Choosing the Right AV Partner Matters More Than You Think
Your in-house AV provider is one of the most visible vendor relationships your venue has. Event planners interact with them directly. The quality of AV services affects client satisfaction, repeat bookings, and your venue's reputation. Choosing the wrong partner means overpriced services, frustrated clients, and missed revenue.
Here's what to evaluate when choosing — or replacing — your facility's AV management partner.
Technology and Automation
The single biggest differentiator between modern and legacy AV providers is technology. Ask these questions:
- Do they offer self-service ordering? — Your event clients should be able to browse equipment, see pricing, and order online without calling anyone.
- Is outreach automated? — Every event at your venue should receive proactive outreach about AV services, triggered automatically from your booking data.
- Do they integrate with your booking system? — TripleSeat, or whatever system you use, should feed directly into the AV platform.
- Are communications automated? — Payment confirmations, WiFi credentials, and service reminders should be sent automatically.
If the answer to any of these is "no," you're dealing with a provider stuck in the past.
Pricing Transparency
Your event clients deserve to know what things cost before they commit. Evaluate:
- Is pricing visible online? — Clients should see real-time, per-day pricing for all equipment.
- Are there hidden fees? — Tax, delivery, and labor costs should be clear upfront.
- Is the pricing competitive? — Compare rates to open-market equipment rental. Markups of 300-400% (common with legacy providers) are a red flag.
- Do clients complain about cost? — If AV pricing is a regular source of complaints, your provider's rates are likely out of line.
Branding and Client Experience
Your AV partner represents your venue. The client experience matters:
- Is the ordering portal branded? — Self-service portals should carry your venue's branding, not just the AV company's logo.
- Is it mobile-friendly? — Event planners are often on-site at your venue when they realize they need AV. Mobile ordering is essential.
- Is the checkout process fast? — Two minutes from link click to completed order should be the standard.
- Are credentials delivered proactively? — WiFi passwords and connection details should arrive automatically before service starts.
Visibility and Reporting
You need to know what's happening with AV at your venue. Your partner should provide:
- A dashboard for your team — See all events, outreach status, and orders in one place.
- Capture rate data — What percentage of events are ordering AV? This number should be growing.
- Outreach tracking — Know which events were contacted, when, and whether they responded.
- Revenue reporting — Understand how much AV revenue your venue is generating.
Service Quality
Technology is important, but the fundamentals still matter:
- Equipment quality — Are they using professional-grade gear (JBL, Shure, etc.) or consumer-level equipment?
- On-site technicians — Do they provide trained staff for setup, operation, and strike?
- Reliability — Do they have backup equipment? What's their track record with events of your size?
- Scalability — Can they handle your biggest events as well as your smallest?
The Evaluation Checklist
When meeting with potential AV partners, bring this checklist:
- Do they offer self-service online ordering?
- Do they integrate with TripleSeat or your booking system?
- Is outreach to event contacts automated?
- Is pricing transparent and competitive?
- Is the ordering experience branded for your venue?
- Do they provide a dashboard for your events team?
- Are customer communications (confirmations, WiFi credentials) automated?
- Do they use professional-grade equipment?
- Do they provide on-site technical support?
- Can they share capture rate and revenue data?
A modern AV partner should check every box. If they can't, keep looking.
See how HPS checks every box as a technology-first facility AV partner →