The evolution of audio and visual communication technology has made it effortless to connect with people halfway around the globe and continuously interact with business owners, customers, colleagues, and team members in real-time. However, the unprecedented changes brought by the Covid-19 pandemic have made it a necessity to work remotely and engage with individuals when in confined places since it is impossible to move freely from one place to another or across international borders because of strict movement restrictions. As a result, more individuals have turned to audio and visual communication systems to hold online classroom lectures, run businesses, and present information.
Unfortunately, dealing with AV systems’ complex hardware and software components has proven to be one of the main barriers to the effective use of these solutions, especially for less tech-savvy individuals. Luckily, you can solicit the assistance of expert audio video consultants to release the burden from your shoulders by dealing with all associated issues, allowing you to focus on perfecting your project and presentations.
What is an AV Consultant?
Audio visual consultants are professionals with the expertise to analyze your current AV setting, troubleshoot its components, and help you design an AV system that addresses all your needs and aligns with your presentation goals. Therefore, rather than focusing on providing you with products from established brands, an AV consultant adopts tailored approaches to help you understand the most reliable applications for your project and how to use them properly to achieve your goals. Therefore, whether you are a business owner, corporate manager, government agency, educational institution, warehouse, or house of worship, an AV consultant can help you select equipment that will breathe life into your presentation and put you in a better position to reap continuous rewards.
What are the Main Roles of an AV Consultant?
Installing a new AV system on your premises is a complicated process that does not allow room for any errors. That being said, all your audio input and output devices should be functional and appropriately connected. Moreover, your space should have the proper lighting to avoid any obstructions and interference with visual quality. Nonetheless, getting everything right on the first try is not easy.
Thus, the role of audio-visual consultants is to provide support to your AV installation team and guide them towards enhancing your presentations’ quality while maximizing efficiency. Similarly, an AV consultant is responsible for forecasting the project’s overall costs, including the maintenance, repair, and operational costs. Consequently, you will know if your AV consultant is reliable if they provide detailed installation and operational cost estimates for the near and extended future.
Some things that your AV consultant ought to consider include:
- Your room’s size and the recommended layout to set and install your AV system.
- The best lighting and viewing angles to enhance the quality of your video technology.
- The height of your ceiling and free space to ensure that the available setting supports large screen projectors and is appropriately spaced to enhance utility.
- Reliable electricity and power sources to support all your equipment.
- A perfect location and organization of projectors, audio input devices, speakers, and the systems control panel.
- The installation of complementary applications and technology to improve the usability and delivery of your system.
What does the audio-visual consultation process entail?
The ultimate goal of an audiovisual consultation process is to establish an all-round AV solution that meets your business needs and allows you to engage with your audience effectively. As a result, the AV consultation process demands unwavering collaboration between you – the client – and the AV consultation service provider to ensure that you both understand the challenges specific to your system and the best solutions to sort out the problems once and for all.
Therefore, the first step of the consultation process is to prepare a detailed list of all your AV system equipment, their make, design, the challenges you have experienced with this system, and what you want to achieve from the upgrade. For example, if your services involve offering lessons to an educational institution online, it might be best to enhance your live-streaming capabilities to limit any glitches during your sessions. Similarly, if you are a business owner with several remote employees or international clients, you may need to introduce video conferencing systems and solutions to avoid reliance on personal mobile devices. On the other hand, restaurant owners can integrate a digital syndicate to replace tangible menus.
Once you have identified a comprehensive list of all your needs, the next step is liaising with the AV consultant to review all possible audio, visual, software, and hardware options or solutions required to model your system. At this point, the process will proceed to its design stage, which involves;
- Laying out a conceptual model of the new AV system.
- Identifying the preferred functionality for the system.
- Aesthetically designing the technology.
- Determining the technology’s utility.
- Implementing the design.
- Estimating project costs.
Once you have proposed, accepted, and reviewed the new changes, your project will move to its building or implementation stage, allowing you to further customize your AV system to your desires and tailored expectations. Consequently, your AV consultant will install the system according to the plan. Afterward, you can allow your audiovisual technicians to implement the new changes and enhance your AV technology. The final stage will involve technicians, engineers, project managers, and programmers who will work through every component of your AV system to ensure that it is functional and meets your expectations. Consequently, your team will undertake several usability testing procedures to ascertain that the system is well-connected and interoperable with all other components. Eventually, your upgraded system will be ready for use and equipped to serve its purpose.
Nothing is more disappointing than setting up a new audio-visual system for your projects, only to discover that it is inoperable and dysfunctional. Therefore, it is advisable to seek professional assistance from audiovisual consultants to make the most out of your investment and ensure that you deliver high-quality content, messages, and presentations.
