An outside production company may take care of audio, video, rigging, design, logistical support, scenic services and more. Photos courtesy of Heather Franse, PRG

Weighing the benefits and drawbacks of using an in-house AV team for meetings or corporate events versus choosing an outside production company revolves around a host of factors — from cost considerations to the skill level of the AV team.

The decision depends on variables of the meeting itself, such as the production level needed, the location of the meeting or event and the rules and regulations of the venue being used.

“The rule of thumb is it’s really dependent on the scale and size of what’s being requested,” said Heather Franse, production director on the business development team for corporate events at PRG (Production Resource Group).

“A lot of times with the in-house AV partners, they can provide up to a certain level of support with monitors and audio. But once you’re looking to do anything that’s high-level technical, something that has a lot of connectivity, something that has a very large scale to it, that’s the time in which you want to start really looking to partner early on with an external company.”

Robyn Davis, president, SITE Southeast, also bases her decision by the size of the meeting. “Usually with the small ones, we might just need a screen or projector, or a microphone, so it makes more sense to use the in-house AV. It used to be that the rule of thumb was to go in-house for the larger meetings too, but in the past few years, I’ve personally have found that I am more apt to go outside of the in-house for the larger ones.”

The Benefits of In-House

Hotel contracts often favor working with the in-house AV team, which can make choosing an outside company the pricier option. According to Kate McCarthy director of Global Events at Datadog, some hotels add fees for items such as power, internet and room rental that make the choice cost prohibitive.

“There is language now that says that if you bring in an outside company, you need to pay this fee for data, for example. Ten years ago, you really didn’t see that as much but now, more and more, the standard contracts that you’re seeing from these venues are inclusive of those kinds of clauses. As a meeting planner, you’re like, is it worth it?”

McCarthy will choose the in-house option under certain conditions. “A lot of times it’s easier just to play the game and go in with the in-house if I feel like they’re qualified and if they’ve got the standard equipment. If the people that I’m talking to on staff know what they’re talking about and if I feel like I’m getting the attention that I need, if the service level is there, I’m not going to have concerns.”

McCarthy also noted, “An in-house team has an advantage because they can move in for you overnight versus if I’m bringing them in from outside — they’re going to only get my space when it’s contracted at 10 a.m.. If I use the in-house, they’re going to get in the night before at 8 p.m. when the previous group moves out, so there’s a huge advantage to doing it that way.”

There are other benefits to choosing the in-house option. In general, an in-house AV team will have a greater knowledge about the venue and be able to work more seamlessly with the hotel catering and other aspects of the meeting space. McCarthy said, “I think the driving decision is often the venue itself. If it’s an old venue, if it’s a special venue, if it’s something where they have an in-house that is intimately familiar with the ins and outs of that venue, you want to go with that in-house because they’re going to have some insights into the quirkiness of, say, an older venue.”

Since outside AV companies do not work exclusively with one property, their venue knowledge may be lacking depending on where the event is taking place, which means the convenience of using the in-house team may make it the better choice for some planners.

“With an in-house, you do have the familiarity of the venue or hotel and then the space. You’re required to use them for internet and for power drop and rigging as well, so you have a relationship with them already,” said Sean Lynch, president, NHS Global Events, which works with some 100 corporate and association clients. “One of the pluses would also typically be much more access to additional on-demand equipment, where with an external provider, if they didn’t load it on the truck, they don’t have it.”

Davis emphasized that planners need to look at the line items hotels or venues require if they bring in outside AV teams, especially for groups on a smaller budget. “A lot of people forget when they’re budgeting that if you bring an out of house company in, they’re having to pay for the power through the house, so you have to make sure that you budget for that. Some hotels don’t let you plug in your own power strips or extension cords.” She recalled a group she worked with last year where the hotel agreed she could bring an AV partner on site, with the stipulation they would charge $10,000 for the internet. “When that happened, my client said, ‘it’s not worth it,’ and we used their in-house AV.”

Davis also said that some hotels require that planners pay for a person with the in-house AV company who is going to oversee the out of house AV company to make sure that they are following all the rules and regulations of the hotel. Union hotels are specifically a challenge, according to Davis. She suggested planners always ask in the site selection process whether the property is a union hotel and what that might mean as far as the rules around the production for events.

Lynch believes equipment prices are negotiable with venues, but labor costs depend on whether it’s a union or non-union location. He noted that union labor would have to be present for load in, load out and setup, which would add to the cost of bringing in an external AV provider.  “If you’re in a union property and you’re going to have an external provider, you have shadow labor, so you are already adding to your cost. That external provider may already be more expensive because of that shadow labor.”

Franse at PRG posed that there is an opportunity for meeting planners to negotiate some of the extra costs upfront. “For someone who’s just bringing a meeting together and finding a venue, it’s something that you should be thinking about and discussing upfront with the venue and seeing where there may be some wiggle room or where their exceptions may lay. If they really can’t provide what is being asked, then there’s sometimes a little bit of flexibility with what they’re willing to allow for.”

Outside Production Company Strengths

The benefits of hiring an outside provider are varied, including more flexibility with their pricing, and they can offer access to a larger assortment of equipment and technology.

The reasons Davis cites for hiring an outside company include pricing. Davis has found that with in-house AV teams, there can be a lot of hidden costs. “To give you a perfect example, say the client decides last minute that they want a microphone in their meal room to make announcements and it wasn’t contracted with the in-house. They’re charging, even if you have one in your ballroom, they’re charging you for that microphone. Whereas when I bring an AV partner on site, they’re storing all their materials within a storage room that I’ve contracted with the hotel. They just run in and grab one for me because we’ve already paid for it.”

Outside AV companies also tend to have a deeper knowledge of a corporation’s needs, especially if they have an ongoing relationship of working the same event in different locations year after year. Knowing what pre-production and on-site tech is needed for those events can end up saving a planner time and money.

Franse said PRG can bring deep knowledge of an event to multiple locations. “If your event happens year over year, but it’s not in the same location year over year, we can take that experience to a new venue that is new to you, but it’s not going to be a new venue to us. We have both the experience of whatever the event was in the previous year at a different location plus the experience of working in that new venue because we’ve worked inside that venue with other productions and events.”

Lynch said one factor is whether a corporation will be replicating a regional or roadshow event in various locations. “Then your show producer is going to continue to build on the best practice from one event to the second to the third or fourth. If you’re dealing with an in house show producer or technical producer, they’re just doing one event and they didn’t learn from the first one on how to make the second one better.”

Davis concurred, “When you’re with a preferred partner, you’re able to say, ‘Hey, this is very similar to the one that we did last January for another client. Can you give me the same pricing?’ That budgeting tactic has helped her win meeting business. “

Davis offered an example of the benefits of that partnership.  “I had the same AV company that I love to partner with last year. We pieced together a karaoke night for a group without using a karaoke DJ. The attendees all put on their registration what their favorite Spotify songs were. And then this AV partner at no extra cost, built a Spotify list for us based on that report that I was able to provide them and then came up with a back-end way to create a karaoke experience for the group. We didn’t get charged extra for it. I don’t think an in house ever would have done that.”

Another question is whether an in-house team will have multiple meetings and events they are working at the hotel or venue and whether that team will be dedicated to the planner’s event. A professional outsourced team can devote its time and energy exclusively to one meeting or event.

McCarthy added, “You don’t have that relationship with the in-house hotel that you can have with a preferred production partner. I have a partnership with a local production company that I love, and they give my clients more of a personal touch — more personal attention. They get on calls with them, they get to know them.”

For example, when McCarthy worked with Amazon, she used a production company that traveled with her around the world. “I was rinsing and repeating the same show around the world. So, having the producers travel with me and be able to go into a space and recreate something, that was ensuring to that audience and it was having a consistent message and a consistent experience.”

There is also the benefit of an outside production company having a relationship with the top executives of a company hosting the event. Lynch said, “It’s really the general session for a trade show. Whether you’re the chief marketing officer or the president or whatever your seat on the panel is, you want to look good on stage. Who’s producing the show that they trust? That’s where the in-house providers have more of a barrier because they don’t know that end user well in advance. An in-house provider does not have a relationship with the CEO where the show producers have done three years in a row together with that CEO, so the CEO and the team will look like a million dollars on stage.”

Franse advised to partner with an AV team early in the planning process and build the relationship. “Get a partnership early on to see what the pros and cons are of the events and the design and the location of the venue. We can do a little bit more of that front-end and with pre-production hand holding to get to a place where you’re not having a hectic installation. That’s a really big benefit.”

There is no clear-cut winner here. And while the edge looks like it goes to the outsourced AV production firm, that’s not always the case. In the end, you need a good AV partner for your event. Someone you can truly count on. Essentially, they become an extension of your staff and enable you to focus your attention on your job. C&IT