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Impact, comfort, communication, money and time all play a massive part in the success of every conference. With a little bit of trickery from AV you can easily add impact to your conference, more effectively engage with your attendees, increase the confidence of your Presenters and most importantly create an event that people talk about for months and even years to come.

We hope you enjoy our list of 10 things you can do with AV, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Pre-Planning Saves You Time, Money and Stress

When designing your conference including your ideas for your vision and audio will make a huge difference to your budget and time. You will be able to convey your needs to us, and overcome issues early on, as opposed to having budget blow outs or make big compromises once the event has been planned. It’s worth noting that in-venue AV may not be suitable for your event; get the specifics before making your decisions. Know your room size, room shape, ambient light, and audience size.

Operators Take Your Pain Away

Controlling the technical aspects of your conference should always be managed by a trained professional. We recommend utilising the skills of an experienced Audio Visual Technician to operate the sound, vision and lighting for your conference. Having someone to rely on for all of your technical needs means you can concentrate on the co-ordination and management of your event. An operator provides peace of mind for you and your Presenters.

Operators can manage all the technical aspects of your conference, including seamless switching of visual content on-stage, controlling and managing the PA, mics, ambient music, and lighting control to name a few.

Having an operator means technical issues can be handled quickly and easily when they arise, and most importantly, greatly reduce any interruption to a presentation.

Get Your Presenters Prepared with a Prep Room

Known as a Speakers’ Prep Room, these are the main stay of any professional conference. Having a Speakers’ Prep Room provides a central location for your VIP’s to relax and make the final touches to their presentations. Your Presenters will be able to get the technical aspects of their content organised with their Operator, and co-ordinate with your Conference Organiser.

Including multiple workstations, a comfortable and quiet work area, and a refreshment buffet will ensure your Presenters are calm and prepared.

The Right Vision Makes Your Audience Happy

Nearly every conference includes some sort of visual content on a screen. It adds impact and engages the audience. So it’s important that your audience can see your screens, comfortably.

Things to consider for your screens:

  • Viewing distance relative to size of the screen. Will the audience at the back of the room be able to read the detail on the screen?
  • Ambient light in the room. Will the light in the room wash out the screen?
  • Height of the screen. Is the screen high enough that everyone can see the whole screen comfortably?
  • Possible obstructions in the room. Is there a pillar or obstacle in the room that may interrupt the visibility of the screen?

We have plenty of options for vision, which includes: multiple monitors on stands, hanging (or ‘flown’) projection screens and large LED walls.

Control With A Comfort Screen

Often called a ‘comfort monitor’, this is an angled screen that is positioned low and in front of the lectern, either on stage or in front of the stage. The comfort monitor allows your Presenter to keep a keen eye on the content without interrupting their presentation, or moving their head off mic to discuss the content on screen. It increases the level of control and confidence for your Presenters.

Keep Focussed With A Countdown Timer

Including a count down timer on stage will allow your Presenter to stay on track and keep to your tight schedule. We can easily display a countdown timer on a comfort monitor, and manage the timer from the Control Desk.

Energise With Audio Stings

A ‘sting’ or an ‘audio sting’ is an audible introduction that is played as your Presenter enters the stage. Audio stings add a level of pizzazz and energises the audience before a key presentation. There is a lot you can do with audio stings, which can be as simple as a musical sample, or take it up a notch with a mix of music, voice-over and soundbites.

Add a level of sophistication by pre-recording unique stings for each of your Presenters for both entering and leaving stage. Use a sound theme for all of your stings, and keep it consistent throughout the whole conference.

Light Up The Room

Conference rooms are notoriously bland, so how do you keep your audience engaged and excited in such an environment? You can easily add impact and mood to a bland room with additional lighting.

Lighting can draw interest to where it needs to be, and mask out the bland areas. Entice your audience to want to stay and participate in your conference by creating a comfortable and interesting environment for them.

Make A Recording So You Can Share It Later

With a professional operator on board you can easily record the audio of your whole conference. Share the audio later with your attendees, or sell it as an add-on product for those that couldn’t attend; you have plenty of options. You can take it one step further by combining a screen recording of the vision with an overlay of the audio. Ask us how.

Give The Audience A Voice

Audience interaction is becoming more and more prevalent. By adding a roving mic, or a fixed position audience mic, you can increase the level of engagement in your conference and keep those energy levels up.

By adding all or even just a few of these options to your next conference you will make an instant impact. The most critical part is including AV into your plan from the outset, don’t leave it to last. The second most impactful item is having a trained Operator look after the technical aspects of your conference, you will gain overwhelming peace of mind.

What has been your experience with AV in your conferences? Let us know in the comments below.