Would like input on how to handle a situation with AV & Event Manager at a hotel

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Ken1212

Well-known member
I was recently hired by a company to do a multi-camera shoot of their conference for two days. Two weeks before the event I made an appointment with the hotel's event manager and the AV company sales manager which is based out of the hotel to inspect the location for setup. My assistant was present, the four of us sat at a table to discuss the needs of the production, hotel event manager was acting rigged and unhappy to be there. At some point the event manager asked if we had our own riser or if we would like them to setup a 6x6 riser for us. We agreed to the location of setup, which is back center from the stage, and also for them to setup a 6x6 foot riser and provide a 6 feet table. All was agreed on and both parties wrote notes. Four days before the event the client communiactes with AV about doing an imag and apperantely they got a hefty quote as AV wanted to setup their own maned camera. The e-mail I recieved from the client was also cc'd to AV was asking me if their is a way to do the imag without additional large costs. I replied to all including AV saying that we will be happy to provide AV with a return feed from our setup for no additional cost. Then I said you would need to check with AV if they have any fees to run an SDI cable to us. AV replied to all they will run the cable for free. Come the day of the event we arrived at 7:00 am for setup as scheduald since the event starts at 9:00 am to find out that AV took the space we agreed on for camera setup (hence that hall is full of columns that can get in the way) and did not setup anything for us, no table, no 6 foot riser. After taking to an AV employee who ws present that morning to quickly help us remedie the situatuion he emptyed a 4 foot corner section for us, gave us a 3 foot space on one of their tables to use and proceeded to setup a seperate 4 foot riser that can hold a camera unmanned to the side of the corner space he gave us . When the AV sales manager whom we met with arrived, he saw that I was not happy and his response is that the Event Mnager did not ask him to provide the setup and I should go back to her. My response, but you where there and you both were writing notes. Sorry for the long description but I wanted you to have a good understanding of the situation to be able to provide a response. I feel if I let this go it could happen again, So my question is:

What should I do to make sure this does not happen again at this location? Should I contact the hotel event manager whom we met with before the event? Should I contact the general manager at the hotel? How should I handle this unpleasent experience.?
 
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If you have documentation to support your side, I would run it as far up the flag pole as possible, including the main corporate offices of the hotel chain(presuming it's a chain), because YES, it will happen again.

I feel very strongly about this, because I was just in a situation early in the year at a big national event and at the hotel that was hosting the media portion of it and it was a nightmare, even after direct and specific conversations and guarantees being given. I'm still mad at myself for not pursuing it afterwards as I intended. I purposefully gave myself a few days to calm down, but got busy and it became a much lower priority and eventually I deemed that it had been too long. Don't push it to the side, if it doesn't happen to you again, someone else will get screwed there just like you.
 
Taking notes is not enough. For all you know, the AV person's notes are reminders to himself to find another job and get a divorce. I typically write up a meeting summary with the agreements and the plan and ask them to confirm and agree. This still may not do the trick, but you at least have them signing off on what was agreed to so that if things go bad, you have something that backs up you position. If things go wrong then a followupis needed to go over the meeting notes and ask what happened.
 
Things go wrong. Having stuff in writing is good, but still...

One of many stories: I was producing some interviews and other stuff at a conference. For various reasons, the show's organizers said they'd provide the camera from the AV company supporting the conference (6-7 meeting halls, a big keynote/etc auditorium, some webcasting stuff); a solid and experienced company. So we show up the first morning of the gig and there's the camera with its NP1 battery box (this was close to 20 years ago)...and next to it are a bunch of AB brick batteries.... Not good. In front of both the show organizer and the on-site AV manager, we said the AV Company had to messenger out matching camera and batteries; they of course did. It was just a mistake, but we would have been screwed....and we would have been sure to let the organizers know that we did our part... (there are of course other stories).

So crap happens. Good AV companies fix problems. Sometimes there's nothing you can do. Me, I would have sent back a meeting summary as Paul suggests with specific action items and who's responsible for each of those. End with an invitation to follow up if anything seems wrong.

At the event, if you can't get the AV company to fix things, talk to the person who employed you and calmly say you don't have what was agreed to...here's your proposed workaround, but it may result in compromised video. If it's beyond your ability to resolve the situation, let them know. Send a calm and professional memo ASAP.

Sigh. What a drag.
 
In event situations always remember your No.1 item is taking care of the filming, all the others in a pre-production meeting will have this much lower on their lists.
Just saying that even when everyone is positive and helpfull and there is a good vibe in such meetings one day before the event things usually start colliding.
So if there's anything you need from others to properly do your job: Get it in writing :)

To sort this out: I would simply contact the person who employed you and factually explain what happened. Then take it from there.
 
I figured others have similar stories they ran into and wondered how to handle it. I just feel letting this go is not the smartest thing to do as it might happen again.
 
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Personally, I would drop it...if you have a working relationship with them, wouldn't this sour it? But if the relationship is certainly over and you will send that message then definitely review the spelling, grammar and syntax.

Regardless it's going to happen again to someone somewhere because, in general, people do what they want and/or are ignorant.
 
Makes sense, that's why I wanted feedback before I do something rash. Next time I will forward an email to all parties including event manger, AV, and my client to what was agreed on to cover myself.
 
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