June 23, 2025
Cutting Costs or Cutting Corners: The Truth About AV in Events
On this episode of The Event Pro Show, host Seth Macchi, tackles a common question in the world of corporate events: “It’s just AV… does it really matter who we use?” With budgets tighter than ever and teams stretched thin, Seth shares hard-won insights on why choosing the right AV partner is about so much more than just picking the cheapest option. Reflecting on the challenges event planners face, especially after the shake-ups of the past few years, Seth discusses the pitfalls of applying lean manufacturing principles to live events. He also speaks on the vital role of expertise and partnership in AV planning and why a reliable, consultative AV team can make all the difference. Whether you’re orchestrating small meetings or high-stakes conferences, tune in for practical tips, myth-busting advice, and the inside track on building strong vendor relationships that help you shine, even under pressure.
The Event Pro Show is a production of LEMG.
LEMG is a leading event production company known for delivering exceptional experiences. From site planning and event design to technical production, staging, lighting, sound, and more—we do it all. As a second-generation company, we’re proud of our rich history and commitment to innovation. Whether it’s a corporate meeting, conference, convention, or live event, we’re the team our clients trust to execute their vision flawlessly.
https://lemg.live/
1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,000
It's just av. Does it really matter who we use? Let's just go with
2
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,800
the cheapest. Have you heard this before? Well, let's talk about
3
00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,280
it. Welcome to the Event Pro show, your
4
00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,840
ultimate guide to the world of corporate events. Whether you're a corporate event
5
00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,440
planner, experiential marketing pro, producer, technician, or
6
00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,080
anyone involved in creating exceptional events, this podcast is your go to
7
00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:25,880
resource for valuable insights, expert tips and inspiring stories from the
8
00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,350
industry's leading professionals. Foreign.
9
00:00:34,390 --> 00:00:37,950
Welcome to the Event Pro Show. I'm Seth Macchi, your host and I'm the
10
00:00:37,950 --> 00:00:41,590
CEO of lemg, based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
11
00:00:41,590 --> 00:00:45,029
We're an event production company that focuses solely on producing
12
00:00:45,029 --> 00:00:48,070
corporate events. Now I'm also
13
00:00:48,630 --> 00:00:52,150
a part of different associations and I network quite a bit
14
00:00:53,190 --> 00:00:56,690
regionally and across the country. And I know that event
15
00:00:56,690 --> 00:01:00,130
planners right now are in a very stressful time
16
00:01:00,370 --> 00:01:03,890
and event history. You know, we've, we've gone through some
17
00:01:03,890 --> 00:01:07,490
crazy things in our industry. Looking back pre Covid,
18
00:01:07,650 --> 00:01:11,410
things were really fast moving, but we hit Covid
19
00:01:11,410 --> 00:01:14,810
and everything stopped. And if you made it through that, you were
20
00:01:14,810 --> 00:01:18,650
rewarded with more work than you could shake a stick at. And
21
00:01:18,650 --> 00:01:22,050
it's just kept right on. But in that transition
22
00:01:22,930 --> 00:01:26,450
between Covid and now is we lost a lot of institutional
23
00:01:26,450 --> 00:01:30,190
knowledge. We lost a lot of people that had
24
00:01:30,590 --> 00:01:34,230
years of experience and hard fought knowledge
25
00:01:34,230 --> 00:01:37,390
in what we do. And so there's certain,
26
00:01:38,910 --> 00:01:42,430
certain things and understandings that might not be totally correct
27
00:01:42,590 --> 00:01:46,350
that people fall back into, especially when
28
00:01:46,430 --> 00:01:49,870
they are incredibly busy and rightfully so. I mean
29
00:01:49,870 --> 00:01:53,590
budgets are, are being slashed. You're in a world of
30
00:01:53,590 --> 00:01:57,140
lean teams, lean thinking and non
31
00:01:57,140 --> 00:02:00,740
stop meetings. You've got cost, cost cutting everywhere
32
00:02:01,060 --> 00:02:04,740
and it's often seen as a win. And in most cases
33
00:02:04,900 --> 00:02:08,700
it is. But you know, a lot of
34
00:02:08,700 --> 00:02:12,380
lean thinking, if you really study it came
35
00:02:12,380 --> 00:02:16,220
from manufacturing. You know, when you people studied Toyota for
36
00:02:16,220 --> 00:02:19,620
a long time and they're just in time manufacturing and then
37
00:02:20,180 --> 00:02:23,960
all sorts of lean processes and procedures like Six
38
00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,800
Sigma and all that, that's all manufacturing stuff. And it's been adopted in
39
00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:31,520
software and software development, but it doesn't
40
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,120
always work for live events. And I know that
41
00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,920
everybody wants those things to apply to everything, but
42
00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:42,720
it doesn't always work and it's not always the best option. And
43
00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:46,560
so you know, for event planners trying to stay on a
44
00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:50,380
budget, it's just a constant challenge. And so
45
00:02:50,380 --> 00:02:54,020
AV is in at least the top three of most people's
46
00:02:54,020 --> 00:02:57,780
event budget. If not number one. You know, you got food and
47
00:02:57,780 --> 00:03:01,100
beverage, massive AV is massive venue costs are massive,
48
00:03:01,740 --> 00:03:05,500
but it's always up there and so it's always scrutinized. It's,
49
00:03:05,500 --> 00:03:09,060
it makes sense to scrutinize it. And the tough
50
00:03:09,060 --> 00:03:12,420
part, I think for an event planner would be knowing where to cut without putting
51
00:03:12,420 --> 00:03:15,860
the whole show at risk. And you know,
52
00:03:16,420 --> 00:03:19,340
I guess what I mean by that is when things go wrong, you know, when
53
00:03:19,340 --> 00:03:23,180
the mic feeds back or the CEO slide won't load or the
54
00:03:23,180 --> 00:03:26,980
whole thing fails, it's not just a
55
00:03:26,980 --> 00:03:30,740
tech issue, it's reputation on the line. And again, referring back to
56
00:03:30,740 --> 00:03:34,300
event planners have just such a challenging job of
57
00:03:34,300 --> 00:03:36,900
keeping all the stakeholders happy.
58
00:03:38,260 --> 00:03:41,920
So choosing the right AV partner shouldn't be a guessing game.
59
00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:45,240
It shouldn't be something that you're just, I hope it goes well.
60
00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:49,080
A good AV company won't just show up and plug in gear.
61
00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,560
They'll guide you through the planning process and help you
62
00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,520
assess what's really needed and recommended
63
00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,720
for this exact event. So they'll recommend the right solution.
64
00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,360
And what I mean by that is if you have a good partner, sometimes that
65
00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,070
actually means, you know, the recommendation of use the in house AV
66
00:04:09,070 --> 00:04:12,150
team, that, that actually is a good solution for this event.
67
00:04:12,550 --> 00:04:15,990
And your money would be better spent on other things for this event.
68
00:04:17,670 --> 00:04:21,470
So sometimes that might just be a couple of internal technicians, you know
69
00:04:21,470 --> 00:04:25,310
that, and that's, that's fine. And sometimes you need a dedicated AV
70
00:04:25,310 --> 00:04:28,950
partner that can deliver top to bottom production support and
71
00:04:28,950 --> 00:04:32,590
make sure everything runs flawlessly. And, and having an
72
00:04:32,590 --> 00:04:36,070
AV partner to help you discern within your event portfolio
73
00:04:36,530 --> 00:04:39,410
becomes essential in times when
74
00:04:39,890 --> 00:04:43,730
budgets are under such scrutiny. And so
75
00:04:43,730 --> 00:04:46,290
if you're juggling a packed event calendar,
76
00:04:47,330 --> 00:04:50,770
I'd love to talk with you. I work with planners across all types of events.
77
00:04:51,410 --> 00:04:55,090
You know, from intimate small meetings to high stakes conferences.
78
00:04:55,330 --> 00:04:58,370
I'd love to help you simplify your AV planning and execution.
79
00:04:58,930 --> 00:05:02,530
That's one of the reasons though we created the Event Pro show, is to
80
00:05:02,530 --> 00:05:05,880
create tips and tricks for the event planner
81
00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:09,920
that it might fill like a knowledge gap that maybe,
82
00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,480
maybe they have for some reason, like maybe you're new to the industry,
83
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:18,040
maybe you've been in the industry for a long time, but now you're thinking about
84
00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,520
things you haven't thought about for a while. You wonder how it works, especially in
85
00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,000
the, the AV space. But I, I really just wanted to create
86
00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,200
a show that I could introduce you one, introduce you to a bunch
87
00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:32,000
of friends that I have in the industry that you need to know. You need
88
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,820
to follow these people, go on LinkedIn, look at our gu, go follow them
89
00:05:35,820 --> 00:05:39,260
on LinkedIn. They're just great people to help you do better corporate
90
00:05:39,260 --> 00:05:43,020
events and also help you do better AV and
91
00:05:43,020 --> 00:05:46,820
whatever that means to you in your corporate events. And again, I think
92
00:05:47,060 --> 00:05:50,860
what's important is finding a partner that is in
93
00:05:50,860 --> 00:05:54,420
it for the long haul. That sometimes is just a
94
00:05:54,500 --> 00:05:57,700
call or a text for them to tell you, you know, what
95
00:05:58,100 --> 00:06:01,300
you actually need to use in house AV for this.
96
00:06:01,950 --> 00:06:05,670
And I can answer any questions along, along the way, but I can help
97
00:06:05,670 --> 00:06:09,230
you do that. But it might not be us for this, but your annual event,
98
00:06:09,710 --> 00:06:12,310
we would be a good fit for, you know, just someone that can kind of
99
00:06:12,310 --> 00:06:16,070
help guide you in the whole process and this helps to take
100
00:06:16,070 --> 00:06:19,870
the pressure off, especially if budget's a big issue
101
00:06:19,870 --> 00:06:23,550
for you and something that's, that's always in your face, that you're
102
00:06:23,550 --> 00:06:26,190
always accountable to and always speaking about
103
00:06:27,070 --> 00:06:30,690
having great partners around you. And I would expand that
104
00:06:30,770 --> 00:06:34,450
to say not just AV partners, but all the, all the services
105
00:06:34,450 --> 00:06:38,130
that you require for events, all your partners should be that
106
00:06:38,130 --> 00:06:41,730
to you. They should be consultants. They should be partners in this journey that we
107
00:06:41,730 --> 00:06:45,490
call events and help you win. They should be
108
00:06:45,490 --> 00:06:49,290
there to help you win, have your back. Thank you for listening today. If you
109
00:06:49,290 --> 00:06:52,610
want to find out more tips and tricks and things we've recorded, you want to
110
00:06:52,610 --> 00:06:55,530
meet some more guests that we have recorded on the show, go to
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00:06:55,530 --> 00:06:59,370
theeventproshow.com if you'd like to learn more about
112
00:06:59,370 --> 00:07:02,770
LEMG and how we could help you. You can always find me on
113
00:07:02,770 --> 00:07:06,570
LinkedIn. Just look up Seth Macchi and DM Me.
114
00:07:06,570 --> 00:07:10,370
Or you could go to Lemg Live. Either way, thank you
115
00:07:10,370 --> 00:07:14,050
for spending a few minutes with us today. Be sure to listen. We're putting out
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00:07:14,050 --> 00:07:16,810
episodes every week. Thank you so much.
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00:07:18,570 --> 00:07:22,410
The Event Pro show is a production of LEMG video
118
00:07:22,410 --> 00:07:26,160
by Nick Barrett, Audio and post production by Prince
119
00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,360
Thompson. You can learn more about us at LEMG
120
00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:30,240
Live.
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,000
It's just av. Does it really matter who we use? Let's just go with
2
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,800
the cheapest. Have you heard this before? Well, let's talk about
3
00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,280
it. Welcome to the Event Pro show, your
4
00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,840
ultimate guide to the world of corporate events. Whether you're a corporate event
5
00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,440
planner, experiential marketing pro, producer, technician, or
6
00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,080
anyone involved in creating exceptional events, this podcast is your go to
7
00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:25,880
resource for valuable insights, expert tips and inspiring stories from the
8
00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,350
industry's leading professionals. Foreign.
9
00:00:34,390 --> 00:00:37,950
Welcome to the Event Pro Show. I'm Seth Macchi, your host and I'm the
10
00:00:37,950 --> 00:00:41,590
CEO of lemg, based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
11
00:00:41,590 --> 00:00:45,029
We're an event production company that focuses solely on producing
12
00:00:45,029 --> 00:00:48,070
corporate events. Now I'm also
13
00:00:48,630 --> 00:00:52,150
a part of different associations and I network quite a bit
14
00:00:53,190 --> 00:00:56,690
regionally and across the country. And I know that event
15
00:00:56,690 --> 00:01:00,130
planners right now are in a very stressful time
16
00:01:00,370 --> 00:01:03,890
and event history. You know, we've, we've gone through some
17
00:01:03,890 --> 00:01:07,490
crazy things in our industry. Looking back pre Covid,
18
00:01:07,650 --> 00:01:11,410
things were really fast moving, but we hit Covid
19
00:01:11,410 --> 00:01:14,810
and everything stopped. And if you made it through that, you were
20
00:01:14,810 --> 00:01:18,650
rewarded with more work than you could shake a stick at. And
21
00:01:18,650 --> 00:01:22,050
it's just kept right on. But in that transition
22
00:01:22,930 --> 00:01:26,450
between Covid and now is we lost a lot of institutional
23
00:01:26,450 --> 00:01:30,190
knowledge. We lost a lot of people that had
24
00:01:30,590 --> 00:01:34,230
years of experience and hard fought knowledge
25
00:01:34,230 --> 00:01:37,390
in what we do. And so there's certain,
26
00:01:38,910 --> 00:01:42,430
certain things and understandings that might not be totally correct
27
00:01:42,590 --> 00:01:46,350
that people fall back into, especially when
28
00:01:46,430 --> 00:01:49,870
they are incredibly busy and rightfully so. I mean
29
00:01:49,870 --> 00:01:53,590
budgets are, are being slashed. You're in a world of
30
00:01:53,590 --> 00:01:57,140
lean teams, lean thinking and non
31
00:01:57,140 --> 00:02:00,740
stop meetings. You've got cost, cost cutting everywhere
32
00:02:01,060 --> 00:02:04,740
and it's often seen as a win. And in most cases
33
00:02:04,900 --> 00:02:08,700
it is. But you know, a lot of
34
00:02:08,700 --> 00:02:12,380
lean thinking, if you really study it came
35
00:02:12,380 --> 00:02:16,220
from manufacturing. You know, when you people studied Toyota for
36
00:02:16,220 --> 00:02:19,620
a long time and they're just in time manufacturing and then
37
00:02:20,180 --> 00:02:23,960
all sorts of lean processes and procedures like Six
38
00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,800
Sigma and all that, that's all manufacturing stuff. And it's been adopted in
39
00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:31,520
software and software development, but it doesn't
40
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,120
always work for live events. And I know that
41
00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,920
everybody wants those things to apply to everything, but
42
00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:42,720
it doesn't always work and it's not always the best option. And
43
00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:46,560
so you know, for event planners trying to stay on a
44
00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:50,380
budget, it's just a constant challenge. And so
45
00:02:50,380 --> 00:02:54,020
AV is in at least the top three of most people's
46
00:02:54,020 --> 00:02:57,780
event budget. If not number one. You know, you got food and
47
00:02:57,780 --> 00:03:01,100
beverage, massive AV is massive venue costs are massive,
48
00:03:01,740 --> 00:03:05,500
but it's always up there and so it's always scrutinized. It's,
49
00:03:05,500 --> 00:03:09,060
it makes sense to scrutinize it. And the tough
50
00:03:09,060 --> 00:03:12,420
part, I think for an event planner would be knowing where to cut without putting
51
00:03:12,420 --> 00:03:15,860
the whole show at risk. And you know,
52
00:03:16,420 --> 00:03:19,340
I guess what I mean by that is when things go wrong, you know, when
53
00:03:19,340 --> 00:03:23,180
the mic feeds back or the CEO slide won't load or the
54
00:03:23,180 --> 00:03:26,980
whole thing fails, it's not just a
55
00:03:26,980 --> 00:03:30,740
tech issue, it's reputation on the line. And again, referring back to
56
00:03:30,740 --> 00:03:34,300
event planners have just such a challenging job of
57
00:03:34,300 --> 00:03:36,900
keeping all the stakeholders happy.
58
00:03:38,260 --> 00:03:41,920
So choosing the right AV partner shouldn't be a guessing game.
59
00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:45,240
It shouldn't be something that you're just, I hope it goes well.
60
00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:49,080
A good AV company won't just show up and plug in gear.
61
00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,560
They'll guide you through the planning process and help you
62
00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,520
assess what's really needed and recommended
63
00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,720
for this exact event. So they'll recommend the right solution.
64
00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,360
And what I mean by that is if you have a good partner, sometimes that
65
00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,070
actually means, you know, the recommendation of use the in house AV
66
00:04:09,070 --> 00:04:12,150
team, that, that actually is a good solution for this event.
67
00:04:12,550 --> 00:04:15,990
And your money would be better spent on other things for this event.
68
00:04:17,670 --> 00:04:21,470
So sometimes that might just be a couple of internal technicians, you know
69
00:04:21,470 --> 00:04:25,310
that, and that's, that's fine. And sometimes you need a dedicated AV
70
00:04:25,310 --> 00:04:28,950
partner that can deliver top to bottom production support and
71
00:04:28,950 --> 00:04:32,590
make sure everything runs flawlessly. And, and having an
72
00:04:32,590 --> 00:04:36,070
AV partner to help you discern within your event portfolio
73
00:04:36,530 --> 00:04:39,410
becomes essential in times when
74
00:04:39,890 --> 00:04:43,730
budgets are under such scrutiny. And so
75
00:04:43,730 --> 00:04:46,290
if you're juggling a packed event calendar,
76
00:04:47,330 --> 00:04:50,770
I'd love to talk with you. I work with planners across all types of events.
77
00:04:51,410 --> 00:04:55,090
You know, from intimate small meetings to high stakes conferences.
78
00:04:55,330 --> 00:04:58,370
I'd love to help you simplify your AV planning and execution.
79
00:04:58,930 --> 00:05:02,530
That's one of the reasons though we created the Event Pro show, is to
80
00:05:02,530 --> 00:05:05,880
create tips and tricks for the event planner
81
00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:09,920
that it might fill like a knowledge gap that maybe,
82
00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,480
maybe they have for some reason, like maybe you're new to the industry,
83
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:18,040
maybe you've been in the industry for a long time, but now you're thinking about
84
00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,520
things you haven't thought about for a while. You wonder how it works, especially in
85
00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,000
the, the AV space. But I, I really just wanted to create
86
00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,200
a show that I could introduce you one, introduce you to a bunch
87
00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:32,000
of friends that I have in the industry that you need to know. You need
88
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,820
to follow these people, go on LinkedIn, look at our gu, go follow them
89
00:05:35,820 --> 00:05:39,260
on LinkedIn. They're just great people to help you do better corporate
90
00:05:39,260 --> 00:05:43,020
events and also help you do better AV and
91
00:05:43,020 --> 00:05:46,820
whatever that means to you in your corporate events. And again, I think
92
00:05:47,060 --> 00:05:50,860
what's important is finding a partner that is in
93
00:05:50,860 --> 00:05:54,420
it for the long haul. That sometimes is just a
94
00:05:54,500 --> 00:05:57,700
call or a text for them to tell you, you know, what
95
00:05:58,100 --> 00:06:01,300
you actually need to use in house AV for this.
96
00:06:01,950 --> 00:06:05,670
And I can answer any questions along, along the way, but I can help
97
00:06:05,670 --> 00:06:09,230
you do that. But it might not be us for this, but your annual event,
98
00:06:09,710 --> 00:06:12,310
we would be a good fit for, you know, just someone that can kind of
99
00:06:12,310 --> 00:06:16,070
help guide you in the whole process and this helps to take
100
00:06:16,070 --> 00:06:19,870
the pressure off, especially if budget's a big issue
101
00:06:19,870 --> 00:06:23,550
for you and something that's, that's always in your face, that you're
102
00:06:23,550 --> 00:06:26,190
always accountable to and always speaking about
103
00:06:27,070 --> 00:06:30,690
having great partners around you. And I would expand that
104
00:06:30,770 --> 00:06:34,450
to say not just AV partners, but all the, all the services
105
00:06:34,450 --> 00:06:38,130
that you require for events, all your partners should be that
106
00:06:38,130 --> 00:06:41,730
to you. They should be consultants. They should be partners in this journey that we
107
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call events and help you win. They should be
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there to help you win, have your back. Thank you for listening today. If you
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want to find out more tips and tricks and things we've recorded, you want to
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meet some more guests that we have recorded on the show, go to
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theeventproshow.com if you'd like to learn more about
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LEMG and how we could help you. You can always find me on
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LinkedIn. Just look up Seth Macchi and DM Me.
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Or you could go to Lemg Live. Either way, thank you
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for spending a few minutes with us today. Be sure to listen. We're putting out
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episodes every week. Thank you so much.
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The Event Pro show is a production of LEMG video
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by Nick Barrett, Audio and post production by Prince
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Thompson. You can learn more about us at LEMG
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Live.