Event AV Requirements Checklist 2026: What to Ask Your Hotel

Every event needs AV. Even a board meeting has a screen and microphone. Getting AV right is unglamorous but prevents the failures that ruin events.

AV tiers by event type

Basic (meeting, training, workshop)

• One main room, up to 80 pax
• Projector + screen
• 1-2 wireless mics
• Room audio (speakers + HDMI in)
• AV technician on-call (not stationed)
• Cost: 800-1,800 EUR/day

Standard (small conference)

• Main plenary + 2-4 breakout rooms
• Plenary: 1-2 projectors + large screen (diagonal 3-4 m)
• Wireless mic kit (4-6 mics: lapel, handheld)
• 1-2 cameras + basic encoder
• Streaming to 1 platform (Zoom/Teams)
• Recording (master file)
• AV technician stationed in main room
• Breakout rooms: projector + screen + 1 mic each
• Cost: 3,500-6,500 EUR/day

Premium (big conference, production keynote)

• Stage build with branded backdrop
• LED wall instead of projector (or 2-3 projectors tiled)
• Multi-camera (3-5 cameras, follow-spot)
• Professional encoder (Tricaster, vMix, BlackMagic ATEM)
• Multi-platform streaming + recording redundancy
• Theatrical lighting (wash, spots, movers)
• Audio mix desk + FOH engineer
• Stage manager
• Comms headsets for crew
• Confidence monitors
• Cost: 8,000-20,000 EUR/day (scales with ambition)

AV checklist by category

Video

1. Projector brightness (lumens): 6,000+ for plenary, 3,500+ for breakouts
2. Screen size (diagonal): 3m for 100-pax, 4m for 200, 5m+ for 300+
3. Aspect ratio (16:9 standard, occasionally 2.35:1 for cinematic keynotes)
4. Input sources (HDMI, SDI, DisplayPort, USB-C)
5. Wireless screen-sharing (ClickShare, Barco, Solstice)
6. Confidence monitor for speaker
7. Cameras: broadcast-grade (Panasonic/Sony), not consumer webcams
8. Backup redundancy (second projector, second screen)

Audio

1. Wireless lavaliere (lapel) mics — 1 per simultaneous speaker
2. Handheld wireless mics — 2-4 for audience Q&A
3. Room PA (speakers) — 85+ dB coverage without feedback
4. Headset mic (for high-energy presenters who move)
5. Audio mix desk (Yamaha CL series, Allen & Heath)
6. Room ambient mics (for recording audience response)
7. Separate audio feed for streaming (mix minus)

Lighting

1. Stage wash (even light on presenter)
2. Follow-spot (for keynote moments)
3. Coloured accent lighting (brand colours on stage backdrop)
4. Audience lighting dimmed (presenter visible but audience can take notes)
5. Haze machine (for light beams visible) — optional, divisive

Streaming / recording

1. Encoder (professional grade)
2. Broadcast to platform (Zoom, Teams, YouTube, custom RTMP)
3. Recording to local + cloud (redundancy)
4. Lower-thirds (name + title on-screen during speaker)
5. Picture-in-picture (slides + speaker)
6. Chat moderation integration

Connectivity

1. Dedicated symmetric internet for AV (not shared with guest wifi)
2. Minimum 100 Mbps upload for streaming
3. LTE/5G failover
4. Latency under 50ms

In-house AV vs external partner

In-house hotel AV

• Pros: cheaper, integrated with venue, venue manages logistics
• Cons: limited gear, less flexible, may over-charge
• Best for: basic events, small budgets, flexibility not critical

External AV partner

• Pros: professional production, flexible gear, experienced crew
• Cons: more expensive, logistics coordination with hotel, possible friction
• Best for: standard+ events, production-sensitive moments

Pitfall

Many hotels require you to use their in-house AV OR pay a "corkage" fee for external. Negotiate this in contract. Typical corkage: 10-20 percent of external AV invoice value.

AV negotiation points

1. Pre-event site visit included. AV walkthrough with venue team.
2. Rehearsal time included. Standard: 2 hours pre-event. Negotiate 4+ for production-heavy.
3. Setup and strike time. Day-before load-in and day-after strike without additional venue fee.
4. Free wifi for presenters. Hotel charging for speaker wifi on stage is a bad look.
5. Recording copies. Master recordings belong to client, not hotel.
6. Damage waiver. Reasonable; avoid inflated insurance requirements.

Red flags in AV proposals

• Pricing listed as "contact us" — means they're gouging
• No equipment brand listed (could be amateur gear)
• No crew-to-pax ratio (should be 1 crew per 100 pax minimum)
• No rehearsal time in baseline
• No backup equipment listed
• Internet speed not specified
• "All inclusive" package with undefined limits

Hybrid AV additional requirements

If your event has remote attendees:

• Double-ended audio (in-person and remote can hear each other)
• Hybrid breakout kit (video camera + screen in each breakout)
• Virtual host console (chat moderation, Q&A routing)
• Lower latency requirement (under 2-3 seconds for interactivity)
• Fallback if stream fails (recording continues, remote reconnects)

Related reading

• Hybrid events planning
• Site visit checklist
• Sales kickoff playbook