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Your Meetings

Mike posted about lessons learned from his annual meeting. He mentions AV. I did this post back in July, but it still holds true.

1) If you are recording your sessions, don't chain your speakers to a mixer by using a hard wired lav mic. Spring for the wireless. Your speakers will thank you, and so will your attendees. No one likes to watch speakers who can't move more than 6 feet, and who are carrying a thick cable so they don't trip over it.

2) Make sure screens are places high enough so that people in the back of the room can see them. I was in a session where the speaker kept showing New Yorker cartoons, but unless you were in the first 2 rows, you couldn't read the captions at the bottom. Only 30 people out of 500 got the jokes.

3) Many times, you get what you pay for. Just because a computer rental company says they do AV and will bundle your package for a better price, doesn't mean it is the best deal. There is a big convergence going on between AV and IT, but they are still two distinct things.

Good luck with your meetings. And be sure not to forget the AV!

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