5 Live Event Production Tips to Elevate Your Event

There is nothing like the excitement of a live production! As we’ve returned to in-person events we’ve gathered insights and expertise from our producers and network of production experts into some useful tips for all your live and virtual event needs.

Crafting an Impactful Live Event Production

Use a storytelling approach to your main stage production. From on-brand stage design to on-screen content and multi-media, to thought leadership keynote speakers and entertainment, your live event should create memorable moments, weaving a story throughout the live event experience.

Take your audience on a journey. The first step for our production team is to provide agenda consulting, where we craft the highs, the ebbs and flows of the audience journey. Most importantly, today's audiences don't want the tedium of long presentations. Successful events deliver short, impactful presentations along with plenty of networking opportunities for attendees. It's at this stage of the brief and agenda building where we begin to think about moments of impact and crafting the right concepts for the main stage production.

The visual crafting of the design is all part of the storytelling. From render to reality - here is where we begin our stage design. With in-house designers engaged from the moment we brief, concepts via accurate CAD drawings and 3D renders are shared, all designed to bring the vision to life. Our multi-disciplined design team brings theatre set design and environment building experience to events, to shape the main stage and experiential elements.

Your event production company will select the right event production crew based on your location and the event technical requirements. Myth buster: in-house a/v is not what you think. For sessions beyond a breakout, the experienced crew is not in-house, the right quality projectors are rarely in-house and need to be brought in. Similarly audio, sound and lighting equipment will need to be augmented. Venues typically have one in-house representative, which means all your crew members are coming from outside the venue. In short, your in-house audio visual will be fulfilling all your crew and event equipment needs from outside the venue. Your event production company will provide the right vendors, technical crew, services and equipment focused on your event's success. Your extended production crew will have the right local access to equipment and industry leading technical expertise for all event production elements - from a technical director to video operating, audio leads, lighting director and slide operators, all led by the Event Producer.

Making Event Production Easy. We've all lived through the late nights, rehearsals that are more content creation than a proper technical rehearsal. With a seasoned event production company, your main stage can be a seamless, slick production that will have your speakers and executives confident on event day. For a client's recent global event in both NA and EMEA, we had a dedicated TK Events Producer, a dedicated Technical Director from our audio visual partner, Showcore - with consistent local crews, hand selected from previous client events. "Understanding the client and their brand helps us deliver exceptional audio visual technical production," says Jack De Vries, Vice President at Showcore. "What this meant for the overall event was a consistent stage design delivered across two events, an experienced technical crew which resulted in a seamless set up, resulting in event day success." In fact, the benefits of a consistent production team offered event speakers a high level of comfort. Event rehearsals were seamless and efficient. Both attendees and executives called out the creative design of the event stage that elevated the event experience.

Your budget and event production. We've had the pleasure in delivering enhanced stage production to clients and discovering we've brought more to the experience for less money than previous events. Your experienced event producer will guide the right event technical details and review audio visual estimates to deliver an on-brand and on-budget experience. Small things go a long way. Combine a custom stage backdrop and the right lighting - and Voila! - you have a wow impact moment. For the recent production in North America and EMEA the lighting effect made the logo appear as if it was 3D. A small expense for big impact. "Working with TK Events means we receive a thorough event brief with all the details that allows us to offer the right technical equipment recommendations and an accurate estimate for production services and audio and visual equipment," says Jack.

Beyond Main Stage Event Production

Apply the storytelling approach to all elements of your event. For the inaugural Michelin Star Awards in Vancouver, the story was brought to life with on brand entertainment and a vision for the whole event. With a focus on the overall event experience, the experience began from the moment of arrival, creating a connection with attendees via a larger than life entrance way that turned into a 'selfie' moment. The event experience extended along the tree-lined red carpet. Inside the room entertainment vignettes and curated food and beverage experiences further told the story of the celebrated Vancouver restaurants and Michelin.

From Concept to Success

Success is in the details when it comes to event planning. Here's some further tips from our event producers:

• Ensure you have early access to the venue for move-in. A typical set-up plus rehearsals is minimum one extra day prior to your event. For larger productions 2-3 days are required. A successful event includes plenty of time and access to the venue for loading in, set-up of equipment, set-up of show computers and review of presentations and all content on the main stage screens.

• A complete crew rehearsal or cue to cue. A speaker rehearsal or tech check where you walk presenters through their on-stage experience and allow them to click through presentations. Some speakers require a full rehearsal and if a session is choreographed with entertainment, a rehearsal with all parties to ensure a tight, seamless production. A seasoned event production crew will do another full cue to cue once all changes and notes captured from rehearsals are complete. With all the behind the scenes operations for production companies you can understand why move-in and set-up time is critical to event success.

• Ensure you are show ready with a speaker timer and presenter view of presentations on downstage monitors to make your corporate meetings and speakers comfortable with all the production logistics.

Beyond the Live Event Audience

Create a 365 Day View of Your Event. It's time to think beyond event day to reaching all audiences, all the time. With TK Events Experience+ package, crafting the virtual experience begins from the moment your attendees register, allowing them to choose an in-person or virtual option. We design content with the virtual audience in mind including a virtual venue for the remote audience to engage in an immersive event experience - complete with downloadable resources, livestreaming, and access to content on-demand following the event for both your live and virtual audiences. Integrating technology such as polling and gamification helps to engage all audiences.

Power of Analytics. Harnessing the data gathered from your live and virtual event is key to not only planning your next event, but also to sales results. There's power in the analytics gathered via personal profiles and a view of your customer and the content they have sought out and engaged with.