Straight answers to questions we hear often from event planners, facility managers and builders.
Pixel pitch is the distance between the LEDs on a screen. The closer your audience sits, the finer the pitch needs to be for the image to look smooth.
A common rule of thumb is about 8 feet of viewing distance for every millimeter of pitch. A 2.5mm wall looks smooth from roughly 20 feet back, which suits most hotel ballrooms. A finer 1.9mm wall suits smaller rooms and close-up camera shots. In large rooms where the front row is far from the stage, a 3.9mm wall is a cost-effective choice. We recommend a pitch based on your room layout, camera plan and budget.
Most dropouts come from a crowded radio spectrum: local TV stations, other events in the same building and interference near the stage.
Before doors open, we scan the venue's radio spectrum and assign a clear frequency to every microphone, with backups ready. We place antennas with a clear line of sight to the stage and keep fresh batteries on hand. During the show, an audio engineer watches every mic, so a problem gets fixed before the audience notices.
We plan anything hung over an audience before it arrives at the venue.
We calculate the weight of every truss, speaker and screen and send the rigging plan to the venue for approval. We only hang from rigging points the venue has approved. We use rated motors and hardware with safety cables, and we inspect everything before the show and again at teardown. Rigging is done by trained rigging crew, never improvised on site.
Bring AV into the conversation before the drywall goes up. Adding infrastructure after walls and floors are finished costs far more.
The basics: conduit or open pathways from each display and table location back to the equipment location; floor boxes under conference tables so cables never cross the floor; blocking in walls where displays will mount; power at every display, camera and equipment rack; and low-voltage cable kept apart from electrical runs. Size conduit with room to grow, since the electrical code generally limits fill to 40% for three or more cables, and use plenum-rated cable anywhere it passes through return-air spaces.