April 2004
Cheat Sheet: Sight and sound
Using the latest A/V technologies at your show can be complicated and expensive. Here are some tips for saving money on your A/V bill.
By Linda Chandler

Plan to save
•  Take the time to communicate up front about your specific needs. If the A/V provider knows you’re penny pinching, they can review your plan and offer suggestions about what alternatives are cheaper.

•  Provide room dimensions and setup for every room. Reuse the same rooms with the same sets.

•  Determine the size of the audience and distances from the A/V projection to determine “lowest common denominators” (balance of best effect with least tech expense).

•  Review the event objectives and how A/V fulfills them. Is splurging on A/V really going to further the mission?

•  Consider standardizing speaker requirements and restricting speakers to certain A/V technologies.

•  Be clear about set up, break down and rehearsal times.

•  Clarify any extra charges, especially when using an outside vendor instead of the convention center/hotel’s preferred provider.

Stretching your dollar
•  Use lighting and fabrics for impact instead of custom-built sets.

•  Minimize resets and changes to avoid labor costs.

•  Use older or smaller technology when the technology is not as important. The newer it is, the more it costs. Think “need” instead of “want.”

•  Plan well to eliminate extra hours and overtime rates. Schedule to avoid waits, delays and weekends if possible.

•  Limit on-site orders. On-site costs more than pre-ordered equipment.

•  Never allow speakers to order A/V directly.

•  Review labor charges daily. The largest expense is still in labor.

Comparing costs for bigger and better
•  There may be a $1,000-per-day difference between a 30-inch and 40-inch flat screen teleprompter.

•  A wireless microphone (hand-held or lavaliere) may cost four to five times more than a wired one ($150 vs. $30, for example).

•  An LCD projector may run $400, while DLP, the newer technology, may be $1,200 to $3,750 per day.

•  A 42-inch plasma screen runs about a third of the cost of a 60-inch plasma screen.

•  Soft goods/fabrics well lit with concert lighting can create a flexible, impressive backdrop for thousands less than constructed sets.

Using the latest A/V technologies
Networked presentation systems
The latest trend for conferences with multiple breakouts and speakers and large A/V requirements is the creation of a local area network (LAN). One speaker prep room generally contains several computers and an on-duty technician(s). Speakers are encouraged or required to present their materials in advance via Web, disk or floppy. These are loaded on a server and pushed to computers in the appropriate rooms each day for scheduled presenters to pull up their files. It’s especially efficient for large medical meetings. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons is using this technique with AVW-TELAV, and the American Academy of Neurology has implemented a similar system using AVHQ. The results? Flawless. The benefits:

•  The A/V company handles most pre-event speaker issues, saving staff time.

•  There’s no time-consuming laptop shuffle during session changes.

•  Last-minute room changes can be easily accommodated.

•  Files are pre-checked to ensure everything works (embedded graphics and video).

•  Presenters can still update their presentations in the speaker prep room on site.

•  All presentations are together at end of conference for reproduction or broadcast.

Based on an example of eight meeting rooms, six speakers in each room per day for three days — totaling 144 presentations, plus supplying computers, a speaker ready room with eight stations, and tech support as well as operators for each of the eight meeting rooms, a show manager could expect to pay between $20,000 and $35,000. Factors that can easily affect price include the cost of labor, and the cost of the LAN lines (which are provided by the convention center) that can range in cost from $300 to $1,000 per room.

Video walls and plasma screens
High-impact presentation walls for walk-in or registration areas are being used more frequently. Hanging plasma screens are popular, especially for hi-tech trade shows and conferences, where perception of cutting edge means everything. Where content outweighs impression, wait a couple of years until pricing goes down — as it always tends to do with technological innovations.

An LED video wall can vary greatly in price, from $7,000 to $150,000 per week, depending on  customer requirements, image size and the format of the video wall.

Resources
The Convention Industry Council’s APEX audiovisual glossary includes 449 terms. You can find it at: http://www.conventionindustry.org/. The good news: You don’t have to be an A/V techie. You just have to communicate well so your A/V company knows your show’s needs.

Sources
Mindy Hoff, National Trade Productions, (800) 687-7469

Larry Kasoff, KVL Audio Visual Services, (800) 862-3210

Jamie McDonough, Fusion Productions, (585) 872-1900

Katie Kelly Smith, CMP, Conferon, (303) 825-8333

Dan Vanderslice, AVW-TELAV Audio Visual Solutions, (214) 623-1344

Paul Wedesky, CMP, CASE, AVHQ, (214) 210-8044