Aug. 18, 2025
The AV Advantage, Part 1- Design It Right
Join us on The Event Pro Show as host, Seth Macchi, launches a five-part series called “The AV Advantage.” Today’s focus is on why involving your AV partner early in the creative process sparks better brainstorming, reduces rework, and streamlines the RFP stage. Seth compares event planning to an assembly line, where identifying challenges upfront saves time and money. He shares practical strategies for collaborating with AV providers from day one, including questions to expect during discovery calls and how to clearly convey your event’s needs. Seth encourages our listeners to gain knowledge on maximizing AV budgets and laying the groundwork for successful events from the start. Let's get into it!
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/
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Did you know that AV input early on usually
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equals better ideas, less redos, and quite
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00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,440
frankly a smoother RFP process overall?
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00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,600
Well, let's get into it. Welcome to the Event Pro
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00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:19,400
show. Your ultimate guide to the world of corporate events. Whether you're
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00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,760
a corporate event planner, experiential marketing pro, producer,
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00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,100
technician, or anyone involved in creating exceptional events, the this
8
00:00:26,100 --> 00:00:29,860
podcast is your go to resource for valuable insights, expert tips and
9
00:00:29,860 --> 00:00:32,580
inspiring stories from the industry's leading professionals.
10
00:00:40,020 --> 00:00:43,700
Well, welcome to the Event Pro Show. I am your host Seth Macchi. I am
11
00:00:43,700 --> 00:00:47,460
the CEO of lemg. We're an event production company
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00:00:47,460 --> 00:00:50,580
based in Charlotte, North Carolina. We travel all over the country
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00:00:51,060 --> 00:00:54,590
working with planners to to produce corporate events. That's almost
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solely what we focus on. And welcome to part one
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of our five part series called the AV
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Elevating your events from idea to execution. So
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the goal of this five part series that each episode
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walks the planner through a key stage in AV
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related event planning. So from early ideas to flawless
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show day delivery. And we want to have a focus on
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helping planners look sharp while saving money
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and reducing surprises. So sounds like kind of everybody's
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dream here. So in this first episode we're going to talk about
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designing it right and collaborating early for
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smarter av. I'm going to walk you through what I mean by that.
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So the whole point of this episode is talking about involving
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AV early in the creative process.
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AV input early on helps with creative
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ideas, fewer redos, a smoother
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RFP process. And I like to envision it kind of like
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this. Imagine an assembly line and there's
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this belt that moves along. And at the beginning of the belt you
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start with all the basic components of the thing that you're making, the widget
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you're making at the very beginning of the conveyor
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belt. Any issues that come up, design
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flaws, logic flaws that are
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discovered, it's way cheaper to fix them at the
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front of the assembly line. Now as you move down the assembly line, you
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get closer to final production where you're going to take that widget off and
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give it to the end user. Everything that's discovered
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that's an issue or a design issue, a
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logic issue, a use issue issue becomes more
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and more expensive to fix. And so the earlier
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you can involve and discover issues
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on that assembly line, the cheaper it is,
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quite frankly, for you to fix that problem
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and then create what you were really trying to create to begin with.
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So in that analogy, in that example,
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let's think of an event, you have this idea or you've been
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mandated by who you work for to create an event.
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And you are told some basic things.
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You're told kind of you know who the event is for,
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rough idea of how many attendees are going to be there and
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what you're trying to accomplish. And now you have all
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that basic information. But what
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if the way that you were taught to plan events is knock out
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the first things, let's talk about geography, events and the. Then we'll work our way
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through, get some food going, get hotel rooms going. We'll talk
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about what table setups look like, what, you know, signage looks like. And then
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the very end, we're going to bring in some. Maybe that's
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wonderful if you have really basic requirements. But most people
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are trying to create an event that is enhanced and engaging.
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And as media has developed
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over the last several decades, there's a certain expectation that
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attendees have when they come to an event. So
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developing the AV plan has become more and more complex.
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So involving your AV provider early on
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is becoming not just something that's nice to have, but it's something that's
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imperative if you're really going to control that budget and control
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the outcome. And so some tips for
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starting creative conversation with your AV provider
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partner. You know, I've talked about this on this show,
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finding those partners well before you need them. And
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so you should be developing relationships with
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partners that you think you might bring in at some point. And so you
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have some sort of a relationship. If you have that
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developed already and you trust them, you can bring
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them in before you even create the rfp.
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Because if it's no longer a question of, I
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think, are they going to rip me off, are they the right partner for me?
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No, you, you trust them and you have these partners that you use so they
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can speak into the creation process of the
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RFP instead of you as a planner who might not be
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an AV expert. So really thinking about it logically, it would
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make more sense to bring in somebody you trust to help. Can you outline the
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scope of what I'm going to need for AV for. From an actual AV
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partner? So that's the first part of that.
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The next is, well, if you don't know
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exactly who you're going to use, then you might be going out there
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and getting quotes from different providers. Well, let's talk through
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what to expect. You can put together your rfp
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and I have an episode on building an rfp.
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But essentially you need to understand your
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minimum requirements when you're creating that rfp.
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And so when you document that you can Send that out
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and then expect an initial conversation, an initial
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conversation from a potential production partner. I
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want to walk you through that really quick of questions you might get so you
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can kind of prepare those questions ahead of time and get ahead of it.
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But essentially the key questions that you're going to be asked
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on this initial discovery call. First of all, what type of
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event is it? You know, is this a single room
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event? Is in this single room? Is this just a luncheon? Is it an award
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show? Is it an all day event where you have different segments?
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Is it a multi venue or multi room event?
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Is there a general session with different sessions throughout the day where the
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attendees then go to breakouts throughout the day? Do they go to like
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an award dinner at night in another room, another facility, going to different
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restaurants in the evening? Is it multi day?
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And who's attending? Who? Who is the audience? And
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more specifically, are you, is
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this like your C suite in attendance and are you trying to
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elevate so that they feel that they're getting the value they need
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for that event? Is it just an internal meeting where it's
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more important just to communicate ideas and it's not
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as important to impress people? Is it out facing? Is
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this a sales meeting where you're bringing in users from the end
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client? Maybe they're a software developer and all of their users come into one
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place and it's a big selling tool for them. So they, they're bringing in people
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that are users or people that are curious about their product and they're bringing them
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in. You want to have a different AV approach to that. You want to
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be able to wow people in that situation. So understanding who's attending,
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you really need to know where and when this is taking place. And if you
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don't know that, excellent. Bring in your AV provider to
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advise on that question. Maybe you have several
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venues that you can't decide on. Well, ask your AV provider which one
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is easier and not just easier, which one is more economical
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to do because they will be able to look in and see what restrictions there
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are there. And then you can even get more detailed about that room
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itself. Who's in there before, who's in there after? What are our
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timelines? How long do we have that space? You know, if you know
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that, go ahead and let your AV provider know because that drives
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the requirement of labor on site. And
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you know, what is the audience like? What type of audience is
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this? And in this day and age, every event you're asking, is this in
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person, virtual or a mix? You Know that the term hybrid
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streaming is almost always a component these days
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or an expectation, but to what degree? And maybe
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it's not, maybe it's not something you want to do, but maybe you do need
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to record it for use afterward, knowing that
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what is your audience and how are they
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attending this event? Are they in person? Are they not there? Are they going to
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be. Is this an evergreen product you're creating that's going to go up on a
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website? So is this a recorded type of a thing?
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Have you worked with AV vendors before? The reason
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I like this question on the discovery call is it's not
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a question about your experience. My next follow up would be
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if you've worked with AV vendors before, what have been challenges, so
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be prepared to offer. You know, I, when I worked with
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another production company here, this is what I really loved or this is what
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I didn't like at all. And so if we could avoid that, that's super helpful
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to understand your pain points from an AV perspective.
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And then what's worked well in the past, what hasn't, what are
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deployments of av that if you have a portfolio of events
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that you manage and you have a history, go ahead and share that, that's great.
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If you have pictures of this event from previous years,
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go ahead and share that. And then a big one that's, I
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don't know, some people it's a really sensitive subject, some people it's not.
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But do you have a fixed budget or are you still building that out?
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Budget parameters, from this to this? Or
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you could also say for your minimum viable AV
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solution, what is the money that you have to spend? And we'll design
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something for that and then we can talk about enhancements, add
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ons, all that good stuff, and you can take back to your leadership after that.
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But let's solve your first problem and then we can talk about enhancements
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and all of that good stuff. These are the type of
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things that an AV provider can start helping you work
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through. And if you're new to event planning, your
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AV provider should be able to give you questions like this
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in the context of how you
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can prepare to talk to your AV provider, what do
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you need to have available to them so that they can work quickly?
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And then you guys can get to the fun stuff of just creating the thing,
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creating the look. I hope part one was
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helpful to you. Be on the lookout for part two where
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we are going to be talking more about
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how you can do more with your budgets. I know that budget is such a
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big topic, so we're working through how we can help you do more
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with sometimes less. And as an AV partner, any of your
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service partners should really be trying to help you
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do more with your budget to help you succeed. And that's really our
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goal at lemg. And if you need AV help, go to LEMG
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Live. We'd love to help you. You can always check out our backlog
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of episodes on the Event pro
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show@theeventproshow.com Be sure to check
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out our wonderful guests that we have, and we look
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forward to talking to you next time. Thank you for spending time with us and
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I hope you have a great day. The Event
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Pro show is a production of LEMG video by
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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.
00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:04,240
Did you know that AV input early on usually
2
00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:07,800
equals better ideas, less redos, and quite
3
00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,440
frankly a smoother RFP process overall?
4
00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,600
Well, let's get into it. Welcome to the Event Pro
5
00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:19,400
show. Your ultimate guide to the world of corporate events. Whether you're
6
00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,760
a corporate event planner, experiential marketing pro, producer,
7
00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,100
technician, or anyone involved in creating exceptional events, the this
8
00:00:26,100 --> 00:00:29,860
podcast is your go to resource for valuable insights, expert tips and
9
00:00:29,860 --> 00:00:32,580
inspiring stories from the industry's leading professionals.
10
00:00:40,020 --> 00:00:43,700
Well, welcome to the Event Pro Show. I am your host Seth Macchi. I am
11
00:00:43,700 --> 00:00:47,460
the CEO of lemg. We're an event production company
12
00:00:47,460 --> 00:00:50,580
based in Charlotte, North Carolina. We travel all over the country
13
00:00:51,060 --> 00:00:54,590
working with planners to to produce corporate events. That's almost
14
00:00:54,590 --> 00:00:58,070
solely what we focus on. And welcome to part one
15
00:00:58,390 --> 00:01:01,110
of our five part series called the AV
16
00:01:01,830 --> 00:01:05,510
Elevating your events from idea to execution. So
17
00:01:05,510 --> 00:01:09,110
the goal of this five part series that each episode
18
00:01:09,190 --> 00:01:12,630
walks the planner through a key stage in AV
19
00:01:12,710 --> 00:01:16,390
related event planning. So from early ideas to flawless
20
00:01:16,390 --> 00:01:19,800
show day delivery. And we want to have a focus on
21
00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,280
helping planners look sharp while saving money
22
00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,160
and reducing surprises. So sounds like kind of everybody's
23
00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,680
dream here. So in this first episode we're going to talk about
24
00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,359
designing it right and collaborating early for
25
00:01:34,359 --> 00:01:37,920
smarter av. I'm going to walk you through what I mean by that.
26
00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,600
So the whole point of this episode is talking about involving
27
00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:44,880
AV early in the creative process.
28
00:01:46,540 --> 00:01:50,020
AV input early on helps with creative
29
00:01:50,020 --> 00:01:53,860
ideas, fewer redos, a smoother
30
00:01:53,860 --> 00:01:57,580
RFP process. And I like to envision it kind of like
31
00:01:57,580 --> 00:02:01,299
this. Imagine an assembly line and there's
32
00:02:01,299 --> 00:02:04,940
this belt that moves along. And at the beginning of the belt you
33
00:02:04,940 --> 00:02:08,740
start with all the basic components of the thing that you're making, the widget
34
00:02:08,740 --> 00:02:12,180
you're making at the very beginning of the conveyor
35
00:02:12,180 --> 00:02:15,690
belt. Any issues that come up, design
36
00:02:15,930 --> 00:02:19,410
flaws, logic flaws that are
37
00:02:19,410 --> 00:02:22,970
discovered, it's way cheaper to fix them at the
38
00:02:22,970 --> 00:02:26,770
front of the assembly line. Now as you move down the assembly line, you
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get closer to final production where you're going to take that widget off and
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give it to the end user. Everything that's discovered
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that's an issue or a design issue, a
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logic issue, a use issue issue becomes more
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and more expensive to fix. And so the earlier
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you can involve and discover issues
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on that assembly line, the cheaper it is,
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quite frankly, for you to fix that problem
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and then create what you were really trying to create to begin with.
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So in that analogy, in that example,
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let's think of an event, you have this idea or you've been
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mandated by who you work for to create an event.
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And you are told some basic things.
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You're told kind of you know who the event is for,
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rough idea of how many attendees are going to be there and
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what you're trying to accomplish. And now you have all
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that basic information. But what
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if the way that you were taught to plan events is knock out
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the first things, let's talk about geography, events and the. Then we'll work our way
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through, get some food going, get hotel rooms going. We'll talk
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about what table setups look like, what, you know, signage looks like. And then
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the very end, we're going to bring in some. Maybe that's
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wonderful if you have really basic requirements. But most people
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are trying to create an event that is enhanced and engaging.
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And as media has developed
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over the last several decades, there's a certain expectation that
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attendees have when they come to an event. So
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developing the AV plan has become more and more complex.
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So involving your AV provider early on
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is becoming not just something that's nice to have, but it's something that's
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imperative if you're really going to control that budget and control
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the outcome. And so some tips for
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starting creative conversation with your AV provider
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partner. You know, I've talked about this on this show,
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finding those partners well before you need them. And
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so you should be developing relationships with
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partners that you think you might bring in at some point. And so you
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have some sort of a relationship. If you have that
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developed already and you trust them, you can bring
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them in before you even create the rfp.
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Because if it's no longer a question of, I
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think, are they going to rip me off, are they the right partner for me?
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No, you, you trust them and you have these partners that you use so they
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can speak into the creation process of the
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RFP instead of you as a planner who might not be
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an AV expert. So really thinking about it logically, it would
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make more sense to bring in somebody you trust to help. Can you outline the
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scope of what I'm going to need for AV for. From an actual AV
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partner? So that's the first part of that.
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The next is, well, if you don't know
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exactly who you're going to use, then you might be going out there
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and getting quotes from different providers. Well, let's talk through
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what to expect. You can put together your rfp
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and I have an episode on building an rfp.
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But essentially you need to understand your
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minimum requirements when you're creating that rfp.
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And so when you document that you can Send that out
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and then expect an initial conversation, an initial
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conversation from a potential production partner. I
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want to walk you through that really quick of questions you might get so you
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can kind of prepare those questions ahead of time and get ahead of it.
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But essentially the key questions that you're going to be asked
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on this initial discovery call. First of all, what type of
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event is it? You know, is this a single room
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event? Is in this single room? Is this just a luncheon? Is it an award
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show? Is it an all day event where you have different segments?
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Is it a multi venue or multi room event?
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Is there a general session with different sessions throughout the day where the
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attendees then go to breakouts throughout the day? Do they go to like
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an award dinner at night in another room, another facility, going to different
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restaurants in the evening? Is it multi day?
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And who's attending? Who? Who is the audience? And
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more specifically, are you, is
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this like your C suite in attendance and are you trying to
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elevate so that they feel that they're getting the value they need
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for that event? Is it just an internal meeting where it's
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more important just to communicate ideas and it's not
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as important to impress people? Is it out facing? Is
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this a sales meeting where you're bringing in users from the end
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client? Maybe they're a software developer and all of their users come into one
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place and it's a big selling tool for them. So they, they're bringing in people
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that are users or people that are curious about their product and they're bringing them
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in. You want to have a different AV approach to that. You want to
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be able to wow people in that situation. So understanding who's attending,
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you really need to know where and when this is taking place. And if you
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don't know that, excellent. Bring in your AV provider to
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advise on that question. Maybe you have several
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venues that you can't decide on. Well, ask your AV provider which one
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is easier and not just easier, which one is more economical
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to do because they will be able to look in and see what restrictions there
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are there. And then you can even get more detailed about that room
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itself. Who's in there before, who's in there after? What are our
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timelines? How long do we have that space? You know, if you know
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that, go ahead and let your AV provider know because that drives
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the requirement of labor on site. And
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you know, what is the audience like? What type of audience is
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this? And in this day and age, every event you're asking, is this in
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person, virtual or a mix? You Know that the term hybrid
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streaming is almost always a component these days
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or an expectation, but to what degree? And maybe
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it's not, maybe it's not something you want to do, but maybe you do need
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to record it for use afterward, knowing that
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what is your audience and how are they
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attending this event? Are they in person? Are they not there? Are they going to
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be. Is this an evergreen product you're creating that's going to go up on a
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website? So is this a recorded type of a thing?
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Have you worked with AV vendors before? The reason
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I like this question on the discovery call is it's not
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a question about your experience. My next follow up would be
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if you've worked with AV vendors before, what have been challenges, so
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be prepared to offer. You know, I, when I worked with
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another production company here, this is what I really loved or this is what
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I didn't like at all. And so if we could avoid that, that's super helpful
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to understand your pain points from an AV perspective.
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And then what's worked well in the past, what hasn't, what are
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deployments of av that if you have a portfolio of events
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that you manage and you have a history, go ahead and share that, that's great.
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If you have pictures of this event from previous years,
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go ahead and share that. And then a big one that's, I
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don't know, some people it's a really sensitive subject, some people it's not.
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But do you have a fixed budget or are you still building that out?
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Budget parameters, from this to this? Or
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you could also say for your minimum viable AV
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solution, what is the money that you have to spend? And we'll design
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something for that and then we can talk about enhancements, add
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ons, all that good stuff, and you can take back to your leadership after that.
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But let's solve your first problem and then we can talk about enhancements
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and all of that good stuff. These are the type of
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things that an AV provider can start helping you work
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through. And if you're new to event planning, your
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AV provider should be able to give you questions like this
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in the context of how you
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can prepare to talk to your AV provider, what do
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you need to have available to them so that they can work quickly?
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And then you guys can get to the fun stuff of just creating the thing,
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creating the look. I hope part one was
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helpful to you. Be on the lookout for part two where
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we are going to be talking more about
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how you can do more with your budgets. I know that budget is such a
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big topic, so we're working through how we can help you do more
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with sometimes less. And as an AV partner, any of your
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service partners should really be trying to help you
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do more with your budget to help you succeed. And that's really our
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goal at lemg. And if you need AV help, go to LEMG
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Live. We'd love to help you. You can always check out our backlog
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of episodes on the Event pro
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show@theeventproshow.com Be sure to check
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out our wonderful guests that we have, and we look
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forward to talking to you next time. Thank you for spending time with us and
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I hope you have a great day. The Event
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Pro show is a production of LEMG video by
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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.