This event I'm writing about today takes place in Vancouver, B.C., today, March 11th, 2014.
The flight was pretty normal, although I usually plan to sit in the front of the plane if possible, because I like to get out of the darn thing asap. Sunday's flight was jammed, however, due to March Break.
My floor plan was to match the quote for AV rentals and there had already been some slight mis-communication about the type and amount of cables required for the workshop on the first day. Normally, workshops are much smaller than the associated main event, therefore they do not require much audio support.
Problem #1 - missing cables!
When I arrived, I discovered that the requested gear was there, but without any cabling or A/C power drops, so I couldn't do much of a set-up the night before, which meant that I had to get up extra early to fix the situation in the morning. First thing in the morning, I contacted the house AV, then borrowed an extension cord from the banquet manager as back-up, ran up to my hotel room to get a portable audio mixer, met with the on-site AV person (who agreed that there should have been cables left the night before) and we were ready to go.
After being polite, being calm under pressure and thanking the AV staff for the help, I opened up a clear line of communication in order to plan that night's set-up for the following morning. I triple-checked the AV order for the next morning, which I was to set up the night before, and finalized the floor-plan. I then went to Dollarama to get a couple of cheap power bars as back-up (and some back-up batteries for the wireless mics).
Once the floor-plan was finalized, I emailed it to the house AV team, who could then see exactly what I had planned, with every major cable shown (not the smaller connections at the audio mixer, which I usually carry with me).
The banquet staff had a slightly different floor-plan, based on estimated equipment location and seating arrangement, but from my experience, the banquet floor-plan and the AV floor-plan are often not exactly the same. I usually get around this problem by talking about it face to face and adjusting some of the potential problems, such as the common problem of missing projector tables on many banquet floor-plans, with approximate projector throw distances (projectors can be swapped out at a moment's notice, and they are all different).
Problem #2 - wireless mic not working!
Now that the viewing angles, podium position, AV gear and staging were all taken care of, I found myself faced with a problem with a wireless Q&A mic (this event required a roaming mic for questions and answers).
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I had rented two new digital wireless units in Toronto, to take with me because the receivers were small, light, easy to operate and unlikely to experience interference on their frequency range. I had used similar units before so I didn't anticipate any problems. After a 2.5 hour set-up, I was now faced with the possibility of telling the meeting planner in the morning that they may need to rent a wireless mic and absorb the cost (not what they want to hear, of course, because they also paid for the rental from Toronto).
Before delivering the bad news, I decided to take the wireless unit to my hotel room and try to figure out what the problem was at the expense of a good night's sleep. After fiddling with the controls and doing many web searches, I stumbled upon a chat page which led to another page that explained that these units were interchangeable and backward compatible. By pressing the two buttons on the transmitter in a certain sequence, the user could change between 'newer' and 'older' wireless signals (they often don't supply the manual for rentals).
After 1.5 hours, I now had a working wireless unit! Now, time to try to get 4 hours of sleep (it's okay, they have good coffee at the hotel).
Problem # 3 - video playback files a mess!
Actually, while I was working on the wireless, I also had to make a plan to get the videos into the PowerPoints for the next day. I had to download a large file a few hours before, then test it, then download two Youtube videos, convert them to .wmv, embed them and test them, then pre-stream a non-down-loadable video and have it ready in an open browser. Most of this was due to last-minute submissions that I couldn't test until the night before the event.
It was a busy night and even busier morning as I had organized the videos and came up with a plan of action, after speaking with the presenters. By carefully adjusting my AV control sheet and prepping the videos, I was now ready for playback on demand.
In our set-up, the AV tech table is behind the screen (AV Ninja tm) and a comfort monitor is set up beside the podium - that way, we have full control over the computer to ensure seamless playback and we are also
very close to the presenter for support in case anything goes wrong while presenting (better than running through a crowded room to help!).
So far (knock on wood), we have avoided serious issues with the AV quality and made sure every presenter was taken care of, so that the audience could get their money's worth and enjoy the event without major technology glitches. This was achieved with a combination of quick thinking, trouble shooting and making friends with the on-site banquet and AV staff.
I must mention that the on-site staff, both AV and Banquets, were very helpful, responsive and understanding during the cable crisis and even checked on the event a few times to make sure we were doing alright (Hyatt Regency Vancouver and Freeman AV).
I must mention that the on-site staff, both AV and Banquets, were very helpful, responsive and understanding during the cable crisis and even checked on the event a few times to make sure we were doing alright (Hyatt Regency Vancouver and Freeman AV).
So far, this is a typical 'away' event, although with its unique issues and experiences.
Buck Moore, www.b4ushowit.com
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