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How poor sound quality can affect your event

What is an event without sound?

Whether it’s in the form of music, speeches, presentations or more, sound is a crucial part to any event. It’s what informs, educates, and entertains your guests; evoking emotion, cause and action. Without it, you would struggle to get your event message across clearly to your guests.

Microphone mishaps, audio delays, or broken sound are just a few of the sound issues that can occur, and have the ability to make or break your event.

So, how can poor sound quality affect your event?

Your guests

Your guests come to your event expecting to be impressed, so it’s a real let down when things like audio fail to meet their expectations. Poor audio can leave them feeling underwhelmed, and can also give them a negative impression of your business, brand, or event purpose.

Your business or brand

With poor audio, your event message may not have had the desired effect or cut-through with your guests, which can make the whole event feel like a waste of time and resources. It can make you appear under prepared and unprofessional which means that guests will be hesitant to do business with you in future.  

Your team

When people work with you at events – be that employees, volunteers, suppliers, sponsors or vendors – they are putting their faith in you and expect a good outcome. When that doesn’t happen, it can actually make them look bad and hurt their reputation, even if they had nothing to do with the issue.

Your future events

If people weren’t impressed at your last event, it’s unlikely they’ll return to the next one. They may even spread the word about how unimpressed they were which means other people may not attend who weren’t even directly affected by the last event!  

Bottom line is – the result of poor sound quality at your event can have lasting effects.

So, how can you ensure that the sound at your next event is without fault?

Hire a professional audiovisual (AV) team

Without the right expertise, things can and do go wrong. A knowledgeable and experienced AV technician knows how to get the balance right to ensure sound is clear, consistent and at the right volume. They’re also on hand to organise, manage, and control it throughout the entire event.

A great AV technician will make adjustments on their sound board to smooth out variations and distribute a more consistent level of sound from speaker to speaker, or song to song, as your event progresses. They can also tune the sound to combat any complications in the acoustics of the event space and amplify the output signal from the speaker to the loudspeakers at the right volume for your audience.

Hiring an in-house AV team, such as AVPartners, can be a fantastic option as in-house teams know their venues well, can offer you a wealth of knowledge and experience, and can tailor audio options to suit your event.

Contact us today to discuss the sound at your next event.

What are multisensory events and are they a good idea for your business?

Have you ever thought about how engaging the senses – for example through a certain scent or tactile experience – might enhance your events?

A multisensory event is an event that actively stimulates multiple senses. The five senses – sight, sound, taste, smell and touch – are each components of the human experience. Our senses stimulate our brain to make us more aware of our surroundings.

By creating stimulation for all five senses at your next event, you can encourage your guests to be more mentally present, alert and engaged. A multisensory experience can also make your event more memorable for attendees.

While sight and sound are common components used at events, taste, smell and touch are largely unexplored by event professionals. According to a study conducted by London & Partners, just 27 per cent of event professionals think that all five sense are used effectively by the industry, while 78 per cent think that multisensory events are more memorable for event attendees.

So how can you make your next event multisensory?

Provide memorable food

Choose your food selection not only according to how it tastes, but also by how it looks and smells, to maximise its impact on your guests. Create a positive sensory experience with your catering by including food that looks impressive and unique, and tastes and smells delicious.

Employ audiovisual creatively

Whether it be the use of a colorful and vibrant light show, the inclusion of a mesmerising sound and light installation or the incorporation of a virtual reality station, AV can help make your event impressive and memorable. As long as it’s executed creatively and professionally, AV can really give your event the wow factor that will leave your guests charmed and entertained.

Use scents strategically

Smells trigger memories. It’s not largely understood why, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that scents, more so than other senses like sight and sound, activate our brains in a way that help us remember certain memories. In addition to making your event more memorable, scents can also help to make event attendees more alert and aware. Scents like lemon, rosemary, cinnamon and peppermint can help with concentration and focus. Consider using air fresheners or oil diffusers to activate your guests’ smell receptors.

Incorporate life size games

Games like life size chess and jenga can help activate the tactile experience for your guests. Touch is a sense that isn’t widely used by event professionals, but it can help to improve the engagement of your event attendees and make your event more memorable.

Talk to us today to learn how you can activate all five senses at your next event.

Top tips for clear audio at your event

Audio is one of the most important, yet often overlooked, elements at an event. Any issues with audio at an event can leave guests with a negative impression, and make you or your business appear unprofessional or unprepared.

For clear audio at an event, you’ll want to ensure announcements are audible in an open space, or that presentations or music can be heard both at the front and back of the room.

Here are our tips to ensure your audio is clear:

A little goes a long way

You don’t need to overdo the volume or audio effects to make a great impact on guests. If there are changing parts to a presentation, such as a shift between speaking, music or video, make sure the volumes are set and that you won’t shock your audience by a sudden increase in decibels.

Match the right tool for the job

Just as you wouldn’t eat cereal with a fork, you need to use the correct microphone or speaker for the job. Microphones and speakers all have their own qualities that make them best suited to particular sounds or presentation settings.

Make sure presenters know how to use their microphone

With the many variants of microphones available, it’s important to give your presenter a quick intro to the one they will be using, so they’re aware of it’s capabilities and how they should best handle it. For example, a presenter may need to wear a lapel microphone and as such they will need to be advised not to create excess noise through their clothing covering or coming into contact with the microphone.

Ensure you have qualified technicians at the soundboard

Audio at an event is not just a ‘set and forget’ type of support, it needs qualified technicians to organise, manage, and control it throughout the entire event. Hiring an in-house AV team, such as AVPartners, can be a fantastic option as in-house teams know their venues well, can offer you a wealth of knowledge and experience, and tailor audio and lighting options to suit your event.

To find out about the best ways to use audio at your next event, speak to us today!

How to perfect the sound at your event

Audio is one of the most crucial and yet fragile components of an event. You’ve brought these people together to hear your message – what if they can’t? Without the right expertise, things can and do go wrong. How can you ensure that the sound at your next event has the right tone, volume and clarity?

Use the right technology

Quality audio equipment is essential to get the sound right. A good AV technician will be able to guide you on what technology will best suit your event.

For example, it is important your AV technician selects the right microphone depending on the situation. The microphones for your presenters will be different to the microphones used for the musical instruments in a live band.

The voice of a presenter can be relayed clearly with the correct microphone choice and positioning, with adjustments made to the signal to compensate for changes in the presenters voice or when different people are speaking. Everyone speaks at different volumes and clarity levels, so expert attention is needed if different people are to be using the same equipment.

You’ll also need the right loudspeakers, plus subwoofers for music, to deliver the sound to your audience, taking into account the event space, numbers of attendees, ambient noise – and a dozen other factors!

Engage the best AV technicians

A knowledgeable and experienced AV technician knows how to get the balance right to ensure sound is clear, consistent and at the right volume.

Your AV technician will make adjustments on their sound mixer to smooth out variations and distribute a more consistent level of sound from presenter to presenter, or song to song, as your event progresses. They will also tune the audio system to combat any complications in the acoustics of the event space and amplify the output signal from the presenter to the loudspeakers at the right volume for your audience. Sound reinforcement is not set-and-forget!

Do a sound check

Prior to the event, it’s crucial all presenters do a sound check. The AV technician will pre-set the calibrations for each individual presenter, ensuring that the audience experiences a smooth level of sound throughout the event. This will make all the difference in sound quality.

Match the sound to the atmosphere

At different stages throughout your event, the required type of sound will change, whether that be speaker presentations or music. Make sure your event style or theme is reflected in the sound you use, such as the genre of music chosen. For example, classical piano music would suit a sit-down gala dinner event, but isn’t so great for the dance floor.

The volume should also be suitable for the various phases of the event. For example, lower background music works at the times when you want people to talk amongst themselves, whereas a crisper, louder sound is required for a speaker’s presentation.

Choosing the right equipment, setting it up, going over every detail and operating it correctly are vital to ensure great sound at your next event. Engage a knowledgeable and experienced AV provider to gain peace of mind that the sound at your event is in good hands. Contact AVPartners today to see how we can give your next event perfect sound.