July 21, 2025
Why the AV Project Manager Might Be Your Event’s Secret Weapon
Thanks for tuning in! I’m Seth Macchi, CEO of LEMG, a Charlotte-based event production company. Today, we’re pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to bring a corporate event to life from the AV side of things. Ever curious about how everything runs so smoothly on show day? I’m walking you through the critical role of a project manager inside an AV company. Think vendor coordination, tech planning, and making sure the right gear and crew are exactly where they need to be. If you're an event planner hoping to boost efficiency or simply curious about the behind-the-scenes mechanics, this episode is packed with real-world tips you can start using right away. Let’s jump in!
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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So how does an AV provider prepare for your next event?
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Well, let's get into it. Welcome to the Event Pro show,
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your ultimate guide to the world of corporate events. Whether you're a corporate event
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planner, experiential marketing pro, producer, technician, or
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anyone involved in creating exceptional events, this podcast is your go to
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resource for valuable insights, expert tips and inspiring stories from the
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industry's leading professionals. Foreign.
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Thank you for joining us on the Event Pro Show. I am your host, Seth
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Macchi. I am the CEO of lemg. We're an event production
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company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, but we produce
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events all over the country. Corporate events is our
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specialty. And I wanted to talk for a minute about
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something that maybe you don't think about too often
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as an event planner. So we all know that event
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planners are very busy.
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We know, we've read the research where being an event
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planner is one of the most stressful jobs that you can
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have. And those of you that knew
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that going into it, great. And some of you might have found that
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out after you got into it. And so you realized it, but you
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kept on. And it does take a certain type to who really love
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that. You either love that or you don't. And people that are
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doing it year after year just really love the experience. And that's
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the type of people we love to work for. Event planners are our primary
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client, but I wanted to share with you
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about something behind the curtain of one of
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your vendor types, which are AV companies. And obviously
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I can speak to this because I run an AV company, but you could really
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think about this for any of the vendors that you utilize and maybe
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how they put together their search service. When you work with
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a vendor, I guess the dream would be that they show up and they do
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an amazing job and it's seamless and you really don't have to think about it
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and it makes you look good. And that's the goal.
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Well, I want to peek behind the curtain here of an AV company and talk
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about what a project manager does within an
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AV company. And you know, at LEMG we
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call them project managers. I interact with a lot
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of my counterparts at other production companies, people that run other production
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companies. And there's a little bit difference, a little bit of difference in
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terminology. You might call them production
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manager. Some people call this component
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just planning itself. And it's a group of people that are doing
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something that we're calling project management. I think planning can be
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a little bit confusing from an event planner perspective because as an event
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planner, you're looking at the macro event, when an AV
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company calls it planning, they're talking about all of the
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resources I'm going to go through that will
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have an output of a well executed
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production from an AV perspective. So let's get into it.
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What does a project manager do within an AV company?
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It might help with understanding what it takes
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for an excellent AV provider to
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deliver something that you consider very
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much worth what you paid for it. So what you could see
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from a Project manager is the first thing you can
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expect is, you know, you've, let's just assume you've already gone through the sales process
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and you've signed the contract. You decided this is the company I want to
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work with. Or maybe you are. You work with them all the time.
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But the contract has been signed, you have outlined your
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needs and that's been presented to you. Everyone's in agreement. This is what we're
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doing, these are the dates. Let's move forward. And so what happens
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is initially there will be some sort of a handoff from
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Sales to Project Management. You might have already met some of
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the project management team in the discovery phase of your
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event before you signed your contract, but there will be
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a project manager assigned to your project and there will be a
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kickoff call so that you can meet them and have a
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handoff from Sales to Project Management from that point forward.
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That's really your point of contact and the person you want to be reaching out
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to about your event in the pre production phase. And so there
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will be things that will be scheduled that you can expect, periodical
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pre production calls and preparation. But
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let's get into that a little bit. What's happening after that, that
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handoff conference call with you and you meet the this project
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manager? Well, the first thing you can probably expect is they're going to want to
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reach out to the venue. If they haven't already been there, if they weren't part
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of the initial site survey, then they're
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going to want to reach out to the venue and
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have introductions to the contacts there so that they can
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find out things like they're going to reach out to the venue and
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confirm load in dates and times, loadout dates and times. They're going to
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inquire about venue policies, procedures for external AV
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companies, deadlines. There are things they need from us
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typically that we would like to go ahead and proactively provide.
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We're going to find out things that get pretty detailed like egress requirements
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or if exit signs are required at certain points, or things that
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if a fire marshal permit is
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Required even down to if
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we're loading into this certain ballroom. Are you going to require visqueen
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or plastic protection layer on that carpet so that we don't hurt
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the carpet. We'll request venue
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documentation if we haven't already received it. Looking for master
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CAD layouts, we're going to look for COI
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requirement, insurance requirements, doc access forms.
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What's it going to be like getting in and out of that venue? And we
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do work all over the country at lemg. We have been to many
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venues, but as you know, as a planner, there are a lot of
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venues out there. And so we, you know, while we do have institutional
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knowledge of a lot of venues, we're also dealing with new venues all the
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time. So these are things we want to find out. We don't want any friction
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when we're working with a venue. We want to be a great
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steward of what the time we have available to us and we want to
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be, have a good relationship with them
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when we get into the venue and find
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out what we need. We're going to finalize your room layout design. If that wasn't
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already done in the sales process, maybe it was a sketched out or
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in a general sense. But we really want to get into details of
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room diagram and AV placement within a space
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to make sure that you can really get the people that
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you want in that room safely against all
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venue requirements, fire marshal requirements, and
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we will help walk you through that to make sure that
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you don't run into any last minute unwelcome surprises
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about how many people can fit in this space or have issues with things like
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fire marshals or just the venue itself.
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Once that's approved, we're moving on then to
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vendor management. And this is something I want to take, take a minute
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and talk about. Vendor management for us
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means every AV company
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typically has an inventory of AV equipment.
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So you know, all of us have a bunch of speakers and consoles and
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lighting stuff and video stuff, computers and TVs,
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projectors, LED, all that kind of stuff. But there comes a
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point where our process that I'm describing to you can actually
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do projects, way more projects
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often than the inventory that we have internally. And the reason
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why we know that is there are great partners that we have that
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you rarely if ever would interact with. Their
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third party equipment rental companies and excellent
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professional companies that are, that are there just to serve
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companies like us so that we can flex and do more projects
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because we have capacity, we have the creative capacity and the planning
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capacity to do more projects and serve Our clients really well,
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we just have exceeded our internal capacity or there are specific needs
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with the design that we are working with our client on.
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And so we will cross rent equipment. So I
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say that to say when you hire
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an AV company, but you see them rolling in some cases that are
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labeled maybe a different company, don't worry about that, that's actually
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a standard. It's a normal thing in our industry and I expect to see that
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more in our industry. But it's a common practice. And
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so your project manager is managing
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all of the orders to our third party rental
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providers. They're coordinating what they need when it needs to be
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there, so that it's the exact thing that our client, our in client,
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you would need in that situation. They're also securing things
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like scissor lifts or generators. If you're in a venue that doesn't have
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adequate power for the power needs for the project, they're doing
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that and working with all of these third parties. And
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sometimes it can get complex, but usually it's only maybe two
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or three partners underneath. We're also having
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warehouse communication, so we're keeping our warehouse team
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in the loop about what to expect and also our
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internal logistics team, what to expect. And so we
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have a rolling production grid that shows all of our
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projects that are coming. And we're always looking at what's
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the best use of our resources across that grid. And so our
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team is fully coordinated in that on the note of
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third party providers, that's equipment. We also
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do the same with freelance technicians. This is a
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very common practice across our industry as well. While we
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have internal full time staff that are technical
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in nature and what they do, we have some technicians.
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Often in this environment, when a technician gets to a
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certain level in their skill set, some of them choose to go and
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become independent contractors and work for multiple AV companies
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across the country because they can earn more in that
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scenario and they also can work for themselves. So if they have any kind of
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an entrepreneurial bug, they'll go out and do that and create their own
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LLC and work for themselves. And so we
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have, we lean into that and we hire a lot of
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freelance technicians for our projects. And often
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you'll see the same technicians on your projects,
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but sometimes those aren't internal staff, they're freelancers
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and we just love working with them. They do a great job and it's the
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best all the way around. Everybody's happier with that scenario. And
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so our project manager is working on that resource as well. They're
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laying out the whole Technical requirement,
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what technicians need to be on site, making sure that we get the right person
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in the room at the right time. And that's something
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that takes a
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lot of time to manage. So the more time we have,
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the better technician we can get on your show. And I've talked about that before.
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A secret sauce to getting the best price is letting
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your AV vendor know as far out as possible so they can secure all these
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things at the best price for you and your event.
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Your project manager is then working on crew communication. So they're creating
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something called a show book that will be the output of all of this
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planning that will be communicated to every team member on site.
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And that show book has, you know, every venue
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information, a little bit, client information, show information, equipment information,
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run a show, all of these cool things that our team knows.
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Another really important piece to a project manager is what we call our
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budget tracker. But it's essentially just your, your events budget
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itself. And so a project manager is empowered with a
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budget for that show and they're a steward of that
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budget. And why that's important for you is that we
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need to know that we're being responsible
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for, with the budget that you have empowered us with for your project.
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If we're going to do a change order, we want it to be
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absolutely necessary and not because of mismanagement on
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our side. So our project managers take that very seriously. Every
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purchase they really care about, every expense they care about,
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they're really looking to make sure we stay on track and
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on budget with your project as discussed
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initially in the front end. So that's an important piece to us.
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And the final preparations. They're looking at things
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like per diems and getting those show books out, making sure
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doc access forms for the venue are filled out. There's a lot
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of last minute stuff that they're collecting from you, presentations,
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music, needs these types of things, finalizing
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your run of show and continuing to work with
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you all the way up to flying out for your event.
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The last thing, probably three days before our truck departs, we'd like to have a
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pull list for our warehouse so they can start actually prepping
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the pile of gear that goes on our vehicles that goes out to your events.
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And so that's super important, super important. Process Warehouse
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and logistics is an incredibly core
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team to delivering an exceptional service for you, something
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that you might have never seen. But it's important that
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flow of equipment out the door and back in, making sure everything is
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going out ready to go in the best shape that it can be
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and then coming back and making sure that we're repairing
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anything or QC everything for the next project that goes out.
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So you have people that really care about that equipment working
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on that project. And the PM project manager
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is the key piece to that, making sure everybody has what they need at the
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right time. And all throughout this, they're doing vendor and
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crew reminders as we're coming closer to the event, reminding them of anything
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that they need to know, where they need to be, when they need to fly,
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fly in once this is all pre
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production, but once we get on site, you can expect
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that your project manager is going to have already done a walkthrough of the venue,
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making sure that everything's where it's supposed to be. Probably
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before this, they've done this. But even on day of load in, they're going to
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get there maybe 45 minutes before the crew even arrives and they're going to
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walk the path from the dock to the ballroom or
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whatever the venue is. They're going to make sure that the, the
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venue has provided what they said. Did they put the stage in the room and
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is it in the right place or have they provided all the power needs that
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we need? All these types of things so that when our crew walks
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in, when you have your call
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time is at 9 o', clock, is it 9am
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the clock is running. I mean the, that we're paying these
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people the moment they walk in. So we want to have an efficient load in.
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So on that note, they've done all their checks of the venue, they receive
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everybody in, they prep everybody. So the actual technical crew,
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this is the marching orders, our stage hand labor, which is different
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typically than the talent we bring in as operators,
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what they're going to do, who they're assigned to, and these are usually
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local labor companies or local unions, stage stage
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hand unions that help our technicians on site do
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all the heavy lifting so that they make that experience better for
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everybody. So we're making sure all those
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talent, labor resources are being utilized to the best of their ability.
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Because again, we're thinking budget. We want to make sure that we're getting the most
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out of everything that you're paying for. And so that crew
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coordination is very important to us. And then they're into
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the technical setup. Is all the equipment where it's supposed to be? Is it set
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up how we promised in our sales agreement, making
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sure that the technical, the technical part, which is actually what you're hiring us
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for, is there and that really, that's not, doesn't always, it's not always a
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high tech thing. Are we making sure that everything's clean
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and all the lines are clean and the drape looks nice and everything's taped
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down and the carpet has no bumps in it and everything looks really nice
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and sharp when you walk in. And that's before
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you get into the things that have a power button and make sure all those
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things are on and technically excellent. And then that's
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about the time when you might interact with the project manager
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on site. When you walk in and they're well underway in their load
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in and so they're working with you, making sure they're addressing any needs that you
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have on site. And so you know, with your run of
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show and any, any communication that needs to
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happen, they're helping you with that. Once we get everything set up,
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they're going to manage tech and crew walkthrough. If we have
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enough time, we'll be doing rehearsals. But we also before that we
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to have a tech facts or a tech crew check in or
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walkthrough of everything, make sure we're checking everything before we actually need
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it so that there's no surprises and everything's in place. So
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they're managing that and during the event they're monitor. The project
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manager is monitoring hours, making sure we're staying within every
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day. Exactly what we promised in our sales
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agreement that the crew is being used correctly. Everybody's being
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communicated to, they're also on comm and they're interacting with you,
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making sure that you're your end client is
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happy and if there's anything we can do to change that or you know, adjust
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or whatever. While you're appreciating that
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last day of show, that last session, you're kind of like starting to relax.
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You're thinking about your flight home maybe. Our project
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managers have been thinking about strike the. Strike the
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loadout. And so they're thinking about strike coordination. They've already been
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talking to logistics, making sure trucks are incoming inbound,
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making sure that everybody has marching orders of that last event. What we're going
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to do immediately to start our loadout process
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again, it's about efficiency and being good stewards of
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the budget that we've been giving. And so they're, they're planning that and working on
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that and they work all the way until that last truck
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door is closed and out the door. And at
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that point they can think about traveling home. If they're doing it that night
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or the next day, then they're done there on site.
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But they do do post event documentation, key
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takeaways, challenges, recommendations for the next show. We
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record all those notes so that we get better with our institutional knowledge
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for each client and what we're doing. And then they will touch base
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with you too if we need to. On a post event discussion,
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what went well, what didn't, an event closeout,
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they'll then get back and they'll deliver all that sales
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needs to do the final invoicing to you to make sure that we
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did what we said, if anything was added by you
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through an agreement and what we need to do there. And they close out the
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event. So that's what a project manager does
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for an AV production company that produces corporate events.
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As an event planner, this is what's happening when you hire a great vendor
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so that you actually, when you say I'm, you know, I'm resting
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easy because I believe you know that I've selected the right AV
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company. This should be going on in the background. This is what, what
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happens with it with a great AV company. And that's why your experience on
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site should be pretty frictionless. It should be a good experience
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and it should be one of the least dramatic things. And
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your checkboxes of things that you have to take care of because this is just
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one thing you've got to take care of. But we take that very
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seriously. If you need an AV provider for your
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corporate event, let us know LEMG Live.
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You can find us there or you can find me seth Macchi on
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LinkedIn and you can DM me. I'd love to talk to you about your events,
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but in the meantime, please tune in to the Event Pro
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show@the eventproshow.com where we
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will always be providing tips and tricks about corporate
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av. But also every other week I get to introduce you to a
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new amazing guest. And my guests come at
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corporate events from all different directions. So it might be an
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experiential marketer or it might be someone that does food and beverage, or
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it might be in a venue specialist or you know, I just have
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so many different people that I've met in my career and I'm slowly just
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introducing them to my friends here that are
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listening to the Event Pro Show. So thank you for spending a little time with
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me today. I hope it was useful and we'll see you on the next one.
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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.
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So how does an AV provider prepare for your next event?
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Well, let's get into it. Welcome to the Event Pro show,
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your ultimate guide to the world of corporate events. Whether you're a corporate event
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planner, experiential marketing pro, producer, technician, or
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anyone involved in creating exceptional events, this podcast is your go to
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resource for valuable insights, expert tips and inspiring stories from the
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industry's leading professionals. Foreign.
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Thank you for joining us on the Event Pro Show. I am your host, Seth
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Macchi. I am the CEO of lemg. We're an event production
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company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, but we produce
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events all over the country. Corporate events is our
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specialty. And I wanted to talk for a minute about
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something that maybe you don't think about too often
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as an event planner. So we all know that event
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planners are very busy.
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We know, we've read the research where being an event
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planner is one of the most stressful jobs that you can
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have. And those of you that knew
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that going into it, great. And some of you might have found that
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out after you got into it. And so you realized it, but you
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kept on. And it does take a certain type to who really love
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that. You either love that or you don't. And people that are
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doing it year after year just really love the experience. And that's
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the type of people we love to work for. Event planners are our primary
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client, but I wanted to share with you
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about something behind the curtain of one of
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your vendor types, which are AV companies. And obviously
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I can speak to this because I run an AV company, but you could really
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think about this for any of the vendors that you utilize and maybe
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how they put together their search service. When you work with
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a vendor, I guess the dream would be that they show up and they do
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an amazing job and it's seamless and you really don't have to think about it
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and it makes you look good. And that's the goal.
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Well, I want to peek behind the curtain here of an AV company and talk
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about what a project manager does within an
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AV company. And you know, at LEMG we
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call them project managers. I interact with a lot
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of my counterparts at other production companies, people that run other production
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companies. And there's a little bit difference, a little bit of difference in
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terminology. You might call them production
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manager. Some people call this component
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just planning itself. And it's a group of people that are doing
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something that we're calling project management. I think planning can be
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a little bit confusing from an event planner perspective because as an event
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planner, you're looking at the macro event, when an AV
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company calls it planning, they're talking about all of the
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resources I'm going to go through that will
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have an output of a well executed
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production from an AV perspective. So let's get into it.
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What does a project manager do within an AV company?
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It might help with understanding what it takes
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for an excellent AV provider to
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deliver something that you consider very
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much worth what you paid for it. So what you could see
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from a Project manager is the first thing you can
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expect is, you know, you've, let's just assume you've already gone through the sales process
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and you've signed the contract. You decided this is the company I want to
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work with. Or maybe you are. You work with them all the time.
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But the contract has been signed, you have outlined your
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needs and that's been presented to you. Everyone's in agreement. This is what we're
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doing, these are the dates. Let's move forward. And so what happens
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is initially there will be some sort of a handoff from
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Sales to Project Management. You might have already met some of
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the project management team in the discovery phase of your
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event before you signed your contract, but there will be
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a project manager assigned to your project and there will be a
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kickoff call so that you can meet them and have a
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handoff from Sales to Project Management from that point forward.
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That's really your point of contact and the person you want to be reaching out
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to about your event in the pre production phase. And so there
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will be things that will be scheduled that you can expect, periodical
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pre production calls and preparation. But
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let's get into that a little bit. What's happening after that, that
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handoff conference call with you and you meet the this project
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manager? Well, the first thing you can probably expect is they're going to want to
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reach out to the venue. If they haven't already been there, if they weren't part
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of the initial site survey, then they're
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going to want to reach out to the venue and
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have introductions to the contacts there so that they can
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find out things like they're going to reach out to the venue and
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confirm load in dates and times, loadout dates and times. They're going to
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inquire about venue policies, procedures for external AV
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companies, deadlines. There are things they need from us
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typically that we would like to go ahead and proactively provide.
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We're going to find out things that get pretty detailed like egress requirements
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or if exit signs are required at certain points, or things that
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if a fire marshal permit is
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Required even down to if
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we're loading into this certain ballroom. Are you going to require visqueen
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or plastic protection layer on that carpet so that we don't hurt
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the carpet. We'll request venue
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documentation if we haven't already received it. Looking for master
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CAD layouts, we're going to look for COI
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requirement, insurance requirements, doc access forms.
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What's it going to be like getting in and out of that venue? And we
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do work all over the country at lemg. We have been to many
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venues, but as you know, as a planner, there are a lot of
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venues out there. And so we, you know, while we do have institutional
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knowledge of a lot of venues, we're also dealing with new venues all the
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time. So these are things we want to find out. We don't want any friction
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when we're working with a venue. We want to be a great
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steward of what the time we have available to us and we want to
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be, have a good relationship with them
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when we get into the venue and find
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out what we need. We're going to finalize your room layout design. If that wasn't
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already done in the sales process, maybe it was a sketched out or
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in a general sense. But we really want to get into details of
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room diagram and AV placement within a space
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to make sure that you can really get the people that
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you want in that room safely against all
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venue requirements, fire marshal requirements, and
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we will help walk you through that to make sure that
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you don't run into any last minute unwelcome surprises
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about how many people can fit in this space or have issues with things like
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fire marshals or just the venue itself.
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Once that's approved, we're moving on then to
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vendor management. And this is something I want to take, take a minute
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and talk about. Vendor management for us
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means every AV company
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typically has an inventory of AV equipment.
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So you know, all of us have a bunch of speakers and consoles and
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lighting stuff and video stuff, computers and TVs,
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projectors, LED, all that kind of stuff. But there comes a
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point where our process that I'm describing to you can actually
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do projects, way more projects
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often than the inventory that we have internally. And the reason
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why we know that is there are great partners that we have that
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you rarely if ever would interact with. Their
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third party equipment rental companies and excellent
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professional companies that are, that are there just to serve
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companies like us so that we can flex and do more projects
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because we have capacity, we have the creative capacity and the planning
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capacity to do more projects and serve Our clients really well,
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we just have exceeded our internal capacity or there are specific needs
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with the design that we are working with our client on.
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And so we will cross rent equipment. So I
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say that to say when you hire
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an AV company, but you see them rolling in some cases that are
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labeled maybe a different company, don't worry about that, that's actually
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a standard. It's a normal thing in our industry and I expect to see that
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more in our industry. But it's a common practice. And
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so your project manager is managing
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all of the orders to our third party rental
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providers. They're coordinating what they need when it needs to be
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there, so that it's the exact thing that our client, our in client,
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you would need in that situation. They're also securing things
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like scissor lifts or generators. If you're in a venue that doesn't have
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adequate power for the power needs for the project, they're doing
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that and working with all of these third parties. And
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sometimes it can get complex, but usually it's only maybe two
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or three partners underneath. We're also having
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warehouse communication, so we're keeping our warehouse team
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in the loop about what to expect and also our
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internal logistics team, what to expect. And so we
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have a rolling production grid that shows all of our
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projects that are coming. And we're always looking at what's
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the best use of our resources across that grid. And so our
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team is fully coordinated in that on the note of
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third party providers, that's equipment. We also
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do the same with freelance technicians. This is a
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very common practice across our industry as well. While we
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have internal full time staff that are technical
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in nature and what they do, we have some technicians.
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Often in this environment, when a technician gets to a
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certain level in their skill set, some of them choose to go and
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become independent contractors and work for multiple AV companies
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across the country because they can earn more in that
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scenario and they also can work for themselves. So if they have any kind of
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an entrepreneurial bug, they'll go out and do that and create their own
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LLC and work for themselves. And so we
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have, we lean into that and we hire a lot of
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freelance technicians for our projects. And often
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you'll see the same technicians on your projects,
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but sometimes those aren't internal staff, they're freelancers
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and we just love working with them. They do a great job and it's the
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best all the way around. Everybody's happier with that scenario. And
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so our project manager is working on that resource as well. They're
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laying out the whole Technical requirement,
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what technicians need to be on site, making sure that we get the right person
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in the room at the right time. And that's something
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that takes a
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lot of time to manage. So the more time we have,
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the better technician we can get on your show. And I've talked about that before.
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A secret sauce to getting the best price is letting
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your AV vendor know as far out as possible so they can secure all these
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things at the best price for you and your event.
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Your project manager is then working on crew communication. So they're creating
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something called a show book that will be the output of all of this
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planning that will be communicated to every team member on site.
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And that show book has, you know, every venue
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information, a little bit, client information, show information, equipment information,
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run a show, all of these cool things that our team knows.
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Another really important piece to a project manager is what we call our
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budget tracker. But it's essentially just your, your events budget
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itself. And so a project manager is empowered with a
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budget for that show and they're a steward of that
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budget. And why that's important for you is that we
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need to know that we're being responsible
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for, with the budget that you have empowered us with for your project.
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If we're going to do a change order, we want it to be
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absolutely necessary and not because of mismanagement on
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our side. So our project managers take that very seriously. Every
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purchase they really care about, every expense they care about,
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they're really looking to make sure we stay on track and
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on budget with your project as discussed
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initially in the front end. So that's an important piece to us.
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And the final preparations. They're looking at things
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like per diems and getting those show books out, making sure
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doc access forms for the venue are filled out. There's a lot
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of last minute stuff that they're collecting from you, presentations,
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music, needs these types of things, finalizing
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your run of show and continuing to work with
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you all the way up to flying out for your event.
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The last thing, probably three days before our truck departs, we'd like to have a
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pull list for our warehouse so they can start actually prepping
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the pile of gear that goes on our vehicles that goes out to your events.
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And so that's super important, super important. Process Warehouse
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and logistics is an incredibly core
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team to delivering an exceptional service for you, something
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that you might have never seen. But it's important that
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flow of equipment out the door and back in, making sure everything is
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going out ready to go in the best shape that it can be
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and then coming back and making sure that we're repairing
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anything or QC everything for the next project that goes out.
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So you have people that really care about that equipment working
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on that project. And the PM project manager
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is the key piece to that, making sure everybody has what they need at the
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right time. And all throughout this, they're doing vendor and
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crew reminders as we're coming closer to the event, reminding them of anything
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that they need to know, where they need to be, when they need to fly,
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fly in once this is all pre
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production, but once we get on site, you can expect
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that your project manager is going to have already done a walkthrough of the venue,
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making sure that everything's where it's supposed to be. Probably
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before this, they've done this. But even on day of load in, they're going to
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get there maybe 45 minutes before the crew even arrives and they're going to
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walk the path from the dock to the ballroom or
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whatever the venue is. They're going to make sure that the, the
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venue has provided what they said. Did they put the stage in the room and
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is it in the right place or have they provided all the power needs that
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we need? All these types of things so that when our crew walks
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in, when you have your call
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time is at 9 o', clock, is it 9am
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the clock is running. I mean the, that we're paying these
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people the moment they walk in. So we want to have an efficient load in.
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So on that note, they've done all their checks of the venue, they receive
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everybody in, they prep everybody. So the actual technical crew,
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this is the marching orders, our stage hand labor, which is different
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typically than the talent we bring in as operators,
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what they're going to do, who they're assigned to, and these are usually
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local labor companies or local unions, stage stage
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hand unions that help our technicians on site do
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all the heavy lifting so that they make that experience better for
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everybody. So we're making sure all those
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talent, labor resources are being utilized to the best of their ability.
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Because again, we're thinking budget. We want to make sure that we're getting the most
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out of everything that you're paying for. And so that crew
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coordination is very important to us. And then they're into
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the technical setup. Is all the equipment where it's supposed to be? Is it set
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up how we promised in our sales agreement, making
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sure that the technical, the technical part, which is actually what you're hiring us
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for, is there and that really, that's not, doesn't always, it's not always a
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high tech thing. Are we making sure that everything's clean
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and all the lines are clean and the drape looks nice and everything's taped
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down and the carpet has no bumps in it and everything looks really nice
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and sharp when you walk in. And that's before
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you get into the things that have a power button and make sure all those
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things are on and technically excellent. And then that's
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about the time when you might interact with the project manager
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on site. When you walk in and they're well underway in their load
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in and so they're working with you, making sure they're addressing any needs that you
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have on site. And so you know, with your run of
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show and any, any communication that needs to
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happen, they're helping you with that. Once we get everything set up,
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they're going to manage tech and crew walkthrough. If we have
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enough time, we'll be doing rehearsals. But we also before that we
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to have a tech facts or a tech crew check in or
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walkthrough of everything, make sure we're checking everything before we actually need
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it so that there's no surprises and everything's in place. So
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they're managing that and during the event they're monitor. The project
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manager is monitoring hours, making sure we're staying within every
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day. Exactly what we promised in our sales
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agreement that the crew is being used correctly. Everybody's being
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communicated to, they're also on comm and they're interacting with you,
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making sure that you're your end client is
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happy and if there's anything we can do to change that or you know, adjust
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or whatever. While you're appreciating that
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last day of show, that last session, you're kind of like starting to relax.
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You're thinking about your flight home maybe. Our project
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managers have been thinking about strike the. Strike the
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loadout. And so they're thinking about strike coordination. They've already been
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talking to logistics, making sure trucks are incoming inbound,
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making sure that everybody has marching orders of that last event. What we're going
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to do immediately to start our loadout process
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again, it's about efficiency and being good stewards of
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the budget that we've been giving. And so they're, they're planning that and working on
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that and they work all the way until that last truck
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door is closed and out the door. And at
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that point they can think about traveling home. If they're doing it that night
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or the next day, then they're done there on site.
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But they do do post event documentation, key
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takeaways, challenges, recommendations for the next show. We
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record all those notes so that we get better with our institutional knowledge
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for each client and what we're doing. And then they will touch base
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with you too if we need to. On a post event discussion,
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what went well, what didn't, an event closeout,
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they'll then get back and they'll deliver all that sales
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needs to do the final invoicing to you to make sure that we
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did what we said, if anything was added by you
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through an agreement and what we need to do there. And they close out the
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event. So that's what a project manager does
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for an AV production company that produces corporate events.
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As an event planner, this is what's happening when you hire a great vendor
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so that you actually, when you say I'm, you know, I'm resting
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easy because I believe you know that I've selected the right AV
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company. This should be going on in the background. This is what, what
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happens with it with a great AV company. And that's why your experience on
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site should be pretty frictionless. It should be a good experience
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and it should be one of the least dramatic things. And
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your checkboxes of things that you have to take care of because this is just
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one thing you've got to take care of. But we take that very
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seriously. If you need an AV provider for your
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corporate event, let us know LEMG Live.
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You can find us there or you can find me seth Macchi on
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LinkedIn and you can DM me. I'd love to talk to you about your events,
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but in the meantime, please tune in to the Event Pro
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show@the eventproshow.com where we
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will always be providing tips and tricks about corporate
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av. But also every other week I get to introduce you to a
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new amazing guest. And my guests come at
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corporate events from all different directions. So it might be an
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experiential marketer or it might be someone that does food and beverage, or
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it might be in a venue specialist or you know, I just have
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so many different people that I've met in my career and I'm slowly just
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introducing them to my friends here that are
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listening to the Event Pro Show. So thank you for spending a little time with
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me today. I hope it was useful and we'll see you on the next one.
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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.