Innovative Adaptive Technology at AV Chicago with EAW AC6 Column Speakers

AV Chicago is thrilled to announce the purchase of twelve EAW AC6 Column Speakers, using this innovative adaptive technology to elevate the audio experience for their client’s events. AV Chicago will be one of the first events companies in the country to use this technology for live events. Providing high-performance sound amplification, the AC6 is a one-stop solution that will allow AV Chicago to work within any venue and produce high-quality sound using a minimal
number of speakers. Previously known for its use in fixed, permanent installs, AV Chicago is thrilled to share how this innovative technology will be a game-changer for the events industry and your next event.

Adaptive Technology

Powered by adaptive technology, each speaker provides vertical coverage that can be customized to the venue to ensure even sound coverage. AV Chicago technicians can change how narrow or wide the sound is through a completely digital network, providing events with the most accurate sound coverage in the fastest way possible. With accurate tonal quality, the experience is the same no matter where you are in relation to the speaker. It will also provide a similar experience to everyone in the room, making it ideal for concerts looking to offer the same audio experience to
those in the front rows and those in the back.

Minimal Footprint, Better Sound Coverage

The number of speakers will no longer hinder sound coverage. Events can still have the sleek column aesthetic but will be able to digitally steer the sound for greater control of the sound direction. They will be ideal for settings like hotel ballrooms where you can get away with using fewer speakers to do more work and provide increased sound coverage. EAW doesn’t utilize “beam forming” technology and uses its patented adaptive technology to deliver consistent sound coverage while avoiding reflective surfaces like walls or balcony faces. This coverage is
controlled by EAW’s award-winning Resolution 2 software.

Easy Technology to Deploy

With a modular design and full serviceability capabilities from the front of the unit, the AC6 is one of the easiest-to-service column loudspeakers on the market. They can be used without cumbersome tools, allowing our technicians to assemble them easily and quickly. Due to its adaptive technology, the array doesn’t have to be moved to change the sound distribution or direction. The whole array can be left on, and the energy can be refocused to where you want it to go, allowing it to adapt to any situation or environment.

Interested in learning more? Contact us today!

How to Build an Event Budget

When planning an event, creating an event budget is an essential step that should not be overlooked. An event budget helps you track your expenses, identify areas where you can cut costs, and stay within your financial limits. This detailed planning also helps when you need to pivot or adapt to industry changes like increased staffing fees, food costs, or additional AV integrations. It can be daunting, but with some planning and organization, you can create a realistic and practical event budget to put your event on the road to success.

Start with the Big Picture Before crunching numbers, take a step back and consider the big picture. Some essential
questions to ask concerning your event are:

• What type of event are you planning?
• What is the purpose of the event?
• What kind of venue do you need?
• Will your event be in-person, virtual, or hybrid?
• What are your technology and AV needs?
• if this isn’t your first year, what were your prior successes and areas for improvement?
• Who are your vendors, and do you need to reassess any of them?If you did the event previously, look back at your final budget as a starting place and discuss adjustments that need to be made. Once you have a clear understanding of the scope and scale of your event, you can begin to make a rough estimate of your expenses.

List Your Event Expenses

List out all your possible expenses while planning and executing your event. This may include venue rental fees, catering costs, marketing expenses, entertainment, decorations, AV needs, transportation, and any other costs associated with the event. It is essential to be as detailed as possible when creating this list, as it will help you identify any areas where you can cut costs. It will also allow you to know where you have excess room in the budget for elevated technology or new points of engagement. List out all your possible expenses while planning and executing your event. This may include venue rental fees, catering costs, marketing expenses, entertainment, decorations, AV needs, transportation, and any other costs associated with the event. It is essential to be as detailed as possible when creating this list, as it will help you identify any areas where you can cut costs. It will also allow you to know where you have excess room in the budget for elevated technology or new points of engagement.

Prioritize and Allocate Your Event Expenses

Once you have a list of all your expenses, it’s time to prioritize them. Start by identifying the costs essential to your event’s success and operation. These may include venue rental fees, catering, event ticketing platforms, AV, and marketing expenses. Next, prioritize your secondary expenses, such as entertainment and decorations. Finally, identify any additional costs that would be nice to have but are not optimal for the success of your event. Once you have identified and prioritized your expenses, allocate your funds to each category. Make sure to leave wiggle room
for unexpected expenses or increases in cost.

Monitor Your Event Budget

Once your budget is created, it’s essential to monitor it regularly. Keep track of your expenses and compare them to your budget. If you notice overspending in a particular category, you may need to adjust your budget or find ways to cut costs in other areas. Improving your budget over time also allows you to consider incorporating things that you may not have been able to at the beginning of the process, allowing you to integrate new trends or technology that can heighten
the overall experience for your guests.

Be Flexible

If COVID has taught us anything, we must be prepared for the unexpected. Be ready to make changes and adapt your plans as needed. Also, plan out some contingency plans to prepare if something goes wrong. This planning exercise could alleviate unwanted stress if something unexpected does happen.

Interested in learning more? Contact us today!

Gala Fatigue? Try these Creative Fundraising Ideas Instead 

When planning a fundraising event, many organizations’ first thought is to hold a gala, a trusted event for nonprofits to raise funds and celebrate their donors. But that isn’t the only option. It’s essential to take the time to think about if a gala is a suitable event for your organization. Maybe your organization attracts a younger demographic or has a casual, more approachable brand. An extravagant, upscale gala may not fit and could send the wrong message. That’s why it’s essential to find a fundraising event that matches YOUR organization. 

Luckily, there are a lot of creative event options your organization can plan……..

Chef Dinner at Home

Capitalize on the comforts of home by mobilizing your most passionate supporters to host a fundraising dinner in their own homes. Your organization can have a representative attend in person or livestream into the event to give a speech and interact with attendees. Your host can be your strongest advocate and set a fundraising goal for their dinner. If your organization has local ties to restaurants or wine providers, brainstorm with them on ways to make the evening memorable through a donated wine pairing or even a local chef assisting with the menu planning or even the cooking.

BBQ Fundraiser

Worried that the formal nature of a gala isn’t the right style for your supporters? Partnering with a local farm or another outdoor event venue, you can host an old-fashioned BBQ where attendees can enjoy a beer, a rack of ribs, and some local music or entertainment. Food and beverage stations can be sponsored by local restaurants or purveyors, providing them with awareness while supporting their local community. In between performances, your organization could have displays sharing content about your organization or display auction items to increase the amount raised from the event.

Trivia Night Fundraiser

Local bars have long capitalized on the popularity of trivia nights, and so can your organization. Encourage your supporters to form teams, requiring each team to fundraise a certain amount to participate in your trivia competition. Each group would be provided a personal fundraising page to raise funds leading up to the event, making it easy to send to friends and family or share on social media. All the funds would be raised prior, so you would know how much is raised and celebrate the results the night of the event. 

Community Art Show 

Does your organization have close ties to local artists? Showcase their talent by having them donate a piece of work for a community-based art show in support of your organization. Attendees will have the opportunity to not only purchase work from a community artist but know that their purchase will also benefit a worthy cause. If your organization works with children, use this as an opportunity to include their works in the show, giving them the thrill of displaying their artwork and possibly experiencing the excitement of their first sale. 

Talent Show Fundraiser

Building on the popularity of reality competitions like Dancing with the Stars or American Idol, showcase the talent in your community while raising funds for your organization. Look to engage well-known community members to participate, helping to increase awareness and possibly introduce your organization to a new base of donors. A mobile voting system allows attendees to vote for their favorite contestant, or you could even do a donate-to-vote system to increase the funds raised during the event. You could also sell virtual tickets and live stream the event, allowing people to experience the event regardless of location.

Interested in learning more? Contact us today!

A Closer Look: Theatrixx NOMAD 2.6 LED

AV Chicago is proud to be one of the first ten companies in the United States to receive and deploy the Theatrixx NOMAD 2.6 LED in the United States. These high-quality LED displays provide sharp visuals and increased durability through their exclusive TPEP technology (Titanium/Polymer Edge Protection), limiting their need for repairs that could make them unavailable for future events. Our team worked closely with Theatrixx when choosing this product, visiting their facilities in Canada to test and view the product first-hand before deploying it. We now own and house 200 panels that are available for events ranging from the World Fantasy Baseball Classic in partnership with FanDuel to countless music and entertainment events all over the country. This product is ideal for events of any size and has allowed us to tackle unique deployment ideas, allowing our partners to deliver event experiences unlike any other.

Pixel Durability 

The NOMAD 2.6 LED has addressed one of the most significant barriers to adopting fine pixel-pitch LED for use at events with their TPEP technology. This technology provides a coating for additional module protection, significantly reducing the possibility of damage to the corner and edge pixels. Exclusive to NOMAD, this technology was developed after surveying and designing LED displays within the most demanding environments. During events, these tiles have a high risk of being bumped and banged, and this extra level of protection alleviates the headaches that go along with any possible pixel damage. This also helps when storing the panels in our warehouse. Their durability makes them less likely to be damaged during transport, relieving our team of needing to replace modules or pixels that have gone bad due to damage. It’s also easy to quickly turn them around for use at other events, allowing us to take on additional events during that time.

Clear LED Visuals 

As one of the first LED displays on the market with a refresh rate of 7,680 Hz, the NOMAD offers incredible depth and dynamic range, providing clear and crisp visuals no matter the setting. No matter the event, we can provide stunning visuals that light levels or variable weather conditions will not impact.

An Adaptable Tool

One of our favorite things about the NOMAD is its adaptability, allowing us to use them in various ways for our partners creatively. Whether building columns with it on trucks or rigging it from the ceiling, the NOMAD can be used in unique and fun designs that can excite and entertain audiences. Using its rotary angle hub system, the modules are curvable at +/- 2.5 and 5 degrees, impacting how they can be placed and increasing visual sight lines. It’s exciting for our team to know that anything is possible and that any idea can be considered and brought to life.

Top Tier Customer Service 

AV Chicago is always looking to provide its partners with exemplary customer service, and we strive to work with partners that offer the same level of service. Theatrixx provides 24/7 industry-leading customer service and support, and we know that no matter what, whether first thing in the morning or the middle of the night, Theatrixx will work with us to ensure we’re show-ready for our clients. The modules also can be serviced in the rear or front due to magnetic modules, making it easy for our team to service them with limited assistance from the team at Theatrixx.

Interested in learning more? Contact us today!

AV Chicago: 40 Years of Change, Innovation, and Being “All-In”  in Live Events

What started as a small home-grown audio equipment sales and installation company in suburban Chicago has now grown to become one of the leading AV event rental and production companies in the region. 40 years has passed since Founder Edward Gomboz started AV Chicago, then known as Wizdum Audio, with a simple focus on installing sound systems into houses of worship, schools, and corporate office buildings. It quickly grew into an integration company, focusing on providing the industry-leading AV technology. Rentals, known as AV Rentals by Wizdum, was a small component to the business and was just looked at as an additional offering for existing clients. 

In the year 2000, the company was acquired by Pentegra Systems LLC and they had no interest in keeping the AV rental component of the business. Gombos wisely held onto it and started what is now known today as AV Chicago. Today, AV Chicago has grown beyond just rentals and offers comprehensive event production and management services to an impressive array of clients. The company has also garnered notoriety for being able to pull off last-minute projects of scale, like providing onsite video production and distribution for the Chicago Cubs World Series Victory Rally, which has only become more important with the recent Covid-19 pandemic. 

AV Chicago’s leadership team Justin Frick and Andrew Brode took some time recently to reflect on where AV Chicago is today and what the next 40 years may have in-store for us.   

What are some company highlights and what makes AV Chicago different from others in the industry? 

A: One of the big things is our involvement in community. While we are a for-profit company, we believe in being an active part of our industry, including being proud members of AVIXA, Event Production Network (EPN), ILEA Chicago, NACE, MPI-Chicago and other trade organizations, and focus on supporting local nonprofit organizations. Collaboraction Theatre Company is an example of a group that we have supported for many years. We provide all the audio-visual technology support during their season. 

We’re also a company that knows how to have fun; work hard but have fun. AV shouldn’t be without personality. From Justin and I and through our team members in the warehouse and executing our events on site, we take our jobs seriously, but not too seriously, and I think that shows in many ways. A lot of people like working with us because we’re not just dry AV people.

J: I think this all ties into us being core values-driven, which may not be as important at other places, potentially. “Show Ready” and “All In” are two of our core values but our third being “Human” is a big testament to that. We believe in the human connection and it’s about more than just equipment and technology. It’s much more about the client and their outcome.

A: The business has thrived in many ways by tackling logistically challenging projects. We have thought outside of the box and not always gone the easy way. 

What makes the culture at AV Chicago so special? 

 A: This is a very demanding career when you’re in this industry, at all levels. It’s a 24-7 type of thing. Long days, long hours. Tricky situations. If the client wants the show to start at 7pm, we’re starting, ready or not. One of the things that is important within our demanding world is to develop a culture that is all in. Everyone working with us wants to see the show go off. At AV Chicago, you could be in accounting and if you have to get in a truck to help make the show go off, you will do that. When you’re in that type of world, you want to be around people that are connected and focused on the brand and the client’s needs. You will go the extra mile to make sure the client is happy. People know that is what builds success and I think our team rallies around that. Our clients notice it too and that is one of the reasons they come back to us time and time again. It’s also important to have a life outside of work and we support that balance.

J: We’re a definitely a work to live company. I would say though that “not my job” is not an allowed phrase in our company.

How is the live events industry changing and how is AV Chicago adapting for the future? 

A: I think the live events world is changing quickly. I think to where we are today, the demands and needs are greater than ever. They are more last minute than ever too. For us, it’s about leaning into everything we have talked about with our culture and core values. We didn’t let the pandemic stop us from being core values focused. We could have said we’re short on labor, just hire anyone and everyone and we will figure it out later. We focused on people being the hallmark of what we do. We spent a lot of time focusing on this and we knew it was going to pay off after a pandemic we never knew what was coming. It paid off when things got rough last fall and we experienced an onslaught of business. We already had the team in place to be successful and it has paid dividends for us long term. Clients have picked-up on it too and are more engaged with our brand than ever.

J: We know who we are and that is key. There are a lot of anything for a buck AV companies out there. We’re all-in and know what we’re about but we also know where our strengths are. It is definitely understood by our team and clients. When everything hit the fan during the pandemic, we still had our core values and knew who we were, long before we had to adapt and find our way through the pandemic. 

What does the future hold for AV Chicago? 

A: One of the hopes I have for this business is controlled, sustainable growth that is to the benefit of our employees. As we grow, we’re able to provide more resources and opportunities for our team members. For our clients, we want to continue to serve them and help them adapt to this new world. I want AV Chicago to continue on, through new generations and leadership changes, for the next 40 years, and the next 40 after that. 

J: We want to grow as big as we can while still supporting the same values. We’re not going to sacrifice our values for the sake of size and profits. For us, it’s all about producing quality work and supporting our community and team members. 

Interested in learning more? Contact us today!

Bringing the same great service under one roof.

In an effort to consolidate our event production expertise under a single roof we are excited to announce Edge ShowTek is now AV Chicago®!

What does that mean for you? What’s changed? Only the name.

As AV Chicago®, we’ll continue to provide the highest level of service and expertise our clients have come to expect throughout the over 30 years we’ve been at this.

If you have any questions, please reach out and say hello.