Here is what you need to address in your contract negotiations to make sure all of your AV needs are met and your costs are kept in check.
In-House vs. External AV Providers
Hotels and other meeting venues often offer “in-house” AV services, which are almost always provided by an outside vendor contracted by the venue. They are happy to be flexible and make adjustments, however, they will charge you for it and the bill can get out of hand very quickly. Your AV bill will also include a service charge on top of the equipment fees and will likely include a revenue share with the venue.
Supervisory Labor
Some venues have provisions in their contracts for supervisory labor–staff paid to oversee your event from move-in and set-up through tear-down and move-out. To be clear, this is not the same as providing labor to assist with your move-in and move-out. This is, however, a potentially costly added expense. Confirm upfront if supervisory labor is required and what fees are associated. Put what you expect with their event supervisor into your contract or try and negotiate it out altogether. Also, if you have to pay for it, you should see your supervisor at your event during the agreed times. This can be helpful if there are last minute needs that the in-house team can support. If the supervisor is nowhere to be found, you should not be billed for that.
WiFi and Broadband
Hybrid events require strong and stable hard line internet connections that can handle your streaming needs. Venues typically charge to drop a hard line connection in each meeting room, and each room the event streams from will have an additional charge. This is on top of the broadband needs for attendee devices that you were already negotiating pre-pandemic.
Rigging
If your event will require rigging for lights, speakers, screens, etc. confirm with the venue what their rules are and how you will be charged. Many venues require that their contracted company sets up all rigging–this is fairly standard. Find out rates and if rigging charges are different if you are using an outside AV provider. Also, some venues charge rental fees for rig points or motors. Again, confirm these details up front
Electrical Connections
This is another detail that can easily be overlooked. Some venues will not charge you for electricity and connections if you are using their in-house providers but will charge a fee if you bring in your own vendors. Keep in mind, the outside company is not permitted to plug anything into the venue power themselves and more often than not, the in-house vendor will charge a fee for power drops to bring electrical connections to places specified by the outside AV company.
Venue-specific AV Considerations
This is where it is really helpful to have a partner that can come with you on a site visit. Your AV provider will notice things that may add cost or change the configuration of your event. Some examples are:
- Union Labor – Confirm if the meeting venue is a union venue, meaning they are required to use union labor. Generally speaking, the labor costs will be 2-3 times higher than at a non-union facility. It is also important to know which union you’re working with and all of their requirements as they each have different rules. Your outside AV provider can be very helpful in this situation, helping you understand all the rules and manage the overall union labor schedule to manage costs as much as possible.
- Set up of facility for load in and load out – knowing where the loading dock is in relation to your meeting rooms can dramatically change set up costs. If it is a ‘long push’ from the truck to your meeting room or if there is only one freight elevator in a large facility, for example, knowing about this in advance will give you a more accurate picture of event cost
- Location of your meeting rooms within the facility/facilities – if your rooms are spread out or there are many concurrent sessions across more than one site, you will need more technical support to ensure a great attendee experience
- Obstructions in the event room – over the years we have seen chandeliers that are only 6’ from the floor, columns in the middle of event spaces, floor-to-ceiling windows that would blind attendees at sunset and many other considerations that need to be accounted for in your AV plan.
- Check out any staging, risers, podiums, in-house sounds systems and anything else the venue will be providing. You want to confirm everything is in good working order and meets the standard you want for your event. Creaky stages and beat-up equipment will have a negative impact on your event and the overall experience for participants.