Do I have to use the in-house AV provider?

Or “Do I have to pay these fees to use a different audio visual company?”

Contract
Just like that contract from Little Mermaid

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 commonly: “This client is bringing in a production company. We’re not charging them anything to do it. Also if they need anything from you there’s a 20% discount on AV in the contract.” And that was that. Continue reading Do I have to use the in-house AV provider?

Should I use house sound?

Or: “What is the difference between house sound and stand-alone speakers?”

Ghost
I am not afraid of any ghost

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 the sudden one portion wouldn’t work any more. I would plug a microphone into the wall and it would work when I tested it, then later once the event started it would cut out. And even when it was working, it sounded pretty bad. Continue reading Should I use house sound?

What questions should I ask a potential AV partner?

Or: How do I evaluate AV providers? Or: How do I choose an AV partner?

Questions
Time to get some answers.

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 the country. Continue reading What questions should I ask a potential AV partner?

What are my screen options?

Or: “What types of audio visual screens are there?” Or: “There’s no good way to phrase this like a question a human being would ask but people probably wouldn’t mind knowing about it?”

So you sign an audio visual proposal for an event at a great price, and after arriving at the venue you walk into the room for your plenary session. But the set up doesn’t look anything like you expected. Continue reading What are my screen options?

What should my AV budget be?

Or: “Is this a good price?”

When I’m going to make a decent size purchase I like to research beforehand. I don’t like being sold; I’d rather know what I want in advance and what the cost “ought” to be. If you’re the same, I feel your pain when I tell you that unfortunately, event audio visual is difficult to price out, and usually requires talking to a few people.

Phone
I don’t even know how to use this

Continue reading What should my AV budget be?

What is IMAG?

Or: “How can all of my attendees see the presenter?”

You’ve probably heard people joke about getting nosebleed seats at a game and how they would’ve had a better view at home. Big meetings can feel like that too. (Except there’s no TV coverage of the meeting at home) There’s more to a game than being super close to the players, and there’s more to a meeting than being super close. But you can help keep attendees engaged using IMAG. Continue reading What is IMAG?

Is this projector bright enough?

Or: “What are lumens?”

2500 lumen projector
2,500 lumen projector with quarter (?) for scale

Becca Not-her-real-name-son had her sales reps bring their own projectors for the meeting. This sort of thing can be a good way to lower costs. But when one of the reps pulled out a book sized projector fifteen minutes before a general session with 150 attendees I anticipated some trouble. Continue reading Is this projector bright enough?