question and answer, facilities to play audio CDs and numerous options for amplifying musical instruments. There is no blackout and no capacity for AV. All events in the Highland Park Spiegeltent are staffed by one of our venue managers.

An Event at the Book Festival

Before the event

As explained in the Author Information pack which we send out in June, before the event you will meet your Chair and any other participants in the Authors' Yurt (our author hospitality area) and have a chance to discuss the precise format such as timings, sequence of any readings and question and answer sessions. You may also have discussed this with Book Festival programme staff or other participants in advance.

The venue manager will come and greet you in the Authors' Yurt ten to fifteen minutes before the event and if you are to use a lapel radio mic they will fit it at this point. They will also confirm the particular requirements for your event.

Shortly before the event the venue manager will return and take you to the venue, then signal you when it is time to take to the stage and begin.

Our standard AV presentation

In the four larger theatres, we have a presentation which runs while the audience enters and leaves, with a static title slide (see right) which is displayed throughout the event whenever the screen is not in use for your own presentations. The pre-/post-show presentation includes images and messages from the Book Festival mixed with your title slide and messages from sponsors. It is not possible to replace or alter this presentation. We also have a selection of music which is played before and after the event. If there is a specific piece of music which is essential to your event, please do discuss this with us in advance.

After the event

You will usually be invited to sign books for the audience after your event. This will take place in the Signing Tent or one of our two bookshops on site, depending on the location of your event. The Chair will announce the signing and ask the audience to remain seated while you leave the venue. The venue manager will find an appropriate moment to retrieve your radio mic which will be needed for the next event.