Housed at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) is the representative office of the Secretary-General at Geneva and serves as a focal point for multilateral diplomacy and advancing the agenda of the United Nations. Dignitaries and high-level delegations come to UNOG every year to participate in bilateral exchanges, summits, meetings and other events. Hosting over 8,000 meeting each year, UNOG is one of the busiest conference centers in the world. Room XIX is an 800-seat capacity conference room and the largest hall for plenary assemblies at UNOG.
In late 2018, an extensive upgrade of the room began, entirely financed by the State of Qatar. Following a year-long renovation led by architect Peia Associati in collaboration with Media Vision as the prime AV systems contractor, Room XIX reopened introducing a new conference hall equipped with state-of-the-art designs and advanced technology.
Designed with architectural elements representing the natural beauty of Qatar, the new features of the updated conference hall include a circadian lighting system, 7,000 wooden eco-panels shaped by parametric software to manage the room’s acoustical frequencies and 10 simultaneous translation booths including one dedicated to interpreting sign language—a first in the world.
Highlighting the Room XIX renovation is a 9-meter-long, 5-meter-high (30-foot-long, 16-foot-high), Planar® TVF Series LED video wall with a 1.5mm pixel pitch (TVF1.5) .
The Planar TVF Series is a family of fine pitch LED video wall displays with a 16:9 aspect ratio that allows every pixel pitch to exactly achieve popular resolutions including Full HD and 4K. The Planar TVF Series features front serviceability and a creative stackable design that allows the video walls to be assembled like building blocks, eliminating cabinet-to-cabinet cabling and reducing the complexity of installation and vertical alignment. With a profile of less than three inches, the Planar TVF Series reduces the overall footprint and servicing space that is required, making the video walls easier to fit in more spaces compared to other LED video wall solutions.
As the largest conference hall at UNOG for supporting intergovernmental assemblies and discussions of global significance, the Planar TVF Series LED video wall provides Room XIX with a dynamic visual technology solution for high impact presentations, live camera feeds and showing sign language interpreters, displayed through picture-in-picture.
“The Planar TVF Series LED video wall offers unbelievably good resolution and excellent readability—even for Excel sheets 30 meters away from the screen,” said Jack De Keyser, VP Europe of Media Vision. “Planar’s engineers who came over from the U.S. were incredible. They completed the assembly and configuration of the video wall in difficult conditions due to construction work in the room. Our hats off to them.”
“Planar was a dependable partner for this project,” according to Media Vision President Annabelle Zabetian. “Room XIX has certainly been our most ambitious and challenging project since our European expansion in 2014, but also a real source of inspiration for future projects.”
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
