Month: February 2015

Or “What are moving lights?” “What is automated lighting?” So you’re planning an event and want to impress some executives. You’ve already put uplights around the perimeter of the room and ordered a gobo of the company logo. What’s next? If you want to take things to the next level you might consider intelligent lights.

Or: “What do I do if the ceiling is very low?” or “How do I make sure everyone can see?” At one property I worked at, the highest the ceilings got were 12 feet. But the room also had chandeliers, so the usable height was closer to 9 feet. So you could only fit screens…

One time I was working an event for the Bermuda Department of Tourism and wasn’t paying close enough attention. I took a gobo out while it was still hot and got half of the word “Bermuda” burned on my hand, kind of like that guy from Indiana Jones. Does that answer your question of what…

Or “Do I need a switcher?” The previous presenter finished. My colleague went up to help the next speaker. Everyone in the room watched as they removed one laptop, wrapped up its power cable, unplugged the mouse, plugged in the new computer and switched the video cable. The next presenter’s laptop came up on the…

Or: “What information should I include on an RFP?” A few months back I was communicating with a client about a three day event and they sent an RFP (request for proposal) including a list of specific equipment. Any other potential partners they were in touch with got the same document. I couldn’t create a…

Or “What is a downstage monitor?” or “How can I make sure my presenter sees their slides?” Did you ever take a public speaking class? One of the points they always stress is the importance of eye contact and engaging the audience. When your presenter is speaking often the computer isn’t visible, which means they…

Or “What is a PCDI?” or “How do I play computer audio through the sound system?” Does your presentation have any sound effects in it? Video clips? Music? How will attendees hear it? In my experience a lot of folks don’t think about computer audio until the first time they don’t have it.

Or “Do I have to pay these fees to use a different audio visual company?” I had this conversation a lot with the hotel conference service manager: “This company wants to use outside AV. Do we need to charge them this fee?” Me: “No, that’s fine, they’re at least getting internet from us.” Or more…

Or: “What is the difference between house sound and stand-alone speakers?” When I was first starting out in corporate AV I worked in a hotel in NJ. There were speakers installed in the ceiling and a big control box in the back hallway. The system was possessed. If you closed the air walls all of…

Or: How do I evaluate AV providers? Or: How do I choose an AV partner? I was talking to Sarah Ichangedherrealname and she wanted to do something special – create a cool scenic set that people hadn’t seen before, and one of her presenters was going to video conference in from the other side of…