As COVID-19 continues to spread, so does the disruption to businesses and everyday life in ways we never could have imagined. During these extraordinarily difficult times, it’s important for everyone to maintain open lines of communication. Proactive outreach and dialogue are essential with your teams, your clients, your supply chain, and your community.
Now is the time to consider what others need. How can you help those around you – and how can we help you? For our part, we will continue to act with the best interests of our community at heart and strive to pay it forward. Transparency, teamwork, and trust are more critical now than ever before. We are ready to serve you in any way we can because that’s what community means. Please reach out if we can help in any way.
Our thoughts and prayers remain with every one of you. We’re all in this together, and we will get through it together.
Due to concerns about the newest coronavirus, some work-based travel is being limited or curtailed, and some meetings and conferences are being rescheduled or even canceled. Even if it is still too early to know if COVID-19 will pose a threat to your next event, it is important to consider the alternatives.
Webcasting and Streaming Virtual Event Solutions
Webcasting and live streaming are cost-effective options to ensure your next meeting reaches as many people as possible in real time. Our skilled team can produce single session recordings or multiple concurrent session recordings customized to meet your specific needs. Our team regularly travels with our clients, and we can handle all aspects of your video and audio production anywhere in North America.
Interactive, Customized, Cost-Effective Solutions
You can use our technology-driven virtual solutions for any size events in order to:
Minimize travel for event attendees and avoid large, public gatherings.
Reassure sponsors they can capture attendee attention in a virtual way.
Preserve your registration and sponsorship revenue stream.
Offer Continuing Education (CE) credit opportunities for remote attendees.
Create and distribute abstracts, posters, and handouts.
Record and edit your webcasts to create educational videos and training materials.
Virtual Meeting and Event Types
With CEAVCO’s help, meeting organizers and attendees can record, broadcast, publish, archive, and view the following kinds of meetings and events:
Corporate and association meetings and conferences
Keynote addresses
Educational sessions and classes
Live events
Product launches
Public announcements
Sales meetings and presentations
Town halls
High-Value Webcasting and Live Streaming Solutions
Our solutions include the following:
Webcast management and live broadcasting/live streaming
How are meeting and event professionals using audiovisual resources to enhance their events and increase audience engagement?
As part of CEAVCO’s new meetings and events interview series, CEAVCO president Matt Emerson recently asked chief events officer Sheila Fox (pictured to the left) to weigh in.
In what ways have audiovisual technology, services, and support helped you achieve your event goals? In what ways has problematic support hindered your ability to achieve those goals?
Nothing stresses me out more than when AV technology doesn’t work – a microphone, LCD projector, laptop, slide advancer …. If I have to track down a technician to help, it’s a big problem. The room is usually full of attendees with high expectations, the speaker gets anxious, and I’m left sweating. Let’s just say I have learned to troubleshoot a LOT of AV issues on the fly.
Working with the right AV partner is key. One of my clients, the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame, has a complex, two-hour ceremony that requires a lot of AV support. I rely heavily on the AV crew to switch cameras between the emcee and inductee at the appropriate times, ensure the lighting is great for everyone who will be onstage, and ensure the microphones work for people of all heights. I give the AV crew a rundown of the show beforehand, along with a copy of the program and the script. It’s important that everyone knows what to expect.
What innovative ways have you found to
engage attendees at your events?
Exhibitors often talk about how difficult it is to get decision makers into their booths, so I added a community-service element to the vendor booths at a recent conference. Each exhibitor received a different type of school supply to distribute. Attendees visited each booth, collected school supplies, and filled backpacks for students in need. This strategy gave the vendors an opportunity to maximize their time with conference attendees, and both the attendees and vendors had the opportunity to give back to the community.
If cost weren’t a factor, what would you change about your events?
What do you wish you were doing?
I would love to have more creative staging, amazing lighting, engaging video, and cool furniture. I would also love to have an emcee at one of my client’s three-day conferences, where attendees are required to get continuing education credits. Some of the sessions can get a bit dry, so I would love to have the funds to hire someone to tie it all together and liven things up between sessions.
What have you seen others do at events that you’re considering
adding to your events in the future?
I attend PCMA’s Convening Leaders conference to get ideas for my events. I’m a long-time member and really admire their willingness to test new ideas and concepts at their conference of 5,000+ business event professionals. I’m looking at offering shorter sessions and different seating options. For example, I’ve had a lot of requests for standing options from people who work at standing desks.
I also attended a conference this summer that used Catchbox, a foam microphone that can be thrown around the room for Q&A. It was a lot of fun!
What makes a good event production partnership?
Let me first start with what makes a problematic partnership. No planner wants to see unexpected fees after the event is over. I also don’t like to see a service charge on equipment and labor, and I try to negotiate those charges out of my contracts if possible. Poor communication and follow-through also make events more stressful.
Clear, timely communication regarding the event is critically
important. Both the planner and the production partner need to understand
the goals and scope of the event, the audiovisual technology
requirements, and budgetary concerns. When the partnership is working and the show
runs smoothly, I look like a rock star!
Shelia Fox, CTA, is the Chief Events Officer at Event In Site, LLC, a meeting and event management studio based in Columbus, Ohio, that elevates associations, non-profits, and business clients ready to attract and engage a growing audience. Learn more at www.eventinsite.com.
CEAVCO Audio Visual recently invested in multiple ultra-stretch monitors, which businesses and associations can use to deliver an immersive digital viewing experience onstage, in conference foyers, and throughout exhibit halls.
These brilliant, stretched digital signs can display a lot of eye-catching, dynamic content at one time, allowing organizations to present information, advertisements, and branding in a new way, shape, and form. The monitors are the size of two 16×9 monitors that appear as one continuous display that works in both portrait and landscape mode. The vertical or horizontal content maximizes information sharing and advertising effect.
For example, at a recent exclusive commodities market conference, a stretched monitor displayed the organization’s logo; details about lunch, receptions, and session start times; and real-time information about gold, silver, platinum, and palladium prices. The monitors helped the 1,200 attendees at the world’s premier precious metals investing event stay on top of the action.
The ultra-stretch monitors have a wide range of applications:
Agendas, session times, room locations, and other event details
Presenter or salesperson photos, background information, and achievements
Corporate award ceremony highlights and winner details
Partner and sponsor promotions and advertisements
Combinations of video, imagery and graphics, content, and advertising
Our clients are loving these versatile monitors, and together we’re finding creative ways to share key information and capture attention at events.
CEAVCO Audio Visual is excited to have acquired our new headquarters building on Ward Road in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
Construction work is in progress in the office area, and the team is in the process of choosing new furniture for the building. We are also working on a landscape design that includes new trees and bushes as well as a patio area.
The new warehouse is already fully operational. The 25,000sf warehouse is 2.5 times larger than our current warehouse, which will enable us to operate more efficiently and grow. The warehouse team started working out of the new building last month, and they are loving the new space. Not only has the new warehouse dramatically increased our capacity, but it’s also boosting the productivity and morale of the team.
The rest of CEAVCO’s team will likely move to the new building sometime in April. Everyone at CEAVCO is excited about this move and can’t wait to relocate! (We’ll be sure to keep you posted as we near the actual move date.)
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead
The Colorado
Thought Leaders Forum (CTLF) is an organization of community business leaders
who positively wield their influence in the service of others. Every day, CTLF
members strive to elevate other business leaders by offering engaging programs,
promoting authentic relationships, and inspiring people to lead with their
whole heart. CEAVCO Audio Visual President Matt Emerson is proud to serve on
the board of advisors of this exceptional organization.
CTLF Mission
CTLF is on a mission to redefine what modern
leadership looks like, both today and in the future. The organization’s members
believe thriving has everything to do with the quality of their leadership, the
way they design their roles, and the people around them.
This mission closely aligns with Matt’s leadership philosophy
and the culture he has built at CEAVCO. CEAVCO has long had a reputation for fostering
and growing service-oriented relationships with company staff, clients, leaders
throughout Colorado, and industry partners nationwide.
The Origins of CTLF
During the global economic downturn in 2009, businesses
everywhere struggled to survive. In the face of this great challenge, CTLF created
something special—a community that prioritizes genuine connection and authentic
relationships as powerful drivers of personal and professional growth.
HEART-Level Values
As CTLF notes
on their site, “[Colorado] is full of leaders who believe that doing better—as
a leader, as a person and as a productive member of the community—is more than
a concept. It’s a way of being that sets us apart and creates conditions
ideally suited for personal and professional prosperity. Here in Colorado, we
don’t do business in silos but through connections with others. Relationships
among business leaders are highly valued and encouraged. CTLF creates events
that exemplify these values of thought leadership and connection.”
To that end, what CTLF calls “HEART-Level values” are
at the core of every CTLF program and event. This deliberate focus on knowing
and serving others creates an authentic culture that helps members lead well in
business and in life. Key tenets of the organization:
Design leadership to thrive.
Build business cultures that are human.
Succeed not at the expense of people but with people
and for people.
Inspire optimism.
CTLF is elevating the future of Colorado business for good. To learn more about CTLF, visit https://ctlf.org/.
How are meeting and event professionals using audiovisual resources to enhance their events and increase audience engagement?
As part of CEAVCO’s new meetings and events interview series, CEAVCO president Matt Emerson recently asked Samuel L. Thompson III (pictured), Cofounder of Sync Meeting Management, to weigh in.
What innovative ways have you found to engage attendees at your events?
We really like mobile apps that include live Q&A surveys and provide valuable information about speakers. We also like gamification – photos with the CEO, scavenger hunts around properties, etc. These strategic games encourage attendees to engage with one another.
It’s great to see people making connections through apps and other technologies. The key is to ensure that the apps you chose connect with the client’s needs and the client’s style.
If cost weren’t a factor, what would you change about your events? What do you wish you were doing?
We would like to put more into the production and staging experience of the event. Clients often budget for production and staging last when they should budget for it first. Many times, the room just falls flat and doesn’t align with the experience our clients want to deliver.
People are visual. I want to find new ways to engage attendees visually and get them excited about the content and the location. Also, there’s far too much focus on being in a major city versus at a major destination. As a result, some great places get looked over.
Too frequently we see a lot of momentum, energy, and opportunities lost with too many clumsy handoffs from one presenter to the next. We would really like to incorporate an emcee into events more often to manage the stage throughout the event to keep the flow going and tie all of the elements together.
In what ways have audiovisual technology, services, and support helped you achieve your event goals? In what ways has problematic support hindered your ability to achieve those goals?
LED screens have helped maximize space and provide a higher level of impact. This technology can make a corporate event look like the Grammys or the Oscars. It adds spice and flavor to the event. The creativity and visuals can tie an event together.
On the flip side, the dominance of preferred providers and the proliferation of fees charged for using an outside production company are really getting in the way of our ability to help our clients. Limited choice and inflated costs hurt both the clients and the industry.
What makes a good event production partnership?
A good partner is one that dedicates time to the planning and truly collaborates with their clients to achieve their goals. They participate in site surveys. They diagram. They plan load in and load out. They tie the design to the event objectives, and they’re prepared to execute. They collaborate to help the client look good.
Behind-the-scenes production effort truly impacts what happens on the stage. When there’s a true meeting of the minds, it’s magical!
Samuel L. ThompsonIII is the Cofounder of Sync Meeting Management, a full-service meeting and event management company offering years of luxury property sales and event management experience. Learn more at syncmm.com.
Live music and classic films — it’s a winning combination. As part of its Film Concert Series, the Colorado Symphony has been showing films on four large, suspended screens in Denver’s Boettcher Concert Hall while performing the films’ complete scores live.
Films in the concert series include Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Parts 1 and 2, Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Home Alone.
In partnership with the Colorado Symphony, CEAVCO Audio Visual is using cutting-edge laser projection technology to project the films on 40-foot screens. The laser projection system offers brighter, much more vibrant and colorful projected images.
Watching movies screened with a live orchestra is the first-ever live symphony experience for many. People who have never attended the Colorado Symphony’s traditional classical music programs have the chance to relive the magic of classic films on large screens with a live orchestra situated beneath them.
CEAVCO is thrilled to be working in the arts and entertainment space with professional musicians in order to create these spellbinding cinematic experiences and engage audiences in an innovative way!
Says Eric Newkirk, CEAVCO Audio Visual Vice President of Design and Creative, “We often hear from meeting planners about how they want to ‘up the wow factor.’ The ability to create a wow factor is directly tied to increasing AV spending. If you keep the budget the same, you will run out of options pretty quickly.”
If you want to attract older attendees, consider providing assisted listening devices or live captioning. “It’s money well spent if you’re attracting people who might not otherwise be able to attend a live event due to impairment,” Eric says.
Here’s another tip: the type of event production displays used depends on the size and scope of each event. “If a client is doing a big product launch and it’s a big-risk event with big impact, you’ll want to go with a bigger impact display,” Eric says. “But if you’re giving a business update to internal staff, you can use a lower impact display. It’s also important to consider if myou need to record the event, do video conferencing, or livestream.”
Finally, adding a little to the budget can give you a lot in return for your investment. “It means you can lower your risk and potential for something to go wrong,” Eric says. “If your audience enjoys the experience, can hear and see well, and gets inspired by the message — and nothing gets in the way of technology enhancing the delivery of that message — then the time and money are well spent.”
Know what a codec is? How about a green room, a mixer, or throw distance?
The professionals at the Rental and Staging Network (RSN) have put together a handy guide to common AV terms. With this list, you’ll be speaking “AV” with confidence. (As an added bonus, the next time you hear the tech team talking about a stage wash, you’ll know it has nothing to do with cleaning the stage!)
The guide includes a downloadable show flow template. The template was developed by RSN members Eric Newkirk of CEAVCO Audio Visual and Steve Halling of AVFX to help planners keep their events running smoothly. You can review the guide to common AV terms and the show flow template at https://rentalandstaging.net/18-av-terms-every-meeting-planner-should-know/.
