Why We Do a Site Visit Before Your Event

As much as possible, your event day should be predictable. Showing up, parking, unloading gear, setting up, getting connections, running the show, and taking it down, should all be planned events with a clear “What, How, When, and Where” that our crew can execute without surprises. ‘Seeing what happens’ is great when you’re out with friends, but isn’t that great for serious events where you are investing thousands and trying to impress hundreds or thousands of people.

What we need to know

The primary purpose of a site visit is to determine the following things:

  • Power: Where outlets are, what circuits are available, and whether the desired equipment can be powered safely.

  • Internet: What service is available and where the connection can actually be obtained.

  • Room Characteristics and Sightlines: Whether speaker cabinets, TVs, cameras, and lighting will work as intended from typical setup locations.

  • Loading and Access: How equipment gets from our truck to the event space, and where it and our crew might park, or not.

“But, we have all that. We don’t need a site visit then, right?”

It might be the case that the venue has supplied you or us with detailed information about their space, and its power, internet, floor-plans, and loading/parking access. And, yes, sometimes we do trust that information and move forward with a project at that point. But, it still adds peace of mind to go in for ourselves and confirm it, primarily wondering…is that information up to date and accurate? We’ve encountered scenarios where the ceiling height was a foot off from the diagram, or there was a big post blocking the stage that wasn’t depicted, the loading dock wasn’t actually open at the time it was supposed to be, or the jack that the well-meaning events manager thought was ethernet was actually a VoIP connection. These small details being off may seem insignificant, but…

  • …the ceiling being too short could mean we brought the wrong size screens

  • …the post could block half the audience’s view of the slides

  • …the loading dock being closed could mean we aren’t set up in time, or our crew works into overtime

  • …not having internet could mean no livestream or zoom

If we had known about these issues in advance, we could have brought the right screens, recommended additional equipment to cover the seats behind the post, coordinated a better loading time, work out a different internet solution, and save you the cost of extra fees to cobble together a solution at the last minute. This is why we always recommend a site visit no matter how much information the venue has provided.

Making Sure Everyone's Plans Fit Together

Something else a site visit allows us to do is actually meet with and talk to at least some of the people who will be involved in the on-site work. This could include…

  • Caterers

  • Decorators

  • Event Planner (and/or you)

  • Venue Staff

  • Other Production Vendors

Does our initial layout for equipment, drape, staging, and cabling conflict with the plan the other vendors have for tables or decorations? If so, this is a great time to work out in real time, together, how these pieces will fit together smoothly, and save us an hour that would have been spent re-arranging equipment on setup day.

And in case it wasn’t already in your plan, it’s a good idea to try to schedule your site visit with all these related vendors on the same day. The other vendors will probably appreciate this, as well.

Sometimes, nothing changes. And that's good.

Rest assured: a site visit does not mean the quote will increase! About 80% of the time, a site visit simply gives us dimensions to determine how much cable to bring, and the chance to chat with you and other vendors. In other words, it is a chance to confirm our existing plan. Only when unexpected circumstances arise do we start recommending changes to equipment and/or increased costs. And if we do, it’s always for the sake of making sure we have a problem-free event day.

From “Probably” to “We Know”

The value of a site visit is knowing that the plan has been verified rather than assuming everything will work. It’s the transition from an estimate to a production plan we can confidently stand behind. The ultimate goal is a smooth event with few or no surprises for both us and you.

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