Tech is challenging whether you’re hosting your first virtual event or your one-hundredth virtual event. If you’re not a trained A/V technician or a software guru, it will take years to master the intricacies of the digital world, especially if you’re an event planner juggling all things events. At Eventistry by Alecia, we contract the most talented virtual event production team members around the world. While we’re the experts in planning, marketing, and producing virtual events, part of that is knowing when you need to outsource to experts. This is why we’ve built a virtual event production team to manage the A/V ins and outs. So, when hiring your virtual event production team or working with a new team before your next event, here are a few questions to ask to make sure they know exactly what they’re doing!
What does your production process look like, pre-, during, and post-event?
When you contract any team to help with your virtual event production, you want to understand what their process looks like. You want to understand their role, what they need from you, and what type of service you will receive for your investment! You can typically tell if the team is inexperienced as they’ll look to you more than tell you what they can do for you.
Are there any exciting new technologies I can use to engage attendees?
These are the techies, remember? They should be in the know about the latest and greatest event technology. Most of the time, if they’re qualified, these guys are your most valuable resource for offering innovative digital experiences for your attendees.
How do you run pre-event tech checks? What do you need from us?
While this kind of ties into the process question, this is something you want to look out for. If they say they don’t run pre-event tech checks, run in the other direction. We’re not joking. Tech is a mysterious beast, so you have to do everything in your power to ensure that your transitions, video, and audio are set up to run smoothly. To do this, you need that dress rehearsal. Even the most experienced virtual event production teams need to run tech checks to get everyone on the same page and ready to produce a powerful event.
Can you please outline your costs? Do you have minimums?
Before signing on the dotted lines, you want to understand your event production costs. Many virtual event production teams will have a minimum labor fee or a minimum number of hours. Additionally, many teams have been adding fees you may want to look out for, so ask them to be upfront, honest, and provide a total cost breakdown to achieve your event goals.
What virtual event platforms do you have experience working with?
If you have a platform in mind that you want to use, you want to ensure that your virtual event production team has experience with that platform. While they’re experts and can likely figure out any platform, having someone who has already troubleshot and managed roadblocks in your specific platform. Plus, they may be able to unlock the platform’s capabilities to elevate attendee engagement that you may not have been aware of previously.
P.S. Here are a few of our faves.
What other services do you offer?
While you may have contracted them to manage your virtual event platform the day of the event, virtual event production teams typically have many more capabilities. For example, they may be able to help you design a pre-event promo video, they may be able to record sessions and provide a post-event repository, they can pre-record your speaker sessions to be live-streamed during the virtual event, and more. If you don’t ask, you won’t know their full scope, and you may miss out on some opportunities to elevate your event!
Need Help Managing Virtual Event Production? We Got You.
Eventistry by Alecia has been planning virtual events since before it was the cool thing to do. We’ve been working with expert virtual event production teams with which we’ve cultivated relationships for years. Plus, we know how to get on with new teams and make sure they’re doing exactly what’s required to pull your virtual event off seamlessly. Need help? Let’s schedule a chat.
