How to Negotiate Better Event Contracts and Rates

Steve Halling, AVFX President, and CEO, shares important advice on how to negotiate better event contracts and rates. Steve’s advice can save you money and provide you with the freedom to work with the event technology professional of your choice.

Below is the Video Transcription

For several years now, hotels have been putting clauses in their contracts to try and use different points as leverage to get you to use their in-house AV services when you do your event at their venue. These typically include rigging, electricity, and internet.

Many of the meeting planners have learned to start looking for those clauses in the contract. What many people don’t realize though, is that you can avoid that, you could actually ask up front in the contract negotiation to set rates in advance of signing so that you don’t have to feel pressured later to use the in-house AV or chose whoever you want to work with.

More recently though, and what I really want everyone to understand now is, is there are some new points coming up that everybody should be aware of. So the first one is just physical branding, where we’ve typically put out signage around the venue or maybe down window clings on glass near our event, now there are charges being assessed for those kinds of physical branding opportunities around the space, which everybody should be thinking about, again, before that contract is signed. The other one has been the requirement for an AV surcharge if you don’t work with their in-house AV company.

Some companies are charging a 30 or 40% surcharge, saying that they’re just adding that on top of your bill if you don’t use their in-house AV. So, it’s very important to read those contracts carefully and make sure you know what you’re signing.