Deciding Between In-House and Outside AV: Is It Time to Level Up?

In this episode of The Event Pro Show, our host Seth Macchi dives into the world of in-house AV for corporate events and the circumstances in which an external AV provider might be a better fit. Seth shares insights into determining when you've...
In this episode of The Event Pro Show, our host Seth Macchi dives into the world of in-house AV for corporate events and the circumstances in which an external AV provider might be a better fit. Seth shares insights into determining when you've outgrown in-house AV services, offering a framework of questions to guide your decision-making process. Are you seeking more brand alignment, consistency, and creativity in your event design? Seth explains how partnering with an outside AV provider can elevate your event experience, providing stability and creativity beyond the transactional nature of in-house offerings. Whether you're managing multiple events or looking to elevate your brand's presentation, tune in for valuable advice on enhancing your corporate event experience.
The Event Pro Show is a production of LEMG.
LEMG is a leading event production company known for delivering exceptional experiences. From site planning and event design to technical production, staging, lighting, sound, and more—we do it all. As a second-generation company, we’re proud of our rich history and commitment to innovation. Whether it’s a corporate meeting, conference, convention, or live event, we’re the team our clients trust to execute their vision flawlessly.
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Welcome to the Event Pro show, your ultimate guide to the world of corporate
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events. Whether you're a corporate event planner, experiential marketing
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pro, producer, technician, or anyone involved in creating exceptional
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events, this podcast is your go to resource for valuable insights,
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expert tips and inspiring stories from the industry's leading
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professionals.
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Well, welcome to the Event Pro Show. I'm your host, Seth Mackey.
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And because I run an AV company, I get a lot
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of questions when I speak at different things or talk to people
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in our industry. I get a lot of questions around
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in house AV and people have emotions about that and
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some people love it, some people don't. I'm not here to tell you either
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way. But I will say in house AV
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definitely has a place and the corporate events
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ecosystem. It serves a great purpose and
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can be very convenient and can be part of a turnkey
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package. Make it easier for planners, make it easier for companies
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doing events and brands. But there does come a
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time when those the service level that you're getting,
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you need to move beyond and look for an outside AV
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provider to partner with you on your events. So
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my question today is how do you know when you've grown out of in
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house av? Well, I want to give you a few questions,
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a framework if you will. This is not comprehensive,
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it's not everything. I'm sure people listening would have their own group
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of questions that you might ask. But here's a start. At least it's
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a start for you to start thinking about. And some of you are
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managing multiple events or multiple
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portfolios of events. And so some of
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your events might apply to this and some of your events might
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still thrive utilizing in house av.
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So it's just a little framework for you to use. So I'll start with this
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question, do you need more brand
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alignment? And what I mean by that is if you're working with a
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client or you are the company that's putting on an event
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and you have really strong branding, you know, you might even
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have maybe brand guidelines that are designed just
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for an event or an event series and you really need
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your production to have alignment with that brand.
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It might be time to look
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for outside av outside of the in house.
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When you work with an outside AV provider, they will be very
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curious about what you're trying to accomplish, what you're trying,
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how you're trying to represent the brand, what you're trying to
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communicate. And so these are types of services, they're kind of next
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level. Whereas an in house
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package might be just kind of like they have you Know a few packages
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and you can pick one and it is what it is. It's very convenient
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to deploy, but it might not align with your, your brand
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very well. In fact, they might have packages that are kind
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of designed to work with every brand. So because those
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packages are designed to work with every brand, they
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don't really represent any one brand very
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strongly. So that might be one. Another question
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is, do you need a consistent experience
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across your event portfolio or do you
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have a series of events that need a
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consistent experience? This is where it can be challenging,
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where you might have a fantastic in house AV experience
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in one city and the next week you move
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that event to another city and it's just not the same.
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It's just a struggle and you're tired of the up
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and down, of the worry of is this going to be a good week or
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a bad week, who knows? Because your
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experiences are inconsistent. So that could
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be a question you could ask. Another question is do you need to
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know what to expect? And this really ties into, the
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last question is, you know, I show
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up at one hotel, it might even be within the same hotel chain.
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But the AV crew here was fantastic. The AV crew
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here was not. And I
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don't have all the answers to why that
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is, but I, I do suspect it has something to do
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with the fact that in house AV companies typically
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have to share a lot of their revenue with the hotel. It's a money
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maker. And because of that, they, it really squeezes
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their margins. And you know, a lot of companies, the first place they go
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to kind of regain or even get any margin at all is in
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labor. And so if you're dealing with techs that are
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getting a very low hourly rate on your event
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now, you might not be paying a low hourly rate, but that tech is
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receiving a low hourly rate, you're going to get a really
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inconsistent experience. Because a lot of
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times in house AV techs, there's a lot of great techs that
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specifically start in the hotel
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AV space, in house AV space. But if you're great,
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you can kind of look around and say, oh, there's private companies,
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outside companies that will pay me much more and I could take
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these skills and support myself in a better way. And so
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you as the client, you never know what to expect.
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And if you need to know what to expect, if you need that
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consistency in what you're providing to your
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end client, it might be time to look for an outside
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AV provider. So another question I have for you is
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if, if you need more creativity in your Event design
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and execution,
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then an in house AV isn't quite cutting it. You know,
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it might be time, it might be time to graduate to an outside
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AV provider for, for the event that you're doing or for
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the brand that you're representing. When you work with an
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outside AV provider, a lot of times the creativity and
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design come first.
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But with in house, what, what you'll find a lot of
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times is you'll have a group
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that works a lot more transactional
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than an external AV provider. And what I mean by that
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is that if you are a sales manager for
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AV in a hotel, or if you're even the team, the execution
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team in that in house AV
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department that lives in that hotel, a lot of times those
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clients you're not going to see for another
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four, five, six, seven years because that event
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itself is being traveled around the country to
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different conference centers around,
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around the country. And so because of that,
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that a lot of people that work in house AV aren't going to be there
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in seven years when you come back. And this creates
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a more transactional environment where they're concerned with
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how much revenue they can sell on this one event.
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And then they will bid you farewell and
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then you won't see each other again. If you need more
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stability and if you need more creativity and if you need more
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design, it's definitely time to start looking for an outside AV
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provider. And so when you start looking through a framework
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like this, you realize that in house AV is a wonderful
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tool to have in your tool belt for corporate events,
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but you might be feeling attention as you work with a client and
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their experience needs to grow. And that tension could
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be that it's time to kind of graduate that event and look
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for an outside AV partner that could work with you
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to elevate that experience year after year.
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I hope this helps. Thank you for following along and look for our
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episodes about once a week. And I hope you have a wonderful
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day. The Event Pro
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show is a production of LEMG video by Nick
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Barrett, audio and post production by Prince
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Thompson. You can learn more about us at LEMG Live.