Venue in-house AV or an outside production company

01 — Exclusivity is granted service by service

Three convention centers, three different lists.

Three South Florida convention centers publish three different lists of what the building supplies and no outside vendor may.

The Palm Beach County Convention Center names itself “the exclusive provider of the following services within the facility” and lists electricity, internet and phone service, aerial rigging, water fill and drain, and compressed air. Those services “must be ordered directly through the Palm Beach County Convention Center” and “may not be provided by outside vendors.” Audio-visual production is absent from that list.

The Broward County Convention Center draws the line in a different place. “Everlast Productions is the exclusive provider of motors, truss and rigging equipment,” and Everlast “is responsible for the review and approval of ALL rigging plans prior to the commencement of all shows.” Every space in the building carries a house sound system. The center asks to be told when an outside supplier is coming: “If an outside AV supplier is contracted, the Event Manager will need to be notified.”

The Miami Beach Convention Center publishes a short exclusive list — catering, internet and valet parking — and places its in-house audio-visual provider among preferred providers rather than exclusive ones. “Outside suppliers are permitted to operate in the Center for certain non-exclusive services,” subject to approval by building management beforehand.

02 — Labor is the clause that decides the day

The agreement says who may put hands on the gear.

Both tri-county convention centers run under collective bargaining agreements, and the agreement says who may put hands on the gear.

Broward holds a collective bargaining agreement with IATSE Local Union 500, and “IATSE is the Center’s exclusive Technical Services personnel.” Those personnel “are required for the rigging in the Ballrooms and Exhibit Halls.” The sentence that matters most to a producer is the next one: “All contractors providing staging and production, or audio-visual production may provide supervision only.”

Miami Beach publishes the same shape. “All staging and production or audio/visual work must be done by union labor in accordance with these agreements,” and an outside contractor bringing production equipment “may provide supervision only.”

In those two buildings the production company designs the show and directs the call. House labor builds it. Call times, minimum calls and break rules come from the labor agreement rather than from the production schedule.

03 — Security and the quieter exclusives

Exclusivity reaches past the stage.

Exclusivity reaches past the stage. Broward publishes two security rules a producer has to plan around.

“Uniformed Broward Sheriff’s Officers (BSO) are the ONLY ARMED security permitted in the facility,” and event security staffing “is provided exclusively by Allied Universal Services.” A detail travelling with an artist does not change either line. Overnight equipment watch, barricade coverage and credential checks are ordered from the building.

04 — The hotel version of the clause

A hotel keeps the floor and the ceiling.

Hotels write it more briefly, and usually keep power and rigging while letting the production company in.

The JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes publishes event terms that allow an outside vendor on conditions a producer can meet. A copy of the subcontractor’s liability insurance is required “showing proof of applicable minimum policy limits.” Every outside vendor “must register with Grande Lakes Safety & Security prior to load in or entering the resort.”

Then comes the reservation: “All electrical needs (power) and rigging (to ceiling) must be arranged through Grande Lakes AV.”

Power and rigging are the two services a show cannot supply for itself once it is inside a building. A hotel that keeps those has kept the floor and the ceiling while releasing the show. Plan the quote and the schedule around that split rather than around the headline permission.

05 — What to settle before the venue contract is signed

Six answers that belong in the contract.

These answers belong in the contract. After signature, the building’s published rules are the only version that counts.

Which services the building holds exclusively, in writing, named one by one.

Whether rigging is exclusive separately from audio-visual, since several buildings keep one and release the other.

Whether the house sound system has to be patched, who performs the patch, and what notice the event manager needs.

Whether labor is union, which local holds the agreement, and what the minimum call is.

How long rigging plan review takes, and who signs it.

Whether power is ordered from the building or from an electrical contractor.

06 — The decision as it actually arrives

By the time a planner asks, the contract has usually answered.

By the time a planner asks the question, the venue contract has usually answered most of it.

A producer hired early can read the published rules with the planner, order the exclusive services in the right names, and design a show that fits what the building releases. A producer hired late inherits a rigging plan deadline that has passed and a labor call nobody booked.

The choice between a building’s in-house provider and an outside production company is live in some venues and already settled in others. Read the exclusive list first. It tells you which of the two conversations you are having.

Where the figures come from