Saving Money on AV in a Post-Covid World
(An edited version of this article was published in MeetingMentor Magazine in Spring 2023)
It was probably inevitable. Anytime there’s a perceived loss of revenue during the “lean times”, companies will almost always try to make up that revenue once things start going well again. So as the world rushed back to in-person events post-pandemic, prices have soared through the roof. Catering (remember when $90/urn for coffee seemed really expensive? And “muffin-gate’s” $16 muffins? How... quaint), resort fees over $100/day, $15,000 internet, baggage fees, skyrocketing airline tickets, dramatically increased shipping costs, and supply-chain issues.
After all that, the last thing you need is an AV bill almost double what you were charged in 2019 for the same event. Yet that’s exactly what some planners are seeing. And so, since it’s been a few years since my last “How to save money on AV” post, it seemed a good opportunity to revisit the topic.
Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate
That was the title of the last section in my most recent piece on this topic, so it seemed an appropriate place to start with this one. Remember, you have the power when it comes to negotiating AV and venue expenses, but you have to be willing to walk away. Only if a venue truly believes that you might walk away from the deal will they be willing to negotiate things like requiring you to use their in-house AV partner (or their catering or resort fees for that matter).
Even if you fully intend to use the in-house AV partner, it’s always worth it to get a bid from a 3rd party AV provider. At the very least you can then show your venue salesperson that the 3rd party bid is almost $20k less, and say, “Hey, I really want to use your team, but can you meet me halfway?” With more venues digging in their heels that you have to use their in-house partners, this becomes more important than ever. If the venue believes they will lose the business, they can reduce the commission fees that they get back from the in-house AV partner, which are sometimes as high as 80%, depending on the venue.
Show Me the Fine Print
Also, if you signed the contract in 2019 (or earlier), you should theoretically be able to hold them to 2019 prices. Be reasonable, be respectful (as the venues’ vendor prices have almost assuredly gone up as well), but you shouldn’t have to pay double what you paid in 2019.
And finally, speaking of contracts, I recently heard of a major in-house AV provider telling people that they were now exclusively responsible for not only any rigging (truss, motors, etc.) but also any ground-supported lighting and truss. Ground-supported lighting and truss (think crank-up lifts and lighting trees) have traditionally been a way of avoiding expensive rigging fees, so it’s understandable that venues and in-house providers would want that business back.
This is a new phenomenon, so it’s incredibly unlikely that it would be in your contract from 2019, so if it’s not they can’t force you to do it. Before you sign a new contract, make sure they’re not sneaking this one in. There’s really no reason for it, other than to make money (unlike rigging, where there are thousands of tons of equipment hanging over your attendees, and venues don’t want Billy Bob’s Discount Rigging being brought in for insurance purposes). I’ve also heard of people asking to see the contract between the venue and the AV partner granting them that exclusive right, only to be met with hems, haws, and neverminds. I’ve always said nothing makes something disappear faster than demanding to see the paperwork!
Leverage Technology
One of the more curious things to observe from the last year or so is how quickly people seem to have forgotten everything we’ve learned in the last couple of years. Those that made the effort actually got really good at online events, and dealing with people in remote locations. Plenty of keynote speakers, authors, and subject matter experts spent thousands refining their online presentations to the point where some were actually more engaging than their in-person equivalents. Many discovered they preferred presenting from home, and were willing to significantly discount their rates. Combine that with reduced travel and hotel costs, and the price of hiring an online presenter is significantly less than having them be in person. It has to be the right presenter, with the right setup, for the right group, but it’s worth considering as an option.
The same thing, of course, applies to your attendees. Many attendees have discovered they don’t feel the need to attend in-person, and organizations have the potential to save tens of thousands of dollars on their events by not bringing them on-site. I get it- event people tend to be “people people”, but not all attendees feel that way, and may have perfectly legitimate reasons for not wanting to be there in-person, including disabilities, family or work obligations, and more.
I recently worked on an awards ceremony where a couple of the winners couldn’t make it due to recent airline flight cancellation problems. We had them join via Zoom, and as their award was called we showed the PowerPoint with their corporate headshot, and then dissolved the headshot to their live view with them smiling and waving in the same rectangle- Brady Bunch style. It was a huge hit, and it seemed like a great way to acknowledge more “minor” award winners rather than flying them out to a destination- another way to potentially save thousands of dollars, and maybe even an incentive for folks to win the “big awards” for sales and customer service?
Know Thy Schedule
Over the years, I must confess to being frustrated with clients that will turn down $200 upgrades to their lighting, reduce the number of staff monitoring their breakout rooms, or even complain about having a dedicated graphics or PowerPoint person on their show- only to see tens of thousands of dollars being spent on labor unnecessarily due to the schedule of their event. Even minor tweaks to the more traditional conference schedules can result in tremendous savings on the amount being spent on AV staffing, with the biggest offenders being the “General Session Sandwich” and the “Awards Night Afterparty”.
By far, the most expensive part of your event AV crew is the General Session or Plenary Session. These will often have 10-12 crew members, most of which are highly specialized, and therefore the most expensive, crew. By putting a general session at the beginning of the day, followed by breakout sessions, lunch, and more breakout sessions, and then coming together at the end of the day, you’re forcing your general session crew to be there for a full 10-hour day and often more.
If doors open at 7am for an 8am start, that crew has to be there at 6am to be ready, meaning they hit overtime at 4pm. Coming back together for that 1-hour closing general session often means you’re paying your most-expensive crew at least an hour of overtime. If you then roll into your awards evening, your entire awards evening could be paying 10-12 people 1.5 to 2x their normal rate. If teardown is after the band quits at 11:30pm, it gets even pricier.
The solution? Look at your schedule, and look at your venue. What happens if we don’t come back at the end of the day for another general session? Most of the crew could be let go with a half day rate (unless they’re traveling), keeping only a couple of crew to supplement your breakouts. Next, don’t schedule “open” rehearsals. The number of times I’ve seen 12 people standing around all day “just in case” someone wants to rehearse can’t be counted. Explain to your executives exactly when they can rehearse, and why it saves them a ton of money to do so, and they’ll usually be all for it.
Finally, can the afterparty move into another room? Moving the dance floor and cover band to another room allows a subset of techs to handle the band (lighting and audio), while the remainder of the crew starts tearing down the general session room, getting them done tearing down hours and hours earlier.
And so I urge planners to take a look at their labor costs after their event and ask, could we have done things any differently to avoid this? Would the small price of adding another room in the venue for the afterparty outweigh the cost of pushing a GS crew to work from 6am-3am the next day? Often the answer is, “yes” - especially if you’re willing to break the mold when it comes to the traditional conference schedule.
All these tips together can result in savings of tens of thousands, and could be your “secret weapon” against inflation, supply chain, and staffing issues at your events!
