Published
Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit filled the ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara for three days in October 2026. The stage behind the conversations was one wide LED wall. We were the LED subcontractor: the screens, the processing and the build.
At a glance
- Event
- Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2026
- Venue
- The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara, California
- Dates
- Built October 11, 2026; summit October 12–14; struck October 14
- Our role
- LED subcontractor: screens, processing and build
- LED
- Main screen 10 × 5 m; two side screens 2.5 × 5 m; about 75 m²
- Processing
- 4 × NovaStar VX1000, 4 × NovaStar CVT10 fiber converters
- Crew
- Six
The brief
Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit is an invitation-only gathering of business leaders, held in 2026 at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara. The general sessions ran in the hotel ballroom, on a stage with a wide LED backdrop.
The event’s production company brought us in for the LED: a main screen and two side screens, the processing to drive them, and the crew to build them.
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Step 01
Many trades in one tight ballroom
Teams from different trades built this stage together. The ballroom had little room to spare, and the lighting and its truss went in first. On the morning of October 11 the truss and motors were still on the floor; we could only start on the LED once the rigging and the lighting were done.
Then a crew of six built the wall the same day: the ground support, the main wall, then the two side screens. At 5 m tall, the screens stand on ground support rather than hanging from the ballroom ceiling. It was a long day of different trades working around each other, and the strike on October 14 was the same in reverse.
Wait for the rigging, then build fast, around the other trades.
For the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2026, held October 12–14, 2026 at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, PixelPro Productions supplied the LED as subcontractor to the event’s production company: a 10 × 5 m main screen and two 2.5 × 5 m side screens, about 75 m² in all, with the processing and the build. Four NovaStar VX1000 processors drove the three screens, with four NovaStar CVT10 fiber converters carrying the signal. Teams from different trades built and struck the stage together in a ballroom with little room to spare; the lighting and its truss went in first, so the LED could only start once the rigging and lighting were done, and a crew of six then built the wall the same day, October 11, and had it on test patterns and full white by the evening. The stage design set angled scenic panels against the screens, so the wall had to be built and run with those panels resting on it.
Step 02
Set pieces leaning on the screen
The stage had a set designed for it: tall angled scenic panels, standing in front of the screens and resting against the LED.
An LED wall is made to be looked at, not leaned on. A scenic panel that knocks a cabinet as it goes in, or shifts against it, can damage the face of the screen. On the build day the panels went in only after the wall was up and lit.
The set touches the wall; nothing may knock it.
Step 03
Three screens, one picture
The main screen and the two side screens are the same height, so the stage reads as one wide picture with the set pieces in front. Four NovaStar VX1000 processors drove them, with four NovaStar CVT10 converters carrying the signal over fiber.
Before the day was out, every screen was checked on test patterns and then on full white, so that the three screens matched.
Test patterns in the afternoon, full white by evening.
Step 04
Three days of the summit
From October 12 to 14 the wall carried the summit’s look behind every session, with the ballroom set in lounge seating.
On October 14 we started the strike at 11 am, once the ballroom was released, and had the wall packed out that evening.
One day in, three days of sessions, one day out.
The result
- About 75 m² of LED for the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2026: a 10 × 5 m main screen and two 2.5 × 5 m side screens.
- Built in one day, October 11, by a crew of six, starting once the rigging and lighting were done, and checked on test patterns and full white before the summit opened.
- Scenic panels set against the wall, as the stage design required.
- Struck on October 14, from 11 am to the evening.
- Driven by four NovaStar VX1000 processors, with four CVT10 fiber converters.
How we run LED, sound and crew for events is on our event AV production page.
Sizing a wall for a ballroom? See LED wall size and pixel pitch.
Questions about LED for conferences
Do you supply LED as a subcontractor to AV production companies?
Yes. At the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2026 at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, PixelPro Productions was the LED subcontractor to the event’s production company: the screens, the processing and the build, working alongside teams from different trades through the build and the strike.
How big an LED wall does a ballroom general session need?
It depends on the room and the stage design. For the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2026 we built a 10 × 5 m main screen with two 2.5 × 5 m side screens, about 75 m² across the stage of a hotel ballroom.
What processing drives a 75 m² LED wall?
At the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2026, four NovaStar VX1000 processors drove a 10 × 5 m main screen and two 2.5 × 5 m side screens, with four NovaStar CVT10 converters carrying the signal over fiber.
