Event Technology - Audio Visual Services

The Social Advantage of Large Screens at Your Corporate Event

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:18:41 EST

If you’ve been to a corporate event lately, you may have noticed large screens displaying social media feeds from the people in attendance. As social media’s influence continues to grow, these large screens allow everyone to share information with other event attendees; making it more interactive.

People are becoming more mobile as smartphone and tablet adoption expands. Business professionals recognize the value these devices provide as a means to streamline their business activities and communicate with others. Consequently, corporate event planners should recognize this trend and plan their event accordingly.

Venue- The venue you choose can dictate what audio visual equipment you need. For large banquet halls or convention centers, using large projection screens is ideal. Reason being, social media feeds can be broadcast for everyone to see, inspiring people to join in the conversation.

Keynote Speakers- Perhaps your corporate features notable professionals delivering keynote speeches. This is a great opportunity to utilize large projection screens for social media sharing. Most event planners choose speakers because they have timely information to share. If this is the case, social sharing is quite high as attendees can easily follow and share social media updates on large projection screens.

Different Sections- Many corporate events have different sections tailored to the needs of specific attendees. For instance, many events may have an overarching theme, but offer specific lectures or seminars for niche audiences such as marketing professionals, administrators, entrepreneurs etc. In this case, displaying social media activity on large screen projectors can help each group identify what information is most pertinent to them.

At EventAVL, we provide a variety of audio visual equipment with expert production management for your corporate event. Contact us online today for a consultation.

Branding for Special Events

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:39:28 EST

Corporate branding is an essential element of marketing any business or product. It serves as a representation of a company’s vision and purpose and can effectively position an organization in the marketplace. From advertising materials to company website and social media platform to corporate events, consistency is a significant contributor to maintaining company’s corporate identity.

Assimilating corporate branding effectively into a presentation or meeting serves multiple purposes. It leaves attendees with a sense of knowing who the company is, what the vision is, and makes them feel good about attending. Creating a theme for an event offers additional branding opportunities in that you can create an event tagline for people to remember long after the event concludes. Reinforced through logo development, audio visual and lighting as well as music, a tagline provides a catchy memory moment for attendees.

We recently worked with Puma International at a fashion show in New England, where the event theme centered around the Olympics. The Olympics logo is identifiable by everyone - five different colored rings intertwined into one entity. We incorporated an innovating use of lighting in these colors underneath the stage. By covering the deck in a dance floor product Marley and wrapping the sides of the stage with SuperVel, the stage, in effect, glowed. That ingenious stage element, as well as upbeat music, event theme and special effects supported Puma’s corporate branding goals, and made for a very memorable event.

While branding an event is important to overall corporate identity, there are pitfalls. Some experts caution about plastering a company logo all over every element of the event. It should be “organically” worked into the event, more of a subtle reminder rather than an “in your face” use of logos and branding. This can be achieved through an effective use of color that reinforces the event theme.

Read more about meeting or event branding. And, when your event calls for audio visual or lighting services, contact Event AVL. Our team works closely with you to effectively incorporate your overall corporate branding into any event.

Creative Solutions For Planning Your Event

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:46:28 EST

What if, with the click of a button, you could magically create a presentation or event, incorporate the most cutting-edge technology into the meeting, and engage the audience so that they remembered the event for a lifetime? Would you do it?

Staples came out the “Easy Button” in 2005, a symbol of our society’s need to find the easy way of doing things, solving problems or accomplishing goals. That marketing strategy worked particularly well for Staples. Even after all this time, we remember it.

Unfortunately, there is not an “Easy Button” when it comes to event planning. Often, in place of the easy button, comes hours of work planning, budgeting, working with vendors, and implementing an event. Yet, there are great tools entering the market daily, each designed to offer creative solutions and make life easier for not only meeting planners, but also for meeting presenters, attendees and vendors.

For meeting presenters, a new presentation diagram visualization system has come onto the scene for PowerPoint. This program essentially houses a library of diagrams you can utilize for a presentation. The hard work has been done. You simply click which slides you want to order and incorporate into your presentation.

Meeting planners are benefiting from the influx of mobile technology and social media influences. With apps for smartphones and tablets, mobile web sites, and Facebook pages created specifically for a particular meeting or event, the registration process becomes more efficient for both conference attendees and meeting planners. Additionally, collecting data from surveys and accessing event itineraries and maps is greatly simplified via mobile devices.

Audio visual services and lighting vendors are by nature, creative, in that we must come up with solutions on-demand in a lot of cases. It would be nice if an easy button existed for many difficult situations we encounter. However, with no easy button in sight, we go with our instincts. Troubleshooting comes naturally for audio visual companies like Event AVL. We are relying more and more on mobile technology with apps for just about anything and everything, but creative problem solving does come with experience. And, that’s the benefit of entrusting a professional to handle the AVL component.

Links:

Duarteshop.com

MeetingApps.com

Meeting Trends for 2012

tags: Event planning, Audio Visual Services, meetings, corporate events,

Getting Political

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:42:12 EST

Who would think that a simple Etch-A-Sketch could create a political backlash? Last week, one of Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s advisors answered questions about the perception that Romney was too far right to reach more moderate voters. His reply was “I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch-A-Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.”

Ouch! He walked right into that one! It didn’t take long before opposing candidates jumped on that bandwagon, claiming that it illustrates Romney’s inability to stick with something. This is just one example of a political “misstatement,” but it does illustrate the importance of selecting your words carefully!

As the political season swings into full gear, candidates begin organizing town hall meetings, debates and rallies to spread their political message. All of these events have the potential to reach hundreds, and even thousands, of voters. Candidates trust their campaign staff to take care of the event details. Event venues, audio visual services, and other details are placed into the hands of trusted professionals. The last thing a candidate needs is for the sound equipment to stop working on the campaign trail. Who will hear their message? Or, if the lighting or projectors aren’t working properly, what will voters remember about the event? Clearly, these details are essential in ensuring that voters remember the candidate’s message, not the things that went wrong with AV equipment!

Event AVLworks closely with political candidates to guarantee the details of their campaign events go off without a hitch. Leave the sound systems, video production and lighting services to us! There will be no Etch-A-Sketch debacles when it comes to AV! However, what comes out of the mouth of campaign staff or candidates on the other hand…

tags: Presentation Tips

Power

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:13:09 EST

The old adage “you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone” definitely hit home for Event AVL last week. We aren’t talking about relationships, but rather: Power. Yes, power. Something we take for granted. Something that is always available. Something we cannot do without.

We came face-to-face with a major power outage in Boston’s Back Bay area when coordinating audio visual services for an event there last week. A 115,000-volt transformer exploded in the Back Bay area. Our event was scheduled at the Boston Sheraton, which is located very close to where the affected substation was. In fact, the Hilton Hotel nearby had to be evacuated temporarily. Fortunately, the event was moved to the Boston Seaport Hotel, which just happened to have availability that day. Luck was definitely on our side. What could have left us “powerless” (couldn’t resist!), instead provided the opportunity for us to secure another location, and the event went as planned. That is not always the case.

Power was eventually restored to the area, but it was not instantaneous. In fact, it took Boston’s power company, NSTAR, 60 hours to restore most of the outages. Many businesses lost one to two days worth of business during the blackout.

While the topic of power at an event might not have the appeal or “glamour” that other topics might possess, it certainly provides the foundation for everything we do at Event AVL. Without power, there are no audio visual and lighting services. Without it, a presenter’s voice might not even be heard, unless they happen to have a portable battery-operated microphone system. Without it, all of the effort and work that goes into planning an event is in vain. You cannot have an event without power.

tags: Boston, Problem Solving