7 Ways to Increase Audience Engagement with AV

One of the greatest struggles for meeting & conference planners, now more than ever, is keeping their audiences engaged throughout their events. Generally speaking, engagement in events is declining and attention spans are shrinking. So the question becomes, how do you address this to help your meetings & events remain highly impactful?

Audio, video, & lighting technology provides some of the most optimal methods of connecting & engaging with your audiences! Here are seven AV elements that can help you to captivate your audience and drive your content home!

A concert-level audio system is likely to surprise and delight your attendees. With high quality audio typically reserved for musical performances, your audience will appreciate being able to hear the spoken content with more ease, and any sound effects or musical transitions will be that much more powerful.

We’ve spoken about the benefits of dynamic video use in events before, but the effects cannot be understated. Using video elements like animated logos & backgrounds, video transitions, and IMAG (showing footage of the speakers up on the screens), you can keep your audience’s interest on the content being shared.

For more tips on using video in your events, check out Bringing Your Logo To Life and Seven Ways to Make the Most of Your LED Wall.

Lighting can make a huge difference in the ambience of an event, whether it’s focused on the stage or used throughout an event space. You can go simple with a wash and some uplighting, or get creative with some moving heads & coordinate some eye-catching cues with different speakers or themes. Adding fog or atmosphere to a space is another simple move that can give your lighting a more dramatic or concert-like look, allowing the beams to be seen through the space and extending the impact of the effects.

Polling is an easy way to get your audience involved in an event, especially if you can display the results & relate them back to the content being presented. There are many apps & clicker systems out there that you can use to achieve this, but one of our favorites is UMU. In addition to polling functionalities, UMU also makes it easy to do raffle drawings, games, and quizzes, and provides you with an engaging and aesthetically pleasing interface to use on-screen.

Now, we know that VR & AR are up-and-coming technologies that still carry a hefty price tag, so right now it’s about baby steps. Encourage vendors in exhibit booths to utilize VR! This has been very popular in many conferences, and although it may not specifically reference the content of the conference, the experience stands out to the attendees and elevates their overall experience.

(Photo by Jack Looney Photography)

Q&A’s are another great way to get your audience engaging with the content. Placing microphones throughout the audience not only encourages participation, but it also sends the signal early on that there will be a time for questions, which encourages attendees to pay more attention throughout the event.

Depending on how you use it, staging can be passive and minimally engaging, or you can take advantage of new technology and create a more dynamic set for your event. There are so many opportunities for dynamic & interactive staging these days, from responsive physical set pieces to LED walls that open up a world of possibilities when it comes to content & transitions.

To check out some examples of our staging design process, head over to our Portfolio page!

These are just a few examples of ways to bring impact & interactivity to an event, but depending on who your audience is, there may be many more options for you event! We’d love to help you come up with a creative solution to keep your attendees wowed and engaged!

Creative LED Wall Layout: NGA Summer Meeting

Here at The AV Company, collaboration is the name of the game. Whether it’s with our clients, our industry partners, or even within our own team, we are all about coming together to reach our clients’ goals & to help them achieve their vision.

Recently, we collaborated with the National Governors Association (NGA) on a creative display method for their Summer Meeting in Santa Fe. The purpose of this event is for governors from all states to come together to share resources, study what’s been done, and to set an agenda for their legislative portion of the federal government.

The client requested an innovative set that reflected the history of the beautiful Santa Fe area. Our designer drew inspiration from the pueblo style of architecture that is typified by this region, and designed a staggered LED wall layout, reminiscent of the traditionally orthogonal pueblo rooflines. To complete the look, he created graphics representing a building in this style, to provide a strong walk-in look for the event. He also created step-and-repeat graphics to show on the LED wall during press-related sections of the event.

We use renderings when designing custom staging or room layouts to show our clients what they can expect, and to make sure that all involved are on the same page.

Aside from staging, we also provided audiovisual support and video services for this event. Taking on an event roughly 1800 miles away was a welcome challenge for us, and the facility team at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center was a huge part of the success of this event. We also had the pleasure of working with Telepictures, Inc. who partnered with us to provide streaming services.

We are happy to say that the client was elated with our overall performance, and impressed with our team’s creativity. From the aesthetic to the execution, this event was a fantastic example of a successful collaboration, and we were honored to be a part of it.

How To Help Your Speakers Give Their Best Presentation Ever

We know that, as a conference planner, you put massive amounts of energy into making sure that your event is successful. But what’s a successful conference without strong, effective speakers?

No matter how much experience a speaker has, they can still get flustered or uncomfortable without the right kind of support. We pride ourselves on our ability to send speakers onstage feeling confident in the technology they’re using, but there are many things you can do before your event to help your speakers succeed!

IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP TO YOUR EVENT...

SEND OUT A POWERPOINT GUIDE.

Even the most experienced speakers sometimes struggle with creating presentation visuals. Luckily, we have a great resource for creating slides that read well onstage. Click here to download it, and feel free to share it as you please!

HAVE SPEAKERS SUBMIT THEIR MATERIALS AHEAD OF TIME.

Whether it’s PowerPoint slides, a Keynote deck, a Prezi presentation, or especially video content, have your speakers submit their presentation materials prior to the event so that you & your tech team can review them. We often ask for presentation materials a week in advance so that we can run through them, make sure that they play seamlessly, and fix any problems while we have time.

GIVE GUIDELINES FOR TECH-FRIENDLY CLOTHING.

If your speakers are going to be using headset microphones, you’ll want to let them know that dangly earrings may be problematic, as they may bump up against the mic and cause unwanted noise. If the speaker has long hair, they may wish to pull it back or push it behind their ears for the same reason. Or, if they are planning to use a lavaliere microphone, they’ll want to have somewhere on their clothing that they can clip the mic, and ideally, something like a belt or pocket that they can clip a transmitter pack onto. We can always get creative if needed, but sometimes it helps to mention these points ahead of time.

BE CLEAR ABOUT TIME LIMITS.

By providing your speaker with their time slot beforehand, they can practice their talk and make sure that they pace it to fit within their given time limitation. If your event has a firm wrap time, make sure that you stress the importance of not going overtime to your speakers.

 

DURING THE WEEK OF YOUR EVENT...

HAVE A REHEARSAL.

It can be daunting stepping into a new environment, coordinating which side of the stage to enter from, knowing where the tech table is and at what time you need to go get mic’ed, and choreographing interactions with hosts & other speakers onstage. Having a rehearsal during which your speakers can practice and ask questions eliminates many of these stressors, both for you and for your speakers.

 

ON THE DAY OF YOUR EVENT…

This is when we take over. We’ll be stationed at a tech table and will be ready for any questions that you or your speakers may have day-of. When your speakers come to us to get mic’ed before going onstage, our professional and knowledgeable staff will help them to feel at ease, making sure that they are comfortable with any tech they’re using and reaffirming any points they need to remember. 

We love being the facilitators of your vision, and we want your event (and your speakers) to succeed as much as you do! We’d love to assist you with fine-tuning your next event or conference!