AV Ordering Gets Smart

Learning How to Give Yourself Time.

There are moments when we cannot wait for the weekend. We ask ourselves if it’s Friday, and you know you do it more often than you’re willing to admit. Let’s be honest… But, if you’ve ever been under the pressure of a deadline, you’ll stumble upon the week where time is not on your side. Your forehead feels the bead of sweat that lingers cause all you can focus on is getting everything done. All you can think of is your next hour, or how late you’ll be. Where you hope it’s not Friday, because what you’re doing is due on Friday. Ever have one of those? We always hope there’s some kind of shortcut that takes the place of something we just don’t want to do.

I predict historians will call this decade the era of easy. As humans, we look for the path of least resistance. From smart phones to smart cars to smart homes–we live for convenience. Everything in our lives is augmented by technology. We are always inclined to make things fast and turnkey. We want it easy and we want it now. But sometimes there’s not enough time–and time is one of the many things we just cannot buy.

Technology changes a lot of that for us. Having a map app on our smart phone changes the experience of driving to a destination. Instead of fixating on where to go, we can fixate on driving better instead. How about communications? Text messages invigorate our lives because we no longer have to spend time trying to get ahold of our colleagues quickly. Or, how about the internet taking the place of having to check out books at a library. (How did we all survive back then?)

Clearly technological advancements change our lives, but not always because of what they inherently do. The real impact is the task we no longer have to do, because technology can do it for us. Technology makes life great, and that we get. But the value is what we now can do with the time saved. Time can be better spent doing something more meaningful. We revel in doing something else with our newly found time. That is technology’s true value.

With all of the moving parts involved in planning your show—there’s a lot to do, and with very little time. Venue planning, calendar setting and coordinating details alone can be a daunting if not a multi-team task. There can be a lot to do without a doubt. There’s labor, and equipment–not to mention planning a cohesive theme in mind. You’ll have to do that, all while trying to deliver an incredible experience (which in the end is the most important thing).

All of the nuances of stage and scenic ordering for the most part haven’t been drastically overhauled in our industry. But we do have technology on our side, and those technological advancements happen with process as well.

Stop worrying about the logistical details. AV Concepts leverages its expertise with an online digital catalog. Takes care of all the questions you may have all in one place. Think of it as a culmination of experience that identifies the most suitable AV packages for your needs. And that doesn’t just mean a specialist will be able walk you through it (we do that all the time). We’re talking a turnkey online catalog that provides everything: labor costs, turnaround time, equipment costs and visuals. It can even give you a peek into how the scenic will appear to your attendees. Our digital event catalog changes the process leaving you to focus on things you otherwise wouldn’t have time for.

We’ve been analyzing our repertoire of show experiences, and identifying what makes them memorable and what makes them great. We’ve been through countless hours and post-con data and round robins. And the one thing that ties together some of the most memorable shows of the last 30 years is how an event can become culturally relevant with its message and its content. Content is the social currency a show provides to its attendees. It’s the extra something that moves people. That is what they take home and that is what they’ll remember. That’s not something that’s provided, or ordered from a catalog. That comes from a concept. But the work and energy spent on this does not come easy. It takes time and energy. And we’re back to where we started. How to I get back some of that time?

In this new deadline driven world, event and meeting planners have to practice caution when divvying out their time. Time must be spent on understanding what’s impactful to an audience, and how to connect with your attendees. All of that requires real forethought. Freeing up time in process and being efficient in the planning stage can generate a lot of additional time for real focus on things that should be your priority. The added efficiency can let you tackle things like messaging and content. And that’s where your time should be spent. In the end, you’ll increase the likelihood that you’ll prioritize much more meaningful tasks that are necessary for your event to be successful. And that’s what we care about.

If you’d like to learn more, visit our informational page on this here. Utilize our digital event catalog and begin spending time talking about details to make your show a success. And do something much better with your time instead.