See our Meeting Room Checklist.

The greatest advantage to an Independent Sound System is real-time technical support and monitoring with immediate response times to any incidents that may occur during the event.  In-house systems are primarily designed to be public address systems; shared and centrally controlled.  When issues arise you must first contact the facility, then a technician will be called and sent to the main audio control center and attempt to identify where the issue is occurring without actually being in the room. Also, public address systems typically are not adequate to support music or video. Another factor that may affect your decisions is having more than one wireless microphone in the room.  Wireless microphones always increase the risk for audio issues and when possible should be supported by a meeting room technician and an independent self-contained system.

Projectors are typically selected based on bulp or lamp brightness which is measured in "ANSI Lumens." 2000-3000 Lumens is usually appropriate for audience sizes up to 150. It is important to know the conditions of ambient lighting in the room as this can dictate brightness needs.  Most meeting rooms today have the ability to block natural lighting and to partially control or dim room lighting.  Make sure your venue has lighting controls to support your projection needs, otherwise you could be charged to have bulbs temporarily removed in order to adequately view your presentations.

Rule of Thumb: The last row of chairs should be a maximum of 6-8 times the screen width and a minimum of 1 - 1 1/2 times the screen width. Example: A 6'x8' screen would mean the first row of seating should be 6' - 9' from  the screen and the last row should not be more than 64' from the screen.

Professional lighting is always needed to obtain professional results.  When magnifying a live subject or recording a video for playback to an audience lighting is a primary issue.  Archiving presentations for reference purposes is an area where some people feel they would not  require lighting, but quality is completely sacrificed and many customers are not satisfied with results.

Standing on the stage and facing the audience you can easily determine which side is stage left and stage right.

For most, upstage equals the back of the stage and down stage equals the front of the stage. Stages used to be sloped like a wedge higher in the back and sloping down toward the front so that people at the back of the stage could be more easily viewed by the audience.

First know your audience and have theme from your event.  This will help you determine the appropriate entertainment. A good rule of thumb: minimize your risk for accidents, no fire, water, chainsaw juggling or the like. Always try and see the act before your hire sign a contract.