 Meaning planners how diligent are you in reviewing your AV proposals and contracts and I mean really diligent Steven was helping one of our clients out with with their AV proposal and boy did we see a lot of glaring fees So we want to share these best practices and reviewing AV proposals with you today stick around It's Steven and Leanne from conference source net and today we're talking about hidden fees on AV proposals and contracts But before we begin don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and click on the little bell to be notified of our content We put out videos every week for the meetings industry including best practices and tips and tricks that you can use Now let's launch into today's video as I mentioned earlier Steven was helping one of our clients go through their AV proposal and Boy did he see a lot of things that this planner needed to be aware of so today We're gonna chat with Steven about some of the things that he saw. Thanks for joining us today, Steve Hey, Leanne. I'm glad we could get together today. It's it's not often we get to share a screen today we're gonna talk about a couple of things in the industry that have really come to light with various clients and I don't want to pick on any AV company specifically, but here's a couple of things that planners need to be mindful of So Steven, can you give me an example of what we're really talking about here? Yeah, sure Leanne, you know, recently I was asked to review a contract that was not sourced by us from an AV company that listed a service charge that was 40% of invoice and I was told that this covers service charges support elements Beyond equipment and dedicated labor which are which they built for separately This included technology support event management before during and after the event Well, in this case, they never actually met with the AV tech team before or after the event while on site, you know limited But you know, it certainly didn't warrant a 40% surcharge I Was also told that this provided daily gear preparation and testing and and accompanying consumables such as batteries projected bulbs and tape really to be honest I just find this outrageous My question is what exactly this rental cover When I'm buying a service my expectation is that the gear Testing is is a cost of being the AV industry and part of the rental, you know consumables such as projector bulbs. Come on. This is the gear rental and not an add-on outrageous and this client was simply due by not knowing the terms out So Steven this clearly has you passionate about service fees and AV firms Yeah, I totally get it, you know, AVs have a huge expense when it comes to equipment and Continually having to reinvent new technology when it comes out. I mean it must be exorbitant That being said, we all get heated when you get charged 12 dollars for a power bar that you could buy at the dollar store For about four bucks. I think what AV companies need to do is a better job of, you know positioning themselves with their consumers Posting charges for service fees just feels like a cash grab and it's it's really not well received. I Was also told by an AV company the service charge covers all the customer benefits of using an on-site audio visual provider Such as having you know, pop up equipment on property to be honest. I was outraged I mean so if that's the case then where's my shipping savings because that wasn't included so I think you know Need to rework that one for sure So Steven what can meeting planners do? Yeah, I think you know, you need to really look closely at the proposal and the contract and what's included Of course, you know much of what's written may as well be in another language because we don't know what they are by product code And if you don't understand what a certain charge that's been posted has been you need to ask the question Secondly, I think you always need to allow a concession to include an outside provider without fees You know, you really need to make sure that you're not bound to that in-house audio visual company And while I certainly see the value in that and having companies be right on site You don't want to be tied to it and their costing that's associated that seems a lot of companies are protecting their in-house rights by You know tying things like internet to exclusive use with the in-house provider Competition is what will keep them honest and and to the ability to source alternatives makes it competitive Thanks for sharing those tips Steven. So what other things are you seeing out there lately? This is a personal favorite. I'm seeing a lot of contracts include complimentary internet service in the function space It sounds great until you find out that it's two megabytes of service Not enough to power Netflix The next step of course will cost a fortune and again is tied to the in-house audio visual company You really need to spell in a contract what is needed and when it comes to complimentary internet and the function space that you're using it in And of course if the planner is a client of ours Steven They can always lean on us for our support and for contract review Which is what you've done with this current client as well Yeah, I know we're always happy to be an industry resource and I'd like to be called upon with questions about these and other industry challenges that people are facing Well, I sure know learned a lot from you over the last couple weeks about the AV fees and I do appreciate your expertise Planners, we also want to hear from you. We want to hear what you're seeing out there on your AV proposals and contracts Share your best practices by commenting below this video We'll compile those best practices together and ensure that they go out to your peers as well friends We've turned Steven's best practices into a blog post so you can check that out over on Conference source net while you're over there you can learn about our complimentary services for meeting planners as well I want to thank Steven for joining us today and enlightening us about the hidden fees that we can find in av proposals And we invite you to join us next time. Thanks everyone. Bye for now. Thank you