My Preference vs. Venue Preference

Search Google for in-house AV versus outside production company and you get a long list of articles and blog posts complaining about venues requiring the use of their preferred in-house AV company. Our opinion is a little different from many of those writing these articles and posts because we don’t own AV equipment. As event producers and directors we contract the AV equipment (at no mark-up) from the vendor that best fits the requirements and needs of an event.

I have no financial motivation for a client to use outside AV versus the in-house provider. While most of our work is done with outside equipment vendors, there are jobs where it makes sense to use the in-house AV provider. There are also many events where we partner with both an outside equipment vendor for the general session and in-house for breakouts. The decision on AV providers should be based on the best fit for the event and should always be focused on the client’s preference, not the venue’s preference.

When communicating with a venue during their property search, we always encourage our clients to include language that provides them the opportunity to bring in outside AV with no penalty. This is important even though the selection of an AV provider is historically far down the to-do list when planning an event. 

What Language to Include

Include language such as “we reserve the right to bring in our preferred vendor for AV with no penalty or additional fees” as part of your first contact with prospective venues. If the venue pushes back we sometimes encourage clients to include language that says that they will secure a bid from in-house AV firm but still reserve the right to bring in their preferred vendor with no penalty or additional charges.   

One thing I have never understood about venues forcing planners to use the in-house ‘preferred’ AV company is why the preference of the hotel trumps the preference of the event planner. Why should I as a producer or the event planner I work with care about the relationship the hotel may or may not have with their ‘preferred’ vendor? When a producer or planner has their own relationship with an AV company isn’t that the preference that should be important?

Improve your Site Surveys

Conducting a Standard Site Survey

When an event planner conducts a site inspection and evaluates a property, they often try to look at the property through the eyes of an event attendee. What does the lobby look like and is it clean? Is the front-of-house staff friendly and attentive? What does a typical guest room look like? Are the rooms, hallways and elevators clean and well maintained?

These observations can offer great insights into how the property functions and can also offer a glimpse into how smoothly a planner’s on-site experience with the hotel staff will be. The lobby, bellmen and guest rooms are the first things an attendee will see.

Conducting a Technical Site Survey

Just as event planners try to recreate the attendee experience on their site visits, our production managers recreate the crews’ first experience too. We start outside at the loading dock, take a trip up the freight elevator and experience the long push through back-of-house, passing around or through the kitchen, down long hallways filled with back-of-house staff and then finally into the ballroom.

By focusing on back-of-house, we get a different perspective and can look at the upcoming event from the viewpoint of our production crew. This extra step usually provides some interesting insights.

For Example...

We recently completed a show at a property that had the worst back-of-house I have ever seen. The freight elevators were in poor condition, the back-of-house was dirty, storage was disorganized and we were not greeted or acknowledged by any staff we passed along the way.

The entire show was one challenge after another as the crew dealt with broken elevators, pre-arranged items such as truck parking, load-in and load-out times and a consistent lack of energy and interest by many banquet and support staff. And we were prepared for all of it.

A few months earlier, our site survey of this particular venue started at the loading dock and included the following:

1.  Promises made with the CSM for load-in times and truck parking. However, based on the reaction from the dock supervisor (who we always ask to meet) it was clear that the CSM could promise anything, but this was his dock and you better know his rules.

2.  A request to ride the main freight elevator (not just see it) revealed that it was broken. However we were assured it would work for our event. The elevator was clearly not kept clean as well.

3.  A walk down the back hallway showed banquet storage that was disorganized and again evidence of a general lack of cleanliness and attention to detail.

Based on the above observations, we went into this event with a plan to deal with broken elevators, a back-up plan if our pre-arranged plans changed at the last minute and the expectation that staff requests (whether from us or the client) would take a long time to be resolved.

The event came off seamlessly and the audience was none the wiser for the challenges we faced. We were better prepared to deal with those obstacles because of the observations from our back-of-house site survey.

Next time you are on a site survey, ask the CSM to take you on a walk through back-of-house. See the dock, ride the freight elevator and walk the path to the ballroom. If those areas are clean and well maintained and the back-of-house staff (away from the guest areas) are friendly and attentive, it might provide some insight into how your last minute request to flip the room will go or what will happen when you need a stage added to a breakout room. 

Importance of Technical Site Surveys

There are too many occasions when we (as the production company) have to convince clients to allow us to conduct a technical site visit. I had a fascinating exchange with a conference service manager (CSM) on a recent site visit that helped prove why these site surveys are so important. 

We were hired to manage the audio/visual component of an internal sales meeting and were bringing in most of the AV equipment from outside vendors (only using in-house for some breakout room support).

The CSM greeted us by thanking us for taking the time to do a technical site visit (again, we are not using in-house for this job.) She proceeded to tells us of the difficulties she had with the group who had just finished their conference at the hotel. As with our show, the AV was brought in from the outside but in this case, the production company or client did not see the need for a site visit. 

Consequences of Running a Show with No Site Visit

Some things went wrong:

• Their initial room diagram was incorrect because they were only working with the dimensions posted on the hotel website (which were not up-to-date)

• They were unable to plan for the exact height and location of the chandeliers in the ballroom

• The unknown lack of close freight elevators during the scheduled load-in time meant a long push and created extra delays

• These initial problems resulted in the need to change the location of the screens, which changed the size of the stage, location of the power drop and front-of-house position

All of this meant delays, more stress and extra money for the client. The CSM and her team were affected too—their schedules were significantly impacted, which caused further delays.

Site visits by the production team, even on smaller events, often result in saved time, money and stress for the entire event team. Do a technical site survey!

Managing the Rock Band Sound

Whenever clients hire rock bands for corporate shows, we always add a drum shield onto the equipment list. These are almost never on riders and many bands hate them, but when the lead singer, production manager and most importantly the client hears how loud the percussion sounds in a corporate ballroom, the hate quickly goes away.

An Easy Fix

The percussion instruments can sometimes overwhelm the guitars and vocals on the typically smaller stages that are required in corporate ballrooms. A drum shield or acoustic shield creates separation between the drums and other musical instruments and can allow the audio lead to better control the sound.

There is a reason old rock and roll artists are hard of hearing. A drum shield is a great tool to make sure your audience doesn’t suffer the same fate.

The "Five Minute Drill" with Old Rock Bands

We have had the interesting experience with a couple of rock rands from the 60’s and 70’s who still think it is “cool” to make the audience wait in anticipation for their grand entrance on stage. 

At a recent corporate event, the stage manager for a “rock band” listened to the rehearsed band introduction by a corporate sponsor and then told the band to “go on in 5 minutes”.

When we work with rock bands at corporate shows we always have five minutes of music and simple lighting effects planned to fill the five minutes the band waits to go on stage. We call it "the five minute drill." Hopefully you will never have to use it, but the "five minute drill" is a good thing for a production team to have in their back pocket.

When the Band Van Breaks Down

The Saturday afternoon before a large corporate show that we were producing, I looked down to see my cell phone ringing—not always a good thing this close to a show. The call was from the production manager for the band scheduled to be the Tuesday night entertainment. Three previous calls had planned this part of the show down to the smallest detail. 

This was a drive show and the band (a name you would easily recognize) was supplying backline, monitor boards and all the mics and cables. We were only supplying a FOH (front of house) board and the PA—until their production manager called. It turns out that their production truck broke down and they wouldn’t be able to provide their equipment.

The Show Must Go On

When we work with riders and the band is providing some of the equipment and backline, we always identify emergency backup vendors for both band equipment and instruments in the event something changes with the performer.

By the time the band showed up to load in on Tuesday, we had secured all of the equipment they needed and the show came off without a hitch. 

Riders that are included in an entertainer’s contract often include the specifications for a full rock show regardless of the size of the corporate performance and are often not changed by clients even when the band agrees to bring in some of the equipment. 

The time and effort to identify back-up vendors for expensive entertainment is most of the time a wasted effort, but if a truck breaks down, it may be the difference between a great show and a show that never goes on.

But No Brown M&Ms

Rock bands have long been famous with their specific and lengthy backstage requirements. These demands are found in a rider attached to their contract and can detail anything from a band’s snacking needs to lighting and sound equipment requirements. This list of requirements can be short or can go on for pages—in perhaps the most famous rider of all, Van Halen requested M&Ms with all the brown ones picked out.

Although this seems like an outlandish request, the rock group has said that it was included to see if the promoter actually read their extensive rider. If brown M&Ms were in the M&M dish, it tipped them off that maybe some of their other lighting or sound equipment stipulations weren’t attended to properly.

Riders and Corporate Events

The thing with riders is that while they are very specific, they are rarely modified to meet the needs of each particular show. A corporate event for example may not require follow spot operators or a stadium level PA system.  And when the production team for the performer starts planning the show they usually make concessions that are more realistic for the venue or event.

Many times however, those modifications are not made to the contract. The contract signed by the client or their representative often still requires the client to provide the entire rider. Many times even when asked to modify the rider in the contract the band claims it as unnecessary. 

Covering our Bases

When we finalize the equipment plan with performers we always send an email to both the client and the production manager indicating the changes and asking them to respond back that they agree to the revised plan. This final sign-off means less hassle when making final arrangements and adjustments for the equipment. 

When Failure Leads to Success

Five minutes into the CEO’s presentation, one of the projectors on a two-screen widescreen blend went out. Half of a 60-foot wide and 20-foot high screen went black, and somehow this event was still a success.

The elapsed time from the moment the projector failed to the point that the entire back-up scenario was in place was 15 seconds. Let me say that again—a partial black screen turned into a fully blended, perfectly functioning, back-up image. In 15 seconds.

Back-Up Plan to the Rescue

The point of this post is not to point out how great we are, but rather to draw attention to the need for backup plans. It is helpful to have backups for key pieces of equipment and procedures that are assigned and understood by the crew. We take ten minutes before every show to meet with the show leads and discuss each back-up option and the roles and responsibilities that each crewmember has in successfully implementing the plan.

For the last 10 years, through the countless shows we have put on, we have not needed to use a back-up plan. But when that screen went black, our team was able to successfully implement our backup plan, getting the screen working again in just 15 seconds. This moment of panic ended up being a victory for us. And it is all thanks to that pre-show crew meeting. 

Add it to the Job Description

While having and reviewing back-up scenarios are clearly not in the job description of an event planner (the hundreds of things that planners juggle on a typical show is more than enough), a good tip is to ask your production team “What will we do if a projector fails?” or “Not that it will, but what is your procedure if the wireless mic on stage fails?”

There is no way to guarantee that a piece of equipment will work flawlessly. What we can guarantee is that we have a backup plan in place that quickly and seamlessly gets the show back on track, and a fantastic team that knows what they are doing.