Choosing an AV company in Singapore

Most AV companies in Singapore can supply similar equipment, and a quote that lists kit alone does not tell you much about how the day will go. The differences show up in how a company plans the job and who turns up to run it.

These questions bring them out, and they work the same whichever company you ask, including us.

Will someone walk the venue before quoting?

A quote given without seeing the room is a guess. The same rig sounds different in a carpeted ballroom and in a hall full of glass, and the things that cost money on the day, like the load-in route, the power supply and the rigging points, only show up on a visit. Ask whether the quote follows a venue walk, and who does it.

Who runs the show on the day?

Ask whether the person who plans the job is the person on site running it. Every handover between whoever quoted, a coordinator and the technician on the day is a place where a detail can drop, like the second microphone for the panel or the video that needs its own audio. Fewer handovers, fewer surprises.

What does the quote include?

Ask what is in it: the equipment, the crew and their hours, setup and teardown, and anything that depends on the venue. Ask what happens if the event overruns, and what the venue's own system is expected to cover. Two quotes are only comparable when you know what each one includes.

Can it work with the venue's system?

Many hotel ballrooms and function rooms have a house sound system. Sometimes it handles speeches perfectly well, and paying for a second system on top of it is waste. Sometimes it does not, and finding that out on the day is worse. A good supplier asks the venue what the house system includes and quotes around it.

What is the backup?

Ask what happens if the things that would stop the event fail: the presenter's laptop, the main microphone, the stream's internet connection. There is no single right answer, but there should be an answer, given before the day rather than worked out during it.

Have they done rooms like yours?

Photos of past setups in similar rooms tell you more than a client list. Ask to see a ballroom set the way yours will be, or a livestream desk like the one you need. Ours are on the work page, and what we run on the day is on the services page.

AV company or event company

An event management company plans the whole event and usually subcontracts the AV. If you have one, they may bring their own AV supplier. If you are organising in-house, booking the AV company directly puts you one conversation closer to the people running the room.

What to send any AV company

The date, the venue and room, the headcount, the programme in whatever state it exists, and anything the venue has already said about its own system, rigging and power. Sending the same brief to every company makes the quotes comparable. The equipment list sets out what goes into one and what moves the price.