What AV Does a Corporate Event Need?
Ask someone what AV they need for an event and you'll often get an answer like:
“Just a microphone and a couple speakers.”
Sometimes that's accurate.
Sometimes the event includes 400 guests, three keynote speakers, six walk-up songs, two videos, an awards presentation, a live band and a CEO who will absolutely walk twenty feet away from the microphone while continuing to talk.
That's not “a couple speakers.”
That's production.
Start With the Event, Not the Equipment
The first question shouldn't be:
“What speakers do we need?”
It should be:
“What needs to happen during the event?”
Make a list.
For example:
Guest arrival
Background music
Announcements
Presentation
Video playback
Awards
Dinner
Live entertainment
Dancing
Once the production team understands the schedule, they can build the system around it.
Sound System
Nearly every corporate event needs some form of PA.
A professional event sound system may include:
Main speakers
Subwoofers
Digital mixing console
Stage boxes
Signal processing
Cabling
Audio engineer
The size and type of system depends on:
Room size
Guest count
Event layout
Music requirements
Venue acoustics
The system required for speech intelligibility isn't necessarily the same system you'd design for a live band.
Wireless Microphones
Corporate events love wireless microphones.
And then everybody is surprised when they need more than one.
Consider who needs to speak:
MC
CEO
Award presenters
Panelists
Keynote speaker
Audience Q&A
You may need:
Wireless handheld microphones
Wireless lavaliers
Headset microphones
Podium microphone
Having one mic passed around eight people can technically work.
So can driving to Florida on a spare tire.
There are better options.
Music Playback
How is music being played during:
Guest arrival
Walk-ups
Award presentations
Dinner
Transitions
Breaks
The production team should have reliable playback rather than somebody connecting a personal phone five minutes before doors.
Provide event music and cue information early.
Video and Presentation Playback
If you're showing:
PowerPoint
Keynote
Videos
Sponsor content
Awards graphics
Remote presenters
you now have a video-production requirement.
That can involve:
Projectors
Screens
LED walls
Video switchers
Playback computers
Presentation control
Confidence monitors
Room layout matters here too.
A screen that looks enormous in an empty ballroom can become surprisingly small once 300 people sit in front of it.
Lighting
Lighting does more than make a room pretty.
It tells the audience where to look.
Corporate lighting may include:
Stage wash
Podium lighting
Band lighting
Dance-floor lighting
Architectural uplighting
Branded lighting
If someone is presenting onstage, they should be visible.
This seems obvious.
Event photos suggest otherwise.
Staging
Not every event needs a stage.
But stages help establish:
Sightlines
Focus
Separation from guests
Performance space
Think about who needs to fit on it.
A podium?
Panel discussion?
Awards presentation?
Ten-piece band?
Those answers create dramatically different stage requirements.
Live Entertainment Production
If you're hiring a live band, get the entertainment provider and production team communicating early.
The production company may need:
Stage plot
Input list
Monitor requirements
Microphone requirements
Playback connections
Power requirements
Professional bands should be able to provide these.
If nobody knows what the band needs until the van arrives, that's a process problem.
Volume Control
Corporate events frequently need entertainment and conversation to coexist.
A modern live-performance setup can help control volume through:
Digital mixers
In-ear monitors
Electronic drums
Guitar modelers
Distributed speaker systems
This is one of the reasons production matters.
The goal isn't simply to make things loud.
It's to make everything audible at the correct level.
Do You Need an AV Technician?
If the event is important enough that somebody would be upset when the microphone doesn't work, you probably want somebody responsible for the microphone.
Professional production isn't only equipment rental.
You're hiring people who:
Set it up
Test it
Operate it
Troubleshoot it
Change things when the timeline changes
And the timeline will change.
Build in Redundancy
Events happen live.
Equipment fails.
Batteries die.
Files don't open.
Wireless frequencies get crowded.
Professional production plans for this.
Backup microphones, playback options, cables and other redundant systems may never be noticed by the client.
That's the point.
One Production Team Can Simplify Everything
There can be significant advantages to having one team coordinate:
Band audio
Speeches
Playback
Lighting
Wireless microphones
Event music
Instead of several vendors trying to determine who's responsible for what, responsibilities are established before the event.
Less finger-pointing.
More event.
Corporate Event Production in Atlanta
ATL Party Bands can provide event production, sound, lighting, wireless microphones and live entertainment for corporate events throughout Metro Atlanta and Georgia.
Whether you need support for a simple company gathering or production integrated with a live band, we'll help determine what the event actually requires.
Not what somebody can fit into a package.