Leverage In-House AV for Event Success

As a meeting planner, you’re faced with tough choices every day. From selecting venues to coordinating stakeholder travel, the details are endless.

Selecting an AV provider might be one of the biggest – and toughest – choices to make. The decision to stay in-house or to go with an outside vendor is a constant conundrum. With such fierce competition, it’s important to understand the value.

In today’s blog post, we’re looking at the top benefits of using an in-house AV provider.

Knowing you’re getting the most out of your space is imperative. When discussing your audio-visual needs, no one will know the space better than someone who lives and breathes it every day. From infrastructure to technology, chances are likely that your in-house AV team has already executed something similar before and is not only equipped to answer every question, but can help you get creative with event design and bring your exact vision to life.

In-house AV teams are strongly connected with the hotel venue team as a whole, meaning your event will be rooted in solid working relationships and good communication. Plus, an added benefit to having your team in-house is that there’s a single point of contact for you to manage.

Imagine having a change to your plans. How much easier would it be just to contact your venue, knowing that they will take care of the rest? When you can limit how many participants you have in the chain, planning your event will be much easier and less stressful.

One of the biggest advantages to having an AV team in-house is that most of the equipment is already installed: rigging points, projectors, etc. So, what does that mean for us planners? Rooms can be adjusted on the fly with little-to-no setup time, and your meeting (even if it has a strict agenda!) can run smoothly.

For example, for events with a lot of breakout rooms or last-minute room usage, it’s a lot easier for in-house teams to accommodate last-minute changes because they know the space. Outside AV companies have to coordinate separately with the venue.

When you think “in-house AV,” start thinking “sustainability.” You might not realize it, but by choosing an in-house AV vendor, your meeting’s carbon footprint is reduced. Venues that have their own provider are local and invest in energy-efficient technology. That means there’s no shipping, technician travel, per diem costs, and no personally-owned equipment malfunctioning during transport. As planners, we have enough things to worry about; damaged equipment during transportation should not be one of them.