What Event Planners Don't Know About Event Production

Howard Givner (@hgivner) is the founder and executive editor of the Event Leadership Institute.

Last month the Event Leadership Institute created an online self-assessment test for event and meeting professionals to gauge their knowledge level when it comes to audiovisual production, lighting, staging, and anything that relates to speakers giving presentations on stage. After more than 1,500 people took the test, the results are in.

The average score is a 48. That’s out of 100. More than two-thirds of participants scored between 30 and 60, while only nine percent scored 80 or above. If you’re a meeting planner looking for a way to separate yourself from the competition, there’s your answer.

The test was created in advance of E.L.I.’s four-week online course on technical meeting and event production, with Brandt Krueger, which begins November 5. As the course was designed for more experienced planners, we needed a way for people to evaluate their own skill levels in this area to determine if they’d be a good candidate for the course.

The questions with the lowest scores related to coordinating a speaker’s slide presentation. Only 10 percent of people correctly answered a question distinguishing the benefits of rear-screen versus front-screen projection, while only 11 percent correctly answered a question on how to avoid black bars above and below a slide being shown on screen, the result of not properly coordinating aspect ratios between presenter and audiovisual supplier.

The scores are disappointing, but not altogether surprising. Over the years planners have gotten smarter and more sophisticated when it comes to just about every aspect of meeting and event planning. We’ll challenge a vendor if there’s something they don’t understand about the venue, food and beverage, decor, and other elements.

Yet when it comes to audiovisuals and production, we get shy. Perhaps we’re embarrassed to admit there’s something we don’t know. Perhaps we’re intimidated by the technical nature of it. But we really shouldn’t be. What happens on stage is usually the most important part of why events are held in the first place. And audiovisual production is often the most expensive part of a meeting’s budget, after the venue and food and beverage.

We as an industry can, and should do better in raising our knowledge level when it comes to production.

Disclosure: BizBash is an investor in the Event Leadership Institute.