Production World is a live event production company based in Edmonton, Alberta and was founded by Jon Beckett and Kelly Kimo. The two men came out of the music scene and began working together 25 years ago, providing lights and sound to small scale events.
Jon Beckett
Kelly Kimo
Today, it is a tier-one production company providing services to some of the region’s largest scale corporate and entertainment events. They are the designated supplier at the River Cree. You will see them at Big Valley Jamboree. They are the crew delivering the dazzling production of John Cameron’s Singing Christmas Tree at the Jubilee Auditorium, an event rated as one of the top Christmas spectacles in the world.
Edmonton Singing Christmas Tree
What makes Production World different from everyone else is that they are vertically integrated unlike most live event production companies. Production World has a green screen video production studio with an editing suite. They also have an online store, Shop Production World, selling professional gear ranging from sophisticated mixing consoles to speaker arrays and lighting. Add to that a commercial installations division, which designs and installs high-end audiovisual systems in all types of venues from corporate boardrooms to community centres and places of worship.
Jon Beckett, Production World’s President, says that diversity is a matter of surviving in a competitive sector. “Our company does more than just set up lights and mix sound. We bring a lot of creative thinking to the process. Corporate events, especially larger scale events, require content, like videos, which we can deliver thanks to our in-house video production team. This sets us apart.”
[Diversity is a matter of surviving in a competitive sector.]
Major corporate brands like Capital Power and PCL rely on Production World to handle everything. They like the fact that it all happens under one umbrella. For example, Production World handled all the corporate elements followed by a concert featuring Tom Cochrane and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at a past gala in the Edmonton Convention Centre.
“It’s our blend of experience that really makes us different,” says Kelly Kimo, PW’s Vice President. “Our experience in music together with our experience handling complex corporate events gives us the edge in this sphere. We’re not your hotel chain type of audio-visual services provider. We get involved with our clients at the very beginning of the process and contribute to their creative thinking.”
[Production World’s experience in both live music and complex corporate events gives them the edge.]
Production World often records events while live streaming and then performs a post-edited video, which gives the client a tangible marketing tool they can use to approach sponsors for future events. “PW understands that a client’s brand is at the heart of an event,” says Adam Beckett, Operations Manager. “In fact, our brand becomes intertwined with theirs at every event. Our work is our product. Our product is our track record. The event is also part of the client’s track record. Our goal is to ensure that our client’s events have an impact on the audience, which reflects positively on their brand.”
[Production World’s goal is to ensure that their client’s events have an impact on the audience, which reflects positively on their brand.]
Women of Vision
Production World is also known for their community commitment by sponsoring and providing in-kind services in support of their client’s events. In the lifetime of the company, PW has extended support valued in the millions of dollars.
“Our support goes beyond the scope of the event,” says Beckett, winner of the Edmonton Event Awards’ Event Industry Leader 2019. “For example, we have supported the Edmonton Rock and Roll Society’s Centre for Arts and Music for years. We do it by donating musical instruments in addition to offering in-kind support for their major events such as Edmonton Rockfest. One signature thing we do is supply guitars that music artists can sign, which are then offered for auction by the organization hosting the event.”
Former Edmonton Mayor, Stephen Mandel, once described Production World as a “world-class venue”. And in their world of vertical integration, community support, and a track record that includes events involving everyone from a US President to William Shatner, Production World shows no signs of letting up. For the production community, they know it’s only a matter of time until Production World will show their innovative side again and do something that is out of this — world
.
