Pre-Event Planning

Determine your anticipated audiovisual budget (be careful not to underestimate - AV is typically one of the largest items in an event budget!).

Outline overall agenda.

Assign each session to a room, if possible.

Denote sessions that have audiovisual needs.

Outline needs for each session.

Focus on meeting space efficiency, which saves money on audiovisual equipment.

Denote rooms that will have more complicated AV needs, and may require a technician to be onsite throughout the session (labor is the largest part of an audiovisual contract).

Outline each General Session (GS):

• Determine production needs (lighting, audio, video, image magnification, screens for audience view, confidence monitor for presenter, number and type of microphones for each general session, stage set/scenic/décor, podium look, etc…).
• Outline each room’s needs, along with notes on possible technical support for each
• Include rehearsals for the general sessions, as they will require labor hours in your bid.

Compile all the above AV needs into a Request for Proposal (RFP) - be sure to include set up days in your calculations.

• Prepare to circulate your RFP to a minimum of three audiovisual companies.  You may want to include the in-house AV company at the venue with which you have contracted.
• Include a due date for proposals, be sure it gives you time to review and compare the proposals, and to go back to get questions answered.

As you review your proposals, consider the following:

• Completeness of the proposal
• Timeliness of the proposal and responses to questions
• Overall cost
• Gut feeling on the knowledge and creativity of the vendor
• Lack of hidden fees or undefined costs
• Beware of “ranges” when looking at pricing, it’s crucial to know exactly where your costs will come in, if the exact items in your RFP are utilized.

• Finalize your audiovisual vendor and notify the companies of your choice.

Obtain a contract that includes all items listed in your RFP and ensure that the pricing is the same.

Obtain a list of individual item pricing, which makes you aware of the cost of additions.

Sign your contract and schedule a meeting with your vendor.

Ask the vendor to outline a process and schedule for updating equipment and labor.

Send your vendor a full schedule of when each meeting room is available for set up when they arrive onsite.

Onsite Production

Schedule a full audiovisual review with your vendor before set up begins.  Review every room and each set up, day by day at this time.

Pull any updates, additions, changes into a separate document for easy tracking.

Walk any meeting rooms that include tricky set ups or are not yet fully planned.

Check each room set for audiovisual equipment and operator, at least one hour prior to the start, every day.

Create and review a “Show Flow” document for sessions that have more involved programming, including:

• An outline of the schedule for the program, timed to include each speaker.
• Production notes for each section: Slides to be shown, lighting, introduction, microphones being used, etc.
• High level scripting of what will be said during each section (link to a document, if the scripting is more detailed).

Schedule a daily meeting with your audiovisual team to discuss changes, challenges, overall assignments and labor.

Keep a running tally of additions and costs, in order to maintain budget awareness and control.

Post Production

Schedule a meeting with the vendor to review the event:  go over the good, the bad and the ugly.  Make notes for future years.

Review all changes and additions that were made onsite so there will not be any surprises in your invoice.

Request a final invoice by a certain date - generally a week to ten days post-event.

Review the invoice very carefully, check all charges and amounts to make sure everything is correct.

Pay the invoice.