Our Hire Manager Sam talks to you about being an event organiser in an AV world and why AV can often feel like a foreign language.
Parlez-Vous Audio Visual?
We’ve all been there, in another country, trying to speak the lingo and feeling a little stupid, so what do we do? We pray they know English, throw in the odd foreign word we’ve heard and hope they understand….
Being an event organiser in an AV world can be a little like that too and trust me, I completely get it! I may work for an Audio Visual company, but AV isn’t my first language…..so I’m here to cut through the jargon and translate it into English for you!
I’m sure you hear words and phrases on a daily basis that mean little or nothing to you. Aspect ratio, lumens, splitter, switcher and a comfort monitor, what is that? When you’re a little unsure on what your customer is actually asking for, I can appreciate how daunting it must be to pick up the phone and ask for help, but that’s what myself and the team are here for. Try to think of me as your personal shopper for AV! You have an idea of what suits you, but you just need someone to give you the confidence that it’s right…. that’s where I come in. I’m here to help you to understand what the best fit is for you and your client and translate their often-foreign requests into English!
Here are a few examples of AV words put simply;
Lumens: This basically refers to how bright a projector is. Brighter projectors are required the larger your screen gets or in rooms where there is a lot of natural light and no means of reducing this.
Comfort/Confidence monitor: A monitor, usually a plasma screen that sits in front of the client (often at floor level) and shows a repeat of what is on the main screen behind them. It is there for their “comfort/confidence” and saves them having to turnaround and look at the main screen whilst talking about their content.
Splitter: A device that allows you to plug in one laptop and show its content on several screens at the same time. You are basically “splitting” the laptop signal to be shared between the screens. This could for example be several plasma screens or a mixture of screens and projectors together.
Switcher: A device that allows you to plug in more than one laptop or visual device, so you can switch from one to the other seamlessly. Often used when a client has more than one person presenting and they each have their own laptop.
Presentation remote or remote mouse: Often referred to as a clicker, this device allows the user to advance slides remotely.
There are many ‘techie’ terms that could easily be translated but conscious of information overload, look out for part 2 coming soon! In the meantime if you need a little helping hand with figuring out your AV requirements, don’t hesitate to contact our team today.
