Involve Your AV Partner Early For The Best Rates
If your event is small, medium, or large in scale, budget plays a huge factor in the event planning process. True, some of the costs incurred for your event may be minimal; others could become much larger impacts than initially planned… especially when it comes to your event production needs.
However, did you know that talking to your event production partner before you even have a venue selected could save you some of that precious space in the budget? Yes, that’s correct—timing matters. Getting ahead of issues is excellent, but many things can be negotiated before signing the contract if you have time.
How often have you received a quote for rigging services and thought, “oh my! That is much larger than I anticipated!”? Most people in the industry have had that happen, but did you know that you can negotiate the rigging cost before signing the final agreement with the venue of your choice?
In addition to rigging fees, electrical costs can snowball during an event, becoming an unforeseen cost not accounted for. Here’s a quick note… lookout for those hotels that charge for power in their breakout rooms, even if you see a wall outlet. That is additional Audio-Visual revenue that they add to their bottom line.
Having your event production partner on hand to note these possible additional costs will help you negotiate them ahead of time and stop the typical last-minute search for extra money in the budget to cover these surprising fees.
Lastly, how do you feel about “supervision fees” assessed by in-house production companies?
We disagree with them, but it is in the hotel’s best interest to ensure that outside vendors don’t damage the property while on site. However, these fees can be frustrating at a minimum because you must allocate thousands of dollars towards paying an individual whose responsibility it is to sit and watch your production company during load-in and load-out, adding no value overall. I’m sure you could utilize those costs much better if they were allocated elsewhere for your event?
Your Event Production partner helps negotiate the fees to a much more reasonable level if involved before the hotel contract is signed.
Event organizers and meeting planners should always feel like they can depend on and turn to your production partner for advice on matters that can be beneficial to the overall event’s success!
Being excellent consultants to our clients allows us to continue building upon the mutually beneficial relationship. Still, it also helps us provide certainty and assurance to our clients that we are as invested as they are in the event’s success.
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