Because of the importance of audiovisual elements at meetings, AV and production budgets are less likely to be cut. Courtesy of Encore

Budgeting for the audiovisual costs of a meeting can be as nuanced as pricing a meeting’s food and beverage package. There is often a menu of equipment and setup options alongside other integral cost decisions, which range from whether to use an in-house or external AV company to whether to invest in extras, such as an LED wall.

The importance of AV for a meeting scores high among planners, according to a recent study by Encore, which is the industry’s largest in-house AV company. Encore’s Spring Planner Pulse, based on input from some 2,000 meeting professionals in the U.S. and Canada, showed that three-quarters of planners intend to spend the same or more on their events in 2023 as compared to 2022, with a range of $5k to $50k in their budgets for AV. According to the study, planners list AV along with transportation, speakers and production, as areas where they are less likely to make a cut if an overall budget needs trimming.

“For those who are working to balance their budget and are looking for ways to extend the ROI, AV and production we have seen are less likely to be reduced due to the necessity of having meeting content produced and executed well,” says Tara Higgins, president of Hargrove and SVP of Commercial for Encore.

AV is a top priority for Katie Bohrer, CMP, Chief Experience Officer at Onwardly, who plans both corporate and incentive meetings and events. “I tend to produce pretty content-heavy events, and audiovisual is a huge part of that,” Bohrer says. “If you can’t hear or see or understand the messages being delivered, then it’s all for naught. So, it’s a big area that we invest in.”

One of Bohrer’s first strategies for budgeting for a meeting is to meet with somebody from the in-house AV team on her site visits, even before the contracting phase. “Audiovisual sometimes is treated as an afterthought. Planners often go on site at properties and look at venue prices and room rates, but the actual cost of AV and how that gets filtered is normally not discussed or considered until after the venue is selected.”

Encore also emphasizes bringing AV in early in the budgeting and planning process. Higgins suggests planners come to the table with a list of event objectives rather than a list of products. “Let your partner be a consultant on how to achieve your goals within your budget.” Proper forward planning with the help of an AV company is also a key to achieving a planners’ goals while staying within budget, according to Higgins, including provisions for whether an event audience size grows, or whether additional elements will be added that require different technology and production.

It also allows them to understand a planner’s desired outcome so they can advise where to spend and where to save. For example, Encore had a request for an LED wall that was not possible due to its weight for the room it would be in and the size of the back screen. Instead, they used stacked projectors — a substitute that was cheaper, lighter, easier to install in a short time frame and offered the same effects as LED.

“I feel our AV partners have become more adept at being experienced designers as well, so we use them the same way you would customize a menu with a chef to create what you want,” Bohrer says. “I treat strong AV teams, especially for bigger events, as a partner allowing them to collaborate, asking them what works well in their space.”

According to Katie Bohrer, CMP, chief experience officer at Onwardly, lighting for events can come with extra costs depending on the venue. DepositPhotos.com

In-House vs. External AV Providers

One of the first decisions in the AV selection process is choosing whether to use the hotel or venue’s in-house AV team or hire an external AV vendor. Some hotel contracts mandate the use of the in-house AV team and either prohibit or charge extra for the planner to hire their own provider. Knowing the restrictions ahead of time can help in the negotiating process.

The benefits of an in-house production team like Encore includes the up-front investment the company has made at the venue for items, such as rigging points, integrated house equipment and digital signage. Many of the pieces are already in place, rather than when bringing in an outside company.

But Sara Ross, CMP, Senior Director, Event Operations at 1105 Media, warns there can be additional service charges and taxes slapped on by a hotel that is not reflected in the quote from an in-house AV provider. She recalls for one meeting being quoted $47,000 in AV costs only to find out that, after taxes and fees from the venue, the final bill was closer to $70,000. “I think planners have been upset to be presented with the final bill, and it’s 35% more than they thought it was going to be,” Ross says. “I argued with the provider when that happened, and they [said], ‘Well that’s not our tax.’ But, that is still is the final cost to me. I can’t get around the service charge and tax from the [venue], so you should include that.”

Instead, Ross, who spends from 15 to 20% of her overall budget on AV, prefers to work with an external team who travels to her events, despite the added cost for transportation and accommodation. “They come to all my events, and my speakers know who they are; it’s reassuring to our speakers.”

For venues that require union labor, Ross brings in her own supervisor. “We were just in Las Vegas, and we had to use union labor at all of our breakouts but baked into my hotel contract was bringing my own supervisor.” She also advises for those hiring equipment from in-house or external vendors to be ready to negotiate. “When you get quotes back from different AV providers, they all quote different projectors and different microphones, so it’s very difficult to compare apples to apples, but there’s a ton of padding on pricing. If you press the slightest bit, you’ll be amazed that suddenly the price drops.”

Having her own team can save money in the long run. “I can go up to my supervisor 30 minutes before a session starts and say, ‘Hey, my boss just says he wants that session’s audio recorded so editors can write a story about it.’ And he’s says, ‘Okay.’  He’s not going to charge an extra $200 or $1,500 on an invoice and say, ‘Hey, you added this on site.’”

Bohrer also uses external companies for certain situations. “If I have a super complex program from an AV level, with lots of presentations, lots of walk ups and walk downs and lots of different speakers, I want somebody who can be a producer on that with me. A lot of times an external production company is going to offer a producer to manage that piece the same way somebody would manage food and beverage.”

She often opts for a hybrid approach using external companies for producing the content while sticking with local teams for items such as equipment rental to save on costs. “I have found that in-house is willing to work with me so I can bring in my own positions but then we use all their equipment, all their local labor for setup and teardown. Also, tracking gear city to city is not normally the most cost-efficient way to do AV,” she says.

Bohrer has also incurred issues with consistency of expertise for AV personnel, especially at in-house companies. She recalls a 50-person event that her company hosted that required very minimal AV, although there were many speakers, audio cues and specific walkout songs. “Normally, I would expect a team to be able to handle that, but this team was really junior and green, and it ended up being something that I had to dedicate one of my planning team members to.”

Challenges When Budgeting for AV

One impediment to forward-planning for AV is the current trend of a short planning window in the industry. The time crunch is proving a challenge even for a large in-house AV provider like Encore, which has the most equipment inventory in the country. The reduced amount of time that planners are scheduling meetings makes it more difficult to source equipment for special requests, such as an LED wall, a trending feature currently in high demand. Requesting equipment, a month or even six weeks out, can potentially drive-up costs if a provider needs to rent equipment or substitute for what is available.

There are general cost-saving measures that planners can follow for AV. One suggestion from Encore is to inquire whether it’s possible to piggyback on a prior event to save costs; for example, bringing in incentive groups to the same location, which can save on setup, breakdown and labor. Also checking on the timing to save on labor, such as not setting up a meeting that will require loading in on holidays or weekends.

One thing she does is trying to figure out what setup the group before or after is using, and seeing if they can use that same setup from an AV perspective so that the team can minimize labor costs. Bohrer explains, “So, if you asked for two screens that were a certain size and the group before is using a larger screen, can they go ahead and put that in for your room? Would that save everybody money and time? I think it is on the AV team to take a look at that and make suggestions to planners, but I always try to ask as well.”

For costs savings, Encore also suggests building sets with modular, sustainable rentable equipment versus custom builds. Planners can access self-serve content templates, such as Encore’s Event Now, an online portal for ordering equipment and more. The option can be used for meetings that need creative impact but don’t require custom content creation.

What Are Some Hidden Costs?

Labor costs can vary from city to city, which can affect staffing decisions by planners. “I look at whether it is a union city,” Bohrer says. “What does labor look like if I bring in outside partners? Are there additional costs for that?”

One of the biggest meeting costs for Ross is labor, which she also notes can vary depending on location. “Even at a non-union property, labor costs are probably about 40% of the bill. And if it’s union, it’s probably 50% to 60% of the bill. In union towns, they usually more heavily discount the equipment because they can’t discount the labor.”

Hybrid events can come with more costs than planners might expect. The on-site AV equipment will likely differ from the remote AV equipment and there will be more labor and setup costs.

“Recording and/or streaming gets very expensive because it’s challenging to record or stream without having a tech in the room,” Ross says. Her events normally include from four to six breakout rooms with simultaneous sessions. “When you’re recording or streaming you have to have somebody in that room the whole time; plus, the additional equipment and the additional internet bandwidth for streaming and all of that. The costs quickly become challenging.”

Bohrer agrees that virtual elements can have prohibitive costs, such as the warehousing of the recorded content, the storage for all the files and the cost of a firewall or other privacy protection strategies. “The cost can quickly become burdensome.”

Some meetings, especially in the tech field, can run up costs when all attendees are on computers simultaneously. Extra costs can include the need for power for some 500 attendees. “That’s a labor cost that’s going to hit your AV line,” Bohrer says. “If you don’t have those power lines, that’s something that you’re going to have to invest in.”

According to Bohrer, lighting for events can come with extra costs depending on the venue. Many events are held at non-traditional venues, such as beach dinners, lawn receptions or poolside parties – spaces that don’t have built in lighting. “That’s a huge thing to think about. If you do market lights one night and the next night you do moving lights or Airstars (balloon lights), that really changes how that space transforms,” she says.

Bohrer even focuses on lighting in her more traditional venues, investing more in her budget than many planners. “I use lighting to really transform spaces. You can create something so different in the exact same space from day to day. How do we want to actually transform these rooms for dinners or receptions? How do we make them really special? Lighting is the best way to do that.”

Insider Tips

One of Ross’ strategies for smooth production is to feed the AV techs during lunches, even if they have per diems, so they can be on-call when speakers are setting up their presentations. “A lot of meeting planners have the attitude that I’ve already paid for their meals, so they’re not included and I’m not going to feed them. But, I don’t want them leaving to get lunch and then a presenter wants to do a render during the lunch break, and I can’t find anybody to help them. If they’re all sitting at one of my banquet tables eating, I can just walk over and one of them will get up and go help.”

Bohrer’s tip is to be aware that there are potential hidden costs for events surrounding entertainment. “My advice is to make sure you know what your entertainment riders are going to be and price that appropriately. If you’re bringing in a big name musician or a great DJ, they’re going to have a more complex production rider for what you need to provide. That’s sometimes an afterthought – you think about lighting and a sound system, but you don’t think about the fact that, if you’re bringing a band, they’re probably not going to bring their own instruments. In the budgeting process, find out what is expected and making sure there’s a line item for that.”

Still, the biggest tip from all sides is to include AV as early in the process as possible. “I do think that the AV space has upped their game to be more like experienced partners,” Bohrer says. “They’ve offered a lot more creativity and input to the design. They are less like order takers and more like true collaborators to create what you want.” C&IT