Get the Facts

You are not required to use the venue “in house” AV company

The “in house” AV company is a vendor contracted by the venue to supply audio visual services.  As a valued client of the venue, you are utilizing the venue for sleeping rooms, food and beverage, and meeting space.  This is the most important revenue for the venue and you are not required to select the “in house” audio visual company as your AV provider.  You have a choice and the right to select an AV vendor that will best serve your needs.

Choosing Turning Point AV results in cost savings

The ‘in house” AV company pays steep commission rates to the venue for the luxury of being the “preferred” audio visual provider for the venue.  These commissions can be in excess of 65% of overall gross revenue of the “in house” AV company.  This cost is passed on to you in the form of high prices and hidden fees.

Turning Point AV is consistently a better value than the “in house” AV company.  We don’t pay commissions or have any hidden fees.  Our prices are fair and consistent and our multiyear contract options allow you to lock in your pricing for all of your events over multiple years, regardless of event location.     

Choosing Turning Point AV results in better service

Because the “in house” AV company serves many clients at the same time, they cannot supply the one-to-one service that Turning Point AV does.  While they are spread thin, working with several meetings throughout the venue, Turning Point AV is only servicing your meeting and has our focus 100% on you. 

Choosing Turning Point AV makes your job easier

As a nationwide company, Turning Point AV partners with our clients for all of their events no matter the location.  We make their job immensely easier by becoming members of their team and taking the AV off of their plate, so they can focus on all other important areas of the conference planning.  By partnering with our clients year after year, we learn the ins and outs of the program; develop strong relationships with the presenters and attendees; and create best practices and procedures that make the AV go off without a hitch.   

Know your rights

Contract Terms

If possible, it is best to negotiate all AV terms prior to signing the venue contract, although you can still negotiate AV after you selected the venue.

Insist on maintaining your right to use any vendor you wish.  We advise our clients to include the following language in any venue contract:

Buyer will not accept or agree to any proposal or contract containing conditions, terms, or clauses which unreasonably restrict our choice of third party suppliers for our event(s) at any meeting facility, whether such conditions are expressly stated in the proposal or contract, or whether they are contained in the general operating policies of the facility, be they published or unpublished.

Furthermore, Buyer will not accept or agree to any fees, surcharges, or penalties of any type charged by a meeting facility that are in any way based on or tied to our choice of third party suppliers, whether such fees are expressly stated in the proposal or contract, or whether they are contained in the general operating policies of the facility, be they published or unpublished.

This “Buyer’s rights regarding third party suppliers” clause shall be appended to all contracts that are executed by Buyer, and if it is determined that this clause is in conflict with any other clause, portion of any contract, or any general operating policy of the facility, then this “Buyer’s rights regarding third party suppliers” clause shall be deemed to take precedence over the other item(s) with which it is determined to be in conflict, unless specifically agreed otherwise.

Negotiating Fees

AV Liaison Fees

Insist on not paying for any additional AV labor supplied by the “in house” AV company as a result of selecting a vendor of your choice.  Be sure there are no “AV Liaison,” “Production Supervisor” or “Load in/out Supervisor” positions being charged to your master account.  While described as a service provided to your selected AV company, they offer very little assistance and sometimes do not show up at all.   

Internet

The “in house” AV company may use internet costs as leverage.  It is always best to guarantee a discounted rate on internet prior to signing the venue contract.  If you name your price prior to signing the contract, the venue will pressure the “in house” AV company to honor that price in order to get you to sign the contract.   

If outrageous internet fees are presented to you after you have signed the venue contract, let the venue know that the fee is overpriced and out of line.  The venue can negotiate at any time to keep you happy.

If your internet needs are basic, don’t feel pressure to order connections from the venue.   It is unlawful for the venue to intentionally restrict your devices’ network connection, including hot-spot and MiFi connections.   You can supply these connection devises which will result in tremendous cost savings.

Power

Power charges may or may not apply to your meeting rooms.  Don’t let the “in house” AV company determine your power needs.  They will often over estimate your power needs, charging you more than you need to pay. Turning Point AV is happy to determine the required power usage on your behalf (which is very minimal due to factors such as power saving LED lighting, etc.).  We will coordinate this with the ‘in house” AV company and will ensure fair and accurate power usage.

Did you know?

• Turning Point AV provides nationwide audio visual services for all of your meetings across the US, no matter the location or venue.  
• Unlike the contracted hotel AV rental company, we do not pay high commissions to the venue.
• Any fees required by the venue for using an independent AV rental company are minimal and Turning Point AV is a more cost effective option, even when fees apply.
• We supply state-of-the-art sound systems in each room, eliminating the need for poor quality house sound patches.
• We work closely with the venue to ensure a seamless program.
• We are fully insured and meet all venue requirements.

Turning Point AV works in hundreds of venues across the US every year - see a list of some of our favorite venues we frequent!