For generations we have been an ownership society from our homes, cars, computers, and everything in between. Today, in part due to the financial meltdown of 2009, we are becoming more of a renter society from renting homes, cars and everything in between.

What is the reason for becoming more of  a rental society? The main reasons are because it is no longer considered a stigma to rent and the equity argument seems to be less and less relevant as home values continue to drop and are at their all-time low.

This position is spilling over into the corporate and association world as well. Instead of packing, shipping, unpacking and storing items, organizations are renting everything from office furniture, computers, and conference services equipment for meetings and events.  

So, why rent AV equipment? Here are some great resosns:

1. Maximum Flexibility. With interactive technology tool rentals changing so often -- generally every 18-36 months -- it is most likely in the best interest of your organization to rent so you have the greatest options when it comes to AV for your meeting or event. 
    
2. Great Efficiency. You no longer have to make YOUR equipment work for the event nor will you have to keep up with new technology. By partnering with an event audio visual rental rental company, you can get the latest audiovisual equipment you need for your event that fits within your budget.
    
3. Low Budget Load. When you own AV equipment you have to finance, maintain, repair, store, and insure it. Then, when you replace it, you need to resell it. When you rent, you don't have to maintain, repair or store the technology equipment. In addition, av rentals can save your association or corporate event money and more importantly, your time.  

Why buy AV equipment when you can spend less and rent it? AV Event Solutions can provide your organization with a variety of equipment, including iPads, laptops, projectors, screens, audience response, and much, much more! Give them a call to learn more as to why renting makes total sense for your organization. 

Ah..spring! The daffodils are out, the days are longer, and baseball season is in full swing. When I think of baseball, my mind often gravitates to great players such as Sandy Alamar, Johnny Bench, and Cal Ripkin, Jr.. But one player that probably is quoted the most often is Yogi Berra. Believe it or not, the funny sayings below can provide useful event meeting services insights. Here are 7 of his best quotes and how they relate to the industry.

1. "You can observe a lot by just watching." Before deciding on a meeting destination or venue, ask to watch a meeting about the size of the one you are planning in action. Checking out the parking lot, restrooms, kitchen, and how responsive the staff is to the client they are serving can speak volumes to how they will treat you during your event. Don't forget to observe the partners as well. How well did the event audio visual rental company perform? The caterer? The ground transportation company?
    
2. "It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much." Do a thorough vetting of your speakers. Do they have too many PowerPoint slides? Do they insist on questions and answers to be held until the end of the program? Make sure there is plenty of time for conversations in your sessions. Make certain the speaker is a great listener as well as a dynamic presenter. 
    
3. "If the fans don't come out to the ballpark, you can't stop them." Are attendees consistently coming back to your association meetings year in, year out? Is attendance trending up or down? You can't make people come to your meeting (unless it is a mandatory company event) so you need to entice them to come to it and make them feel welcome. 
    
4. "If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer." There are going to be questions at your meeting that you will not know the answer to. Make certain to obtain the name, cell number, and email address of the person asking and tell them when you will get back to them with an answer. Then do it! Being open and honest isn't a good policy, it should be your only policy. 
    
5. "Never answer anonymous letters." Meeting planners want to gather evaluations about the event via paper or email surveys. The problem with this is it is cumbersome and time consuming. By using wireless audience response systems, planners can poll attendees anonymously and instantly. It isn't so much about an individual response as it is about the overall feeling about the event. 
    
6. "It ain't the heat, it's the humility." Don't assume you know what attendee's want to hear about at your next conference. Ask, ask, and ask again. About destinations, hotels, speakers, and agenda items. It's not about your organization being right, it's about making the event attractive to the attendee. Be humble and assume they are the expert because when it comes to their own professional development, they are!
    
7. "Even Napoleon had his Watergate." Every meeting can potentially have a crisis; natural or man-made. It is important to have a crisis plan, communicate it to the team, and then follow through on it in the event of a catastrophe. 

Are you event planning in California? Call on AV Event Solutions to provide you with Audience Response rentals as well as other state-of-the-art audio visual equipment. Give them a call today at 888.249.4903 for more information. 

What is the purpose of a meeting or event, anyway? Well that depends on your point of view, but most  people agree it is to disseminate information about a product, service, policy, or provide some level of professional education. In addition, it could be to reinforce your brand, set sales objectives, team-build, or get your group of members together for the annual meeting. 

Some meetings and events are terrific while others are..well...lackluster. Most event meeting services industry colleagues agree that if the message of the meeting doesn't resonate enough with the audience member to change their actions, then it wasn't suceesful . We want that message to carry through and change the attendee's buying patterns. How can we do that? Through 3 basic methods: goal-setting, clear communication, and follow-through. 

Here are the tips to make your next meeting more effective:

Tip #1: Set Goals.

• What is the purpose of the meeting? 
• Where are you going to hold it? Onsite or offsite? A local or remote location?
• When are you holding it? 
• Who needs to attend? Employees, Clients, Members? Have a definitive number in mind.
• How will you measure success? Goals need to be set regarding what attendees learn in training and educational conferences. Those goals can be measured through wireless Audience Response Systems. Event organizers can measure success by the number of people that come to the event, exhibitors by the number of leads generated from the trade show, and sponsors by the inquiries to their website or calls to their organization within 90 days after the show. 
• Why is this meeting important? 

Tip #2: Get Everyone on Board.

Each meeting will be different with unique stakeholders involved, but you will potentially have 3 different ones: Attendees or Employees (always), Sponsors (maybe), and Trade Show Exhibitors (maybe). Whatever the mix, you need to get each group involved in the goal setting exercise above and then help them define measurements for their success. 

Tip #3: Put in Place Project Management.

Once the goals are set and agreed upon, a project manager needs to "drill down" with the team specific objectives that will include resources needed, deadlines, and who is responsible for what. A project management tool should be sent out to the entire group and updated on a regular basis.  

Tip #4: Make the Meeting Interactive. 

Rent iPads so attendees can communicate with each other and the speaker to ask questions or make comments about the session. Wireless microphones throughout the room can encourage attendees to ask questions or make comments during the session. Use Audience Response rentals to test employees knowledgebase before and after the meeting. Make each talk follow the guidelines of TED, PechaKucha, or Ignite. Use gaming to encourage team building. The more involved the attendee, the better chance you have that they will retain the information. 

Tip #5: Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. 

1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after your event check and see if the goals were met by all your stakeholders. This is where most meeting planners often fall down; they rarely check-in with their sponsors and exhibitors to see if their objectives were met. 

AV Event Solutions can help you make your meeting more effective by engaging your attendees and providing you with a project manager as well. Give them a call today!

With Earth Day approaching in a few weeks, many event planners are thinking of ways to green their meetings without breaking the budget. American Express recently polled meeting planners and suppliers and found that 53% of the planners polled are coordinating local meetings which will reduce their carbon footprint, 47% have green requests or requirements for their meetings, and 73% indicated their organizations are showing an increasing interest in green measures. 

Below are some simple tips to help make your next event more environmentally friendly:

1. Eliminate direct mail and printed promotional pieces. Redirect the dollars that were going to be spent  for print toward an email marketing campaign, blogging, and social media. If you don't have the time to do it yourself, hire someone to create a content calendar and provide the buzz about your event. 


2. Drop print advertising.  Shift those dollars to a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign for your event. PPC is an effective and measurable tool that can be aimed directly to your attendee demographics. In addition, it is cost-effective because you only pay for the clicks that actually occur. 


3. Eliminate paper registration. Manage attendee registration process through online booking engines, such as Cvent, Eventbrite, or Constant Contact. 


4. Provide alternate transportation options. Encourage attendees to compare the cost of a flight, train, bus (such as Megabus), or subway. If it makes sense, coordinate carpooling to the event. 


5. Don't buy AV equipment. Renting Audio Visual equipment makes a lot of sense because that equipment can be used over and over again and when sourced through a local supplier, it can save you a lot of money on shipping. 


6. Provide session video recordings online. If attendees want to review a speaker after the session, provide a URL link or upload the presentation to YouTube. No jump drives or DVDs mean no shipping costs, no materials to be purchased, and most importantly, no hassle. 


7. Rent Tablet PCs to replace printed programs, guides, and speaker handouts. You immediately eliminate printing, paper, shipping, assembly, and distribution costs. In addition, mobile applications can include the following: 

• All session videos
• Searchable database 
• Speaker presentations
• Notes
• Online list of attendees
• Sponsorship information
• Exhibitor information
• Trade show layout with GPS system

8. Incorporate gaming options to bring home the green message. At Eventcamp Vancouver and GMIC games were played to resonate the sustainability message with attendees. 


9. Nix paper surveys. By introducing Audience Response System rentals to attendees, you can entirely eliminate paper, responses are calculated instantly, anonymously, and can be reviewed on the spot and after the event. 


10. Look hard at food and beverage options. Here are some simple ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle:

• Reduce the use of paper products. Use china, glass, and silverware. 
• Arrange for all left over food and beverages to be transported to a local food kitchen.
• Set up recycling stations and encourage attendees to recycle bottles and cans.
• Eliminate bottled water, use ice and pitchers. 
• Ask that the local farmer's market be used as a food source.  

AV Event Solutions, a California event equipment supplier, is available to help you make your next meeting green! Give them a call today to learn more about their technology tool options.  

If you have never caught the TV show Mad Men, you owe it to yourself to check it out at least once. It is about a posh Manhattan advertising agency set in the 1960's. Don Draper, the leading man in the series, constantly reminds his team that the ads they present to their clients need to focus on benefits, not features of the product or service they are trying to sell. Here is the trailer for Mad Men, which in itself is selling the benefits of the show.

 

Contrast the video below of Bipasha, a beautiful model, pitching Pantene Shampoo. There is a real disconnect between the model and the product because the video is choppy due to poor editing and hissing on the microphone which takes away from the message. You can't envision how she uses the shampoo (even though she has beautiful hair) and most importantly, the product pitch is lost.

 

Lastly, take a look at the new iPad video. Wow! What a difference! It is showing you the benefits of the new iPad and they aren't telling you anything about the product. Take a look and see for yourself.

 

What are the key takeaways you can use for your next product launching event and how would the team at Mad Men pitch it to you? Don Draper himself would say the following:

Benefits trump features every time. Benefits describe the way the qualities of your product positively affect the attendee, ultimately by making their life better and easier. Often times focusing on one benefit is good enough, such as the new iPad ad did above. 

Compare the following statements about light equipment rentals:

(BENEFITS) Lighting for your next event sets the mood in the room, illuminates the product or people that attendees need to focus on, and can provide an endless array of composition options through color and design. 

(FEATURES) Lighting has many options including pinspot, stationary, LED, spotlights, color, and of course, natural. Work with your AV team to determine which lighting option is best for you. 

What problem is the product solving for your attendees? 

Here are some samples of problem solving statements:

• Rent iPads for your next meeting so attendees don't have to carry around binders, laptops, sponsorship information, and tradeshow brochures. A 10-ounce tablet can do the trick!
• Use wireless audience response systems to track and compile speaker and conference evaluations. No more paper to pass out, collect, and compile! Response rates will increase to at least 90% with ARS units.
• Wi-Fi network arrays can solve your bandwidth burden. Having a fast and robust router can keep your attendees online, all the time.

Use video, photos, and color at every opportunity. 

I could describe the lighting in this room, or I could show you a photograph and you would get it immediately. 

We are visual learners. The more video, photo, and/or color you can implement into your message the better opportunity you have for the audience members to grasp the concept. 

AV Event Solutions will be your Mad Men consultants for lighting, sound, iPad rental, audience response rentals, Wi-Fi array, and computer kiosk solutions. Give them call today at 888.249.4903!

What do shows like Oprah, Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray and organizations like Harvard Medical School, Humana, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, American Express, Walt Disney World, and Bristol-Myers Squibb have in common? They have all have used wireless audience response systems!

Gone are the days of using paper handwritten response forms which are unwieldy and took several hours to compile the data. In addition, someone had to interpret poorly written responses. 

ARS units operate on secure radio frequencies, eliminating any concern about signal loss and penetrating sensitive data. Meeting planners and organizations who want to make sure the message at the meeting was heard by the attendees, can poll audience members easily and painlessly by giving each person a keypad and directing them to provide responses to multiple choice questions displayed on the screen rentals. Audience Response Systems provide instantaneous results. Here are some of the meeting types that ARS units make sense:

• Employee feedback on issues, products, or services
• Attendee surveys for the whole meeting and each breakout session
• Focus groups
• Product launching events
• Education and training
• Annual meeting for voting on proxy items

Here are the benefits of wireless audience response systems:

• By asking questions before, during, and after the presentation, you are engaging and involving your attendees. An involved audience member is going to remember more of the presentation, long after they leave the meeting.
• ARS instantly streamlines data compilation and can achieve it for further analysis.
• When voting on sensitive issues, these units allow instantaneous and anonymous responses.
• By pre-testing and post-testing employees, you can determine how much they learned at the education session and what materials need to covered in more depth. 

As with all other audio visual equipment, AV Event Solutions will provide installation, testing, and software programming of the ARS units. In addition to AV technicians, AV Event Solutions has knowledgeable and experienced project managers that can be onsite to handle any unforeseen circumstances. 

Call or get an express quote today to learn more about Audience Response Systems available from AV Event Solutions! They will gladly provide a quick turnaround quote for your next meeting or event!

A recent survey, by Tagoras and Velvet Chainsaw Consulting of 250 respondents from 170 organizations, shed new light on how speakers can be be more relevant to attendees by providing them with current content. In addition, they suggest other ideas to help associations coach and evaluate their speakers. Below are their 6 tips along with my input on how interactive technology tool rentals can help achieve these goals. 

Tip #1: Sponsors Fund Speakers

87% of the respondents seek sponsors sometimes to underwrite the cost of professional speakers, sessions, or content tracks at their meetings. The consultants expect that response to go from sometimes to frequently.

Technology Tool Translation: Rent iPads and computer kiosks to secure more sponsors and provide them with more options to resonate their message with the attendee. Through the use of video, photographs, logo, and color, sponsors have the opportunity to viewed throughout the day. 

Tip #2: Evaluate Every Presenter

68% of the respondents ask for evaluations of each speaker. Sessions should evaluate the speaker's knowledge, delivery, and whether or not the attendee learned anything new.

Technology Tool Translation: By using a wireless Audience Response System, event organizers can gather information about the speaker's effectiveness right after the session is over. Audience response is easy, fast, and anonymous. 

Tip #3: Current Content is Required

62% close the Call For Papers (CFP) 8 or more months before the meeting, making it hard to argue the presenter's content is current. The consultants suggest filling some of the slots within a 6 month timeframe, but leaving others open for more timely, relevant topics closer to the meeting start date. 

Technology Tool Translation: Implementing tools like crowdsourcing for agenda structure via an online community, developing a Twitter hashtag for suggestions, and/or leaving sessions open to be developed by attendees at the conference, can make the meeting more relevent to the attendee. 

Tip #4: Coach Every Speaker

53% of those surveyed provide training to their speakers for better presentations by helping them prepare content that is up-to-the-minute and includes audience participation. Each presenter needs to focus on the 3 to 5 things they want the learner to recall. 

Technology Tool Translation: Giving each speaker a PowerPoint slide to include 3 to 5 takeaways at the end of the presentation should help with learner outcomes. Encouraging attendees to tweet their questions directly to the speaker can provide interactivity. Making certain the presenter is not giving the attendee information overload is another key. Follow the 2 minute slide rule: if the session is 45 minutes, the presenter can only have 22 slides. 

Tip #5: Learning Should be Measured

42% of the respondents measured whether learning occured. The consultants make a great point that long-term retention and application of that knowledge is the purpose of the meeting. 

Technology Tool Translation: Audience Response rental units can measure the attendee's knowledge pre- and post-session with immediate results. Speakers will know whether or not their message was heard and understood. 

Tip #6: Big Names Mean Little

33% of those surveyed believed that a big-name speaker was very or extremely important in attracting attendees.

Technology Tool Translation: This is great news because it can free up thousands of dollars for much needed technology solutions such as, Wi-Fi network arrays, iPads, and kiosk rentals. 

AV Event Solutions can provide your next meeting with state-of-the-art technology tools, such as, iPads, kiosks, Powerpoint presentation equipment, and Wi-Fi network arrays to make your meeting speaker spectacular! Give them a call today!

Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) recently published their 21st Annual Meetings Market Survey in Convene Magazine. They surveyed 560 planners, of which 60% were PCMA members. Lets review  the results of this survey with emphasis on the the type of planner that responded, the trending in the industry, and where they see the biggest cost for a typical meeting. 

The respondents fell into the following categories:

• 67% are Meeting Professionals
• 16% are Association or Corporate Executives
• 9% fall into the Other Category and
• 8% are Consultants

The number of meetings they plan per year:

• 33% said 1 to 5
• 31% said more than 20
• 19% said 6 to 10 and
• 17% said 11 to 20

How many people attended your largest meeting?

• 26% had fewer than 500 attendees
• 22% had 1,000 to 2,499
• 18% had 500 to 999
• 12% had 2,500 to 4,999
• 11% had 5,000 to 9,999
• 9% had 10,000 to 24,999
• 2% had 25,000 or more

How was attendance in 2011 versus 2010?

• 41% said it was the same
• 38% saw an increase
• 21% saw a decrease

What are you projecting attendance to be in 2012 versus 2011?

• 53% expect attendance to be the same
• 35% expect it to increase
• 12% expect it to decrease

How many exhibitors did you have at your largest show?

• 33% said fewer than 50 exhibitors
• 26% had 100 to 249
• 17% had 250 to 499
• 16% had 50 to 99
• 8% had 500 or more

What did you outsource? 

Outsourced	Completely	Partially	Total
Event Supply Rentals: Such as Renting Audio Visual Equipment	35%	26%	61%
Housing	28%	18%	46%
Registration	19%	16%	35%
Trade Show Management	12%	11%	23%
Marketing and Promotion	5%	15%	20%
Event Management	5%	12%	17%
Speaker Selection	2%	14%	16%

How did your budget breakdown?

• 34% on Food and Beverage
• 15% on Event Audio Visual Rentals
• 8% on Labor
• 8% on Speakers and Entertainment
• 7% on Staff Travel and Accommodations
• 7% on Marketing and Promotion
• 7% on Space Rental
• 6% on Registration and Housing
• 4% on Signage and Office Equipment
• 2% on Destination Management
• 1% on Security and
• 1% on Insurance

At your largest event, your organization made revenue the following ways:

• 49% came from event registration
• 26% came from exhibit sales
• 20% came from sponsorships
• 4% came from advertising sales and
• 1% came from other revenue sources

So, what can we, in the event services industry, take away from all this data? 

First, small conferences with a small number of exhibitors are what meeting planners organized last year. Planning large conventions is great, but it looks like it will not be the mainstay of our industry in 2012.

Second, attendance will be flat for most of the conferences. You can view this as good news; with all the virtual options out there, attendees are still opting for face-to-face conferences.

Third, event supply rentals were the biggest item to be outsourced in 2011 and there is no reason that trend will change in the coming year. Event staff is not increasing so it makes sense to continue to outsource more and more.

Fourth, food and beverage, followed by event audio visual rentals, were the largest budget line items, comprising of 49% of the total budget.

Lastly, event organizers made almost half of their money from registration fees last year. 

AV Event Solutions is a premier supplier of all types of audio visual equipment from iPads to wireless audience response systems! Give them a call today to learn more about their state-of-the-art technology solutions that won't break your budget!

BizBash Magazine ran a story called  "The 14 Most Innovative Meetings" in their Spring 2011 edition. Lets highlight 3 of the 14 events, with an added twist, of additional interactive technology tool rentals that can be integrated into the meeting from your AV provider. 

BOSTON SCIENTIFIC

In August 2010, Boston Scientific gathered 5,000 employees together for an interactive, participant-driven meeting intended to communicate the company's vision and value to the group. The first thing they did was make all senior management available to attendees to answer any of their questions. Before the meeting, they invited employees to ask their questions via an online community. At the meeting, they could submit questions, comments, or ideas via computer stations. They also created fun activities including a scavenger hunt. They surveyed the employees and at the end of the meeting, 73% said they were optimistic about the company's future. 

Meeting Planners can build attendee engagement in the same way as Boston Scientific by doing the following:

• Rent iPads to allow interactivity between attendees and key management through Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr. Attendees can also ask questions or make comments during the meetings via a Twitter feed and all comments can go into a designated place via hashtag (#name of event).
• Computer Kiosks can serve as an input tool for new ideas and allow attendees to view video presentations after they are over, at all times during the conference.  
• Wireless Audience Response Systems allow employees to answer survey questions quickly and management can compile the results instantaneously. 

THE NATIONAL CABLE & TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION

This 3-day annual meeting dubbed "The Cable Show" provided their 13,000 attendees access to the 152,000 square foot trade show floor plan, exhibitor materials, Twitter feed, agenda, and information on the speakers and sessions on mobile devices. The results: 19,000 requests for exhibitor information, new sponsorship opportunities for the association, and a huge reduction of paper. 

Meeting Planners can integrate mobile technology -- rent Tablet PCs or iPads -- with custom trade show floor applications that can even have GPS installed to get the attendee to the right booth! Social media applications, agendas, and speaker bios and videos are all applicable uses of a tablet. In addition, tablets have a long battery life and can be used while walking around on the trade show floor.

IBM

IBM hosted a 5-day conference in January 2011 and decided to build a social media aggregator to pool the content of various forums into 1 online page which served as a place to broadcast videos from the 3 keynote sessions and interviews with the speakers. They also gave attendees flip cameras to video things going on around the conference and uploaded that onto the page. IBM had 5 social media cafes with large touch-screen monitors where individuals could send information directly to their email accounts. 

Meeting planners can work with a developer to build out their aggregator and allow attendees to see content on a touch panel kiosks and/or large high definition plasma displays. The event can also have social media cafes complete with tablets, laptops, and touch panel plasmas. 

AV Event Solutions can provide your next meeting, event, or trade show with state-of-the-art technology which includes iPads, Tablet PCs, Laptops, Plasma TVs, Kiosks and much, much more! Give them a call today for more information on how they can make your event exciting and interactive. 

Have you ever wondered what technology tools are available to help make your next conference or event run smoother? Be more interactive? Or what cool applications your attendees would like? 

Below is a creative reminder of just some of the planning and technology offerings, from A to Z. This blog will cover A to M. Wednesday's blog with provide ideas from N to Z.

AUDIENCE RESPONSE SYSTEMS

Wireless Audience Response Systems are handheld devices given to all attendees to answer multiple choice questions about a speaker, topic, testing questions, or for voting purposes. 

BUMP

This application works on smartphones and the iPad and allows attendees to share photos, apps, music, and contact information with each other through a gentle bump of the devices.

COMPUTER KIOSK

Computer Kiosks have many applications including self-service event check-in, virtual concierge, speaker bios, videos, and sponsorships. 

DIGITAL SIGNAGE

Interactive Kiosks can direct attendees to meeting rooms without the expense of printed signage. They can also be changed in a moment's notice if meeting room changes occurs. 

EVENT PLANNING SERVICES

Most full-service event planners now incorporate technology into their event proposals to cut down on printing and shipping expenses, as well as, providing their clients with greener alternatives.

FOURSQUARE

This application allows attendees with smartphones to check-in their location and let other attendees know where they are. It is great for scavenger hunts and provides more interaction between participants.

GAMIFICATION

This is the use of game technology to engage attendees through video game mechanics. It can be used to train employees, team build, or at product launching events. If you rent iPads, these applications can be pre-loaded for the attendees. 

HOOTSUITE

Hootsuite is a social media dashboard that allows attendees or event organizers to post and monitor activity from several social media sites, including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

iPAD

Rent iPads to allow attendees to keep everything in one place; their conference program, presentations, notes, speaker bios, video, sponsorships, and social media -- all while walking around and networking at the event.

JUSTIFICATION

Work with your event partners, such as AV Event Solutions, to help justify the expense of technology over printed materials. 

KIOSK RENTALS

Kiosks are great on the trade show floor, hotel lobby, conference foyer, and convention hallway because they are accessible all the time, can show video, provide quizzes, and allow for touch panel interaction.

LIGHT EQUIPMENT RENTAL

Lighting is such an important part of most events...it sets the mood. New LED lighting is going to revolutionize lighting options. For all your lighting options, work closely with the AV Project Manager.

MICROPHONES

Here too, there are many options for the meeting. Knowing more about the room, the number of people attending, and having a quality soundcheck is key to providing the best sound.

Interested in adding any of these interactive technology tools to your next event? AV Event Solutions can provide you with planning and technology rentals from A to Z. Give them a call today! 

Don't forget to check back on Wednesday to see the rest of the Alphabet. 

Training Seminars are often viewed as energy and time vacuums. Most people don't want to sit through the latest HR policy changes, software updates, or necessary prep for a product launching event. Employees would rather be doing their work at their desk or out of the office networking and prospecting. Anything but training.

Of course, training is necessary in order for employees to learn and make certain they know what they are talking about, especially when speaking with prospects and customers.

Here are 5 simple ways you make your next training session exciting and interesting: 

Training Tip #1: Put Value on the Meeting

Let the attendees know, right from the start, that their time is very valuable and they need to view this time together as an investment in their productivity. Tailor the meeting objectives to their needs, not yours. 

Training Tip #2: State a Desired Outcome

Let employees know what you are training them on and why it is important they learn this information. It can simply be stated -- We expect you, by the end of this meeting to...


When you bring employees together it should be because products, services, or policies change and they need to know how these changes impact them. Measure the attendees knowledge by asking questions and giving them wireless audience response systems to instantly assess if the training is successful or elements of it need to be repeated. 

Training Tip #3: Limit Topics and Slides

Most employees don't want to sit in a conference room for a whole day and most employers cannot afford this type of opportunity cost. So it is best if topics and PowerPoint slides are limited to the "old" way vs. the "new" way of doing business. Employees don't need to know the entire history of a HR policy on hiring and firing, just the changes from the current policy. Powerpoint presentation equipment should be set up well in advance of the training and tested by the trainer at least an hour before the attendees arrive in the room.  

Training Tip #4: Start and End On Time

If you say the training starts at 8 am and ends at noon, respect both ends of that schedule. This says two things about your organization; 1) You respect your employee's time and 2) You value your trainer. If you see the meeting veering way off topic, bring it to back on topic quickly and succinctly. 

Training Tip #5: Remember the Wrap-Up Summary

Use the old adage: "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them." Make certain every employee understands the process or program. Review what the next step is for the attendee. If time allots, answer any questions that remain. 

AV Event Solutions, a California meeting equipment supplier, can provide your next training seminar with LCD projector and screen rentals, laptops, iPads, and ARS units. Give them a call today or request an Express Quote! 

In 2009, when the recession came into full tilt, many associations and corporations saw a significant drop in their annual meeting attendance. Some organizations, including the Newspaper Association of America even canceled their meeting that year. Others, like the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) saw an attendance reduction of 40 percent. 

As a result, many associations knew they had to add innovation and change into their program in order to survive. At PCMA's Annual Meeting last week, Lisa Block, Vice President of Meetings and Conferences at SHRM, and Don Neal, President of 360 Live Media presented their case study detailing ideas to bring the Annual Meeting back to life. Here is a synopsis of their thoughts:

• Look at the physical location. What sort of energy does the venue provide? Is it open and cold or intimate and friendly? Is it in a scenic area? Will attendees be excited to go there?


• Offer wellness options. Blood-pressure testing, a massage station, gaming options, along with healthy food choices and exercise options can go a long way to making the attendee feel relaxed and refreshed at the conference. 


• Examine the physiological components. What do the guest rooms look like? Are the beds comfortable? Are you feeding attendees healthy food that will increase their stamina?


• Analyze your speakers. Do the speakers appeal to the intellectual and emotional makeup of your audience?  What is their speaking style? There are many unique ways they can utilize their PowerPoint presentation equipment and style, including TED, Ignite, or Pecha Kucha (read 7 trends to make your message stand out)


• Improve the promotional message. Try different methods of getting participants excited and involved in your conference, including advertising, public relations, social media, email, and direct mail. 


• Make everyone responsible for the success of the conference. Crowdsourcing the agenda and letting everyone vote on speakers, topics, and networking ideas will allow members to be more involved in the conference. They are more likely to be excited and come to the event.


• Keep it fresh. Just because something works this year, doesn't mean it will next. Looking for continual innovation and trying to bring in unique conference equipment rentals that will contribute to attendee engagement and enjoyment will be instrumental to your success. 

If you are event planning in California, look to AV Event Solutions to provide your association with state-of-the-art interactive technology tool rentals that will help bring your annual meeting to life! Click or call today for more information!

Event organizers know when attendees fully participate and enjoy the conference, they are most likely to return the following year. In addition, the attendee's manager expects a reasonable return on investment, which equate to, many business cards and sustainable leads. This is not a problem for the extroverted attendee, but what about those introverts? How can they achieve the same results?

Lets define the personality traits of both an extrovert and introvert and identify some ways to engage the introvert at a conference so they can justify their attendance and, hopefully, return each and every year.

Extroverts...

•  are interested in what is happening around them
•  are open and often talkative
•  like action and initiative
•  easily make new friends or adapt to a new group

Extroverts in a conference or meeting are great at...

• assessing the energy in the room
• asking the speaker or facilitator a lot of questions
• participating in interactive sessions
• being the meeting ambassador or greeter
• networking

Introverts...

• are reserved, quiet, and thoughtful
• have difficulties in making new contacts
• like concentration and quiet
• work well alone

Introverts in a conference or meeting setting are great at...

• listening to the speaker and taking copious notes
• one-on-one conversations
• participating anonymously in the session
• updating their social media profiles
• following a structured schedule

So, in a conference or event that attracts hundreds, if not thousands of people, how do you keep the introvert engaged without overwhelming them? Here are some tips and techniques to keep them involved:

Pre-event

• Encourage them to participate with social media and/or ask them to be a guest blogger to promote the event. 
• Create an online community where all attendees can introduce themselves to each other and start to network virtually.
• Post all the breakout sessions, general sessions, and networking events on your website and have attendees create their customized schedule. 

Educational Sessions

• Assign an extroverted mentor to the attendee. Make certain they can be together especially during networking events.
• Rent iPads for each attendee and preload all presentations and other pertinent applications onto it. Attendees can take notes from the iPad and email those notes back to the office. They can also tweet questions and comments to the speaker and/or event organizer.
• Wireless Audience Response Systems allow for anonymous polling of the session content and evaluation of the meeting.
• Placing computer kiosks in the hallway or foyer of the conference center allows the introverted attendee to gather information about the sessions while alone or during quiet times.
• Have some sessions where attendees are paired up with one other person to complete an exercise.

Networking Events

• Have extroverted ambassadors at the door or entrance of the event to greet attendees. 
• Have structure to the event, such as networking discussion tables or icebreakers.

AV Event Solutions provides 1st and 2nd generation iPads, ARS units, kiosk rentals, and wireless network array rentals for organizations and associations in California. Give them a call today or check out their website for quick quote turnaround.

At this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, the Toyota Prius booth sported a digital wall with three 82" LCD touch screens. Attendees could go up to the wall and access text, graphic images, photos, and videos all about the Toyota Prius. 

"People are adopting technology in much more intimate ways now," said Todd Purgason,  Executive Creative Director at JUXT Interactive. "They are always connected. That's opened people up to accepting, and even expecting, technology elements in brand messages."

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research came out with a 2010 report that placed a high value on interactive digital technology for events. 

Below are 3 guidelines to choosing which technology platforms can work for your next product launching event.

Touch is Key

Whether it be touch panel kiosks or tablets, touch technology represents the biggest trend in event technology.

"Multi-touch is taking over because it is an easy and intimate way to access content. It's an extension of the user's finger and it's purely visual," said Pugason. 

For more information, check out a recent blog posting on touchscreen technology demystified. 

Technology Can Promote a Call-to-Action

Rent iPads and/or touch panel kiosks to do the following call-to-actions:

• Create a Facebook Fan Page for the new product or service and ask attendees to like it.
• Create a QR code that attendees can scan from their tablet to learn more information about your product or service. 
• Create a survey and ask for their email address at the end of it.
• Use social media outlets to create a contest or giveaways for the new product or service. 

Match the Medium with the Attendee

Make sure you know demographics of your average attendee because that will influence the amount and use of technology at your event. 

For example, if your attendees are primarily males, in their 50-60's, and use the computer for only email, you will want to limit your event marketing to email and direct mail campaigns. The use of wireless audience response systems to capture their feedback during the launch may be as much as they can handle. Having kiosk rentals in the hallway of the event may be a way to dispense information and reinforce your message.

However, if your attendees are both women and men, in their 20-30's, they are going to expect social media and online community marketing exclusively. They rarely open their emails and direct mail invitations will be thrown away. They expect and embrace technology. They will have smartphones with them. Rent iPads for all launch materials and interactivity through contests and questions will engage them. 

AV Event Solutions has the right interactive technology tool rentals to make your next product launch a smashing success! Give them a call and speak to an experienced Account Executive about creative launch ideas.

REGISTRATION AREA

• Create an environment that "invites people in." Is your area, warm and inviting? Is your staff smiling and attending to the registrant's needs?
• Have a lot of space around the registration area for people to mingle. 
• Call registrants "participants" rather than "attendees".
• Have your Board of Directors, Sponsors, and/or Volunteers at the registration area to greet participants and "show them around."
• Assign Mentors to first-time attendees and, if possible, have the mentors at the registration area ready to greet their mentee.

NETWORKING

• Have Ambassadors be on the look out for "lost attendees." These individuals come into a networking event by themselves, and are desperately looking for a familiar face. Be that face and invite them in. 
• Have a networking event on the eve of the conference and have Board Members serve as Ambassadors.
• Have stations with Discussion Topics on them and encourage participants to go to the tables of interest to them. This can be completed over a meal, such as breakfast or lunch.
• If you decide to do the Discussion Topics at a seperate time, have participants rotate to a new table after 15 or 20 minutes. 

AUDIO VISUAL

• Sound and lighting rentals are key to increasing attendees participation. The ability to hear what the speaker and other participants are saying can increase interactivity. Wireless mics can be placed throughout the room. A dark room discourages interactivity. There are many light equipment rental options to maximize audience participation.
• Wireless Audience Response Systems can allow participants to weigh-in on the topic anonymously while allowing event organizers to collect data instantly.
• Rent Tablet PCs for each attendee or place one tablet on each table for small group discussions. Facilitators can share questions for group discussion, accept questions and comments via Twitter, or allow participants to make notes on the downloaded presentation.

SEATING

• Look at the room from a networker/participant's point of view. What seating will allow for the most interaction between multiple individuals? Or better yet, between multiple tables? 
• Dr. Paul Radde's book called Seating Matters: State of the Art Seating Arrangements delves into the 5 seating principals and 17 factors that can help troubleshoot any meeting room. 
• Make certain that a lot of extra chairs and tables are not in the room. It zaps the energy out of the meeting because it allows participants to be seated yelling distance away from each other and stay primarily in the back. 

AV Event Solutions can provide your next meeting or conference with many different audio visual components to make your meeting very participatory! They have 1st and 2nd generation iPads, Tablet PCs, ARS, and sound and lighting solutions. Give them a call today!

Meetings and events are fantastic ways to network, build brand awareness about your product and/or organization, and connect with your customer and prospect base. Unfortunately, many meeting planners, especially novice ones, don't take enough time to look at the meeting from the attendee's point of view.

Attendee's are well educated with long memories about your organization and events. If you want to make a lasting impression, avoid these 8 common mistakes.

1. Don't research the venue. 

It is very important that you have the right event at the right venue. There are many ways to vet a location. Here are just a few:

• Google the site and read every link on the first page
• Go to TripAdvisor and read all the reviews from business clients
• Ask for feedback about this location on LinkedIn groups 
• When you go for a site visit, pay attention to the little details -- the parking lot, the bathrooms, and how the service staff treats you.

2. Ignore local resources. 

Whatever city you decide to host your event, remember this: use of local businesses is good for the local economy. Local businesses know their own city and can help you with other suppliers and partners. When you use local resources, such as when renting audio visual equipment, you will save time (they are close), money (no shipping charges), and fulfill your desire to be green (reduce carbon footprint).

3. Falsify information. 

Over inflating attendee, sponsor, and exhibitor numbers to potential partners and vendors is a big no-no and will come back to bite you. Be completely ethical. Tell them the truth always. If you don't know the answer to the question, say so and let them know you will get back to them in a day or a week and then, get back to them!

4. No compelling reason to attend. 

Attendees are busy people and they view 10 to 100 pitches on why they should attend various events. They scan the pitches quickly, so yours needs to compelling. 

Make it easy for them to say yes. Don't make them search several paragraphs down in an email. Tell them in the subject line and within the first 3 to 4 sentences. 

5. Not building relationships. 

Business is about relationships. You want 10 sponsors and 150 exhibitors at your next event 9 months from now? Start building those relationships now. Find out how you can help them make their business grow. 

6. Ignoring one type of media. 

Is your marketing strategy for your next event all digital or all print? If so, you need to rethink this strategy because you will leave a whole group of potential attendees behind. You don't need to increase your marketing budget, just reallocate it to more of a 50/50 mix.

7. Not letting attendees/sponsors/exhibitors know who to contact when onsite.

Event meeting services organizations are busy when they are running the event, but it very important that everyone knows who they can contact if a question or concern arises. Letting everyone know your cell number, Twitter name, and email address are great ways to keep in contact. Make certain your smartphone or iPad is set up to monitor this traffic and respond to it quickly.

8. Long-Winded Sessions. 

Research says that attendees maximize their learning in 50-minute increments or less. Don't let your sessions be long and lecture oriented. Give the audience members a chance to interact with the presenter, as well as, with each other. 

Event planning in California? AV Event Solutions has a variety of interactive technology tool rentals available to help you make your next meeting more compelling and interactive. Give them a call at 888.249. 4303 for a guaranteed same-day response!

BizBash Magazine recently published an article titled "Ice Sculptures to iPads: A Brief History of 10 Years in the Event Industry."

Below are some of the highlights:

2001

September 11: The terrorist attacks were immediate and far-reaching for all event meeting services organizations, and probably had the biggest impact on the events industry. Here is a summary of what happened:

• Many meetings and events were outright canceled due to poor registration numbers. 
• Meetings were postponed once or twice, creating havoc with hotels and convention centers.
• Special events had a more toned down atmosphere, often adding a fund-raising element for the families of 9/11 victims.
• Many hotels and conference services managers had to deal with room attrition and force majeure clauses. There was much discussion and negotiation over contract penalties. 

2002

"One increasingly popular way to engage audience members at conferences is using interactive Q&A capabilities. When an emcee asks a question, audience members can use wireless audience response systems to key in answers." -- from "Boosting Audience Participation"

"Planners are waiting longer to book events, " said Erica Morris, Director of Special Events at Marcus Samuelsson Group. 

Rather than having everyone travel to one location, smaller regional meetings are held around the country. 

2003

"More and more event planners are concentrating on another vital tool for creating an event's atmosphere: light equipment rentals. Once treated as an afterthought, professional lighting has become a required element for any event." -- Planners Get Bright About Lights


The biggest challenge for event planners, from a BizBash survey of 950 readers said:

45% said Smaller Budgets
11% responded with Shrinking Lead Times
11% answered Convincing Others of the Importance of Events

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) became a global health threat, impacting global travel.

2004

"When it comes to the state of current events, planners and vendors are full of optimism. The reason? After several years of special events sobriety and shrinking financial resources, big budgets appear to be on their way back." -- Big Budgets are Back

"The line between corporate and private events is so blurred nowadays. Everyone's got something to sell and parties are the perfect way to market it," said Cara Kleinhaut, Owner/Founder & Experience Designer at Caravents, Inc.

2005

"More than a handful of New-York based planners have quit their jobs with companies to form their own businesses, they're part of a growing trend of entrepreneurs throughout the state and nation." --- "On Their Own" 

Regardless of their budgets, companies will keep holiday parties on the calendar. 

2006

Battery powered light fixtures that include programmable LED that can change colors, operate via remote control, and last more than 8 hours is introduced by Levy Lighting. 

"It used to be that companies kind of threw money at sponsorships. Companies have gotten more sophisticated and are actually establishing metrics to measure the success of a particular sponsorship, even before they sign a deal," said William Chipps, Senior Editor at IEG, LLC.

AV Event Solutions can provide you technology tools such as audience response rental units and creative lighting solutions. Contact them today to learn more!

Check out A Ten-Year Look Back at Major Meeting Industry Changes (Part 2) on Friday, November 11th to learn more about years 2007-2011. 

Trainers are set out with one mission: to train employees about something new...a new product, a new service, or a new procedure. They are dependent on event audio visual rentals to get their message across and transfer learning to the attendees. With the plethora of AV choices, you may be wondering which equipment is best for the learner.

Here are some questions to consider when scheduling your next training session.

Question 1: What is the training objective?

Is the training required knowledge, such as HR Policies and Procedures? Is it a new product launch? A new computer program? What skills do the attendees need to walk away with?

For required training, there needs to be interaction and demonstration. New product training may require testing of the features and benefits. The trainer needs to determine the amount of interaction required and choose the right AV equipment to fit the audience needs.

Question 2: When renting audio visual equipment, what technology tools will prove useful to my audience? 

Attendees have different learning styles, which are in 3 categories:

• Visual: Learn by seeing 
• Auditory: Learn by hearing
• Kinesthetic: Learn by doing

For the visual learner, good Powerpoint presentation equipment is key. The slides will need to contain colors, large fonts, and graphics. Videos and photographs are a plus.

For the auditory learner, a good sound system is important. Hearing the trainer's words and recording the session are needed. Auditory learners enjoy having the ability to go back and hear something again, they may have missed the first time around. 

For the kinesthetic learner, the ability to touch something as part of the learning process will help drive the message home. Wireless Audience Response Systems can be used by the attendees as a polling device to determine their level of understanding of the materials. Rent iPads and let attendees takes notes on them as the presentation is going on. 

The trainer needs to get his or her message across while making the audience members fully understand the message. 

Question 3: How involved do I want my audience members? 

If the training is on new HR policies and procedures, probably not very much. However, if it a computer training on new company wide software, probably a whole lot. 

For a lecture type of setting, it is important that the seating be comfortable. The trainer will need a laptop PC, LCD Projector and screen rental. Having the right sized screen rentals so everyone can see the presentation is also very important. 

For the interactive session, wireless microphones throughout the room will allow for easy access to the trainer. Laptops or iPads can be used to teach them about new software, poll attendees on their knowledge level, or to ask questions of the trainer. These computers can also be used for providing group activities or seeking attendee feedback. 

AV Event Solutions is your California training audio visual equipment supplier! They can provide you with all the technology tools you need to make an impact with your audience. Click on their website to learn more about their offerings and speak to a trained account specialist regarding your needs.

The meetings industry has been trying to come up with a "green" standard for over 10 years and it looks like they just got closer with the Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) launch of best practices for green meetings. Even though the entire document isn't complete, there are some basic questions you can ask when renting audio visual equipment about the supplier's practices and equipment in order to determine their commitment to being green.

Here are 5 questions to get you started:

1. Does your organization recycle? An AV company can recycle their cardboard and paper when they ship and receive equipment. The company location should have a recycling initiative as well, to recycle aluminum, glass, and paper products.


2. How are you reducing energy use? Simple ways can be to: use energy efficient lighting with their light equipment rentals, ask if their equipment has EnergyStar efficiency or any other certification, and inquire what equipment is the most energy efficient.


3. How can they help you reduce paper consumption? One of the goals of the green movement is to reduce the number of trees being cut down, especially for paper products. Rent tablet PCs for your attendees instead of printing, copying, and assembling massive binders. Put wireless computer kiosks in place for digital signage, self-service check-in, or concierge services. Audience Response System rentals can replace paper evaluations. 


4. Are you local? Having a local AV company can save you a lot on shipping costs, not to mention the time and effort of the AV production team. Hiring a local firm keeps carbon emissions low. In addition, supporting locally owned companies gives a boost to the economy by putting people to work in their own communities.


5. Where does your old equipment end up? One of the nice things about renting AV equipment, is to realize that they are reusing that equipment many times before the end of the product's life. However, it is important to know if their equipment ends up in a landfill or they have other uses for it, such as donating it to a school or non-profit organization. 

While being green can seem like a complex issue, simply asking these 5 questions will help determine if the AV company you are looking to partner with is on the right track toward sustainability. 

AV Event Solutions is committed to being your green supplier. Based in Los Angeles, they have offices throughout California to service your association or corporate audio visual needs. Give them a call today!