Elevate Your Events: Mastering Audio Visual Sourcing from RFP to Selection

Recorded On: 11/06/2024

As meetings and events professionals, securing the right audio-visual (AV) partner is crucial to delivering exceptional experiences. In this session, we'll dive deep into the art of crafting impactful RFPs, deciphering complex estimates, and developing unbiased selection criteria to ensure you make the optimal AV choice for your events.

After participating in this session, you will be able to:

Craft Compelling RFPs: Structure your RFPs to elicit detailed, actionable proposals that simplify the evaluation process.
Decode Estimates and Proposals: Navigate the complexities of AV estimates, uncover hidden costs, and ask the right questions to gain clarity.
Develop Unbiased Selection Criteria: Create a weighted selection matrix to evaluate providers objectively on factors like technical expertise, past performance, and value alignment.
Elevate Your Events: Partner with the AV provider that truly understands your vision and has the expertise to bring it to life.

Attend this session and equip yourself with the tools to source AV services with precision and confidence, ensuring your events have the right production partner.

IAEE webinars are free to members and available to non-members for $49. Eligible to earn 1 Clock Hour towards CEM recertification.

Kara Dao, CEM, DES

Chief Operating Officer

JDC Events

Kara Dao, a seasoned Chief Operating Officer (COO), radiates optimism and approachability, fostering trust among clients and colleagues. With 25+ years in the industry, she boasts a remarkable portfolio, notably elevating an exhibition to fivefold growth in just two years. Kara excels in managing international trade shows, driving profits while leading remote teams effectively. Kara's forward-thinking extends to her vision for event experiences, foreseeing a shift from traditional tradeshows to dynamic, purposeful showcases that prioritize attendee engagement over aimless wandering.

Patrick Hand

CEO

FirstHand Productions

Patrick W. Hand Jr. Is President and Founder of FirstHand Productions. Patrick specializes on Corporate, Association, and government events. He has built FHP from his extensive knowledge, diverse background, and his savviness of having an ingenious system combining, his base inventory, resourcing of freelance personnel, gear rental and production companies. Patrick created FirstHand Productions at the peak height of Covid where most of the people in his industry lost their jobs. His vision and leadership allowed FirstHand to flourish when other companies struggled. His staff size grew 300% in only 6 months. Since then, Patrick has transformed Firsthand into being the new popular choice by Associations due to his integrity, leading edge ideas, professionalism, and the ability to maintain clients.

Patrick offers a unique combination of skills rarely seen in this industry, one that marries experience in production management with an acumen in the sales and business side.Patrick is a recognized expert in the production management and entertainment industries. Corporations, foreign dignitaries, political groups, government leaders, celebrities, non-profit organizations and foundations have all sought out his expertise. His breadth of experience, spanning more than 20 years, is as diverse as the clients who retain him, whether for full-scale production design, event management, entertainment procurement, conference and convention planning or technical supervision. Patrick has directed the production design, technical creation and stage management for events with Fortune 500 companies and the United States Government alike.