How to Create an Event Brief for

Technical Production Companies

How to Guide: Create an Event Brief for Technical Production Companies

The creation of a detailed event brief for a technical production company will ensure that your event meets your expectations, vision and budget.

As a technical production company for events in the UK and worldwide, we have guided our clients through the briefing process for a whole range of events, from conferences and exhibitions to award ceremonies and fashion shows. 

The technical production brief is the first step to ensuring your event is a success, so we’ve created this ‘How to Guide’ giving you the tools for a seamless briefing. 

In this guide we cover the following:

  1. Project overview
  2. Timelines 
  3. Objectives 
  4. Audience
  5. Venue details 
  6. Technical requirements
  7. Set and stage requirements
  8. Budget 
  9. Event contacts
  10. Post event 

Project Overview

Within your brief, the project overview should explain:

What is the nature of the event? For example, is it a conference, exhibition, award ceremony, corporate hospitality, fashion show, PR launch, or virtual event

Why are you holding the event? You might be showcasing a new product or sharing vital information to key stakeholder/media, or simply entertaining VIPs. Whatever the nature of your event, be sure to provide these details in the event brief. It will help your technical production company understand the tone of the event and give them the opportunity to offer advice.

Are there additional elements to the event? Aside from the main activity, examples of addition elements include: break out spaces, power and lights for food and drink vendors, PA systems for speakers. 

A brief overview of the technical services do you need. Explain the basics of your technical production requirements. Do you need lighting, sound, power, rigging, translations kits, PA system, set and stage etc.?

Timeline 

Assuming the venue has been confirmed, it should be possible to provide a timeline of the event detailing the following:

  • When the event is due to take place 
  • The duration of the event and an subsequent breakout events
  • Load in and load out allowance (this will be dependent on venue availability)
  • Deadline for installation
  • Rehearsal times
  • Post-production timescale for any video requirements

Objectives

Events are planned for a wide range of reasons, so it’s important for a technical production company to know what the goal is. With this information, they can provide ideas, solutions, lighting designs and specify equipment that will be necessary to deliver the desired experience.

Here are some examples of event objectives:

  • An immersive experience that involves company branding and thought provoke emotions using dramatisation and suspense.
  • A business event that delivers key information and engages a live and virtual audience.
  • A PR activity that creates buzz around a product or service and leaves a long lasting impression.
  • A VIP experience that is entertaining and unique to the guests that attend.
  • A virtual event that can be shared beyond the event date. 

Audience

It’s helpful to understand the audience; Where are they from? How many delegates are there? What is their job role? How will they access the event – online/travel? When will they attend? Is there an audience changeover during the event period?

Understanding your audience is and how you intend to manage them will influence your event brief for technical production. Let us give you some examples:

  • If your audience comprises delegates from multiple countries, you’ll probably want to consider having interpreters onsite. To make this workable, your technical production company can provide soundproof booths equipped with transmitters that feed directly to the audience’s headsets.
  • If your intention is to have a live and virtual audience, you’ll need video production and a streaming service. All of which need a back-up network and specialist crew.
  • If you’re hosting a large audience of 500+ guests, the delegates at the back of the room need a clear view of the content and this will determine how many repeater screens you have and whether or not you specify a video wall or projection screen.
  • If you intend to have Q&A sessions during the event, you may require additional hand-held mics. If it’s a hybrid event you’ll likely prefer an on-the-ground camera crew rather than fixed cameras to capture those asking the questions.

Location and Venue

A crucial element to any event brief is the location and venue. You technical production company will need to know where the event will take place?

Where are we heading?

We are a technical production company that travels the world to deliver international events, so our first question will always be, ‘which country are we heading to?’ followed by, ‘what is the venue?’

The location and venue will determine the travel arrangements required to transport the necessary equipment and crew. If the event is outside of the UK, a Carna will be required for transporting technical equipment abroad, as well as the set and stage. We are highly experienced at transporting equipment to events throughout Europe and this is part of our technical production remit. 

When it comes to locations further afield, in the APAC region (Australasia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia and America), we lean on our technical partners, who provide the same standard of kit that we use in the UK. 

At this point, it’s worth noting that the standard of technical equipment and crew in regions outside of the UK can be inferior by comparison. So, we always strive to use our own approved kit and crew. If that’s not possible, we use our global partners that we have vetted and partnered with for many years. 

Has the venue been confirmed?

If the venue has already been booked, we would need to arrange a site visit to decipher what the options are for set, stage and technical production. During the site visit we look at floor plans, rigging points, access and power supply.

At the point of briefing a technical production company, it is preferable that the venue has not been confirmed, as they can help you with the decision-making process based on your objectives. For example, you might opt for a video wall to maximise engagement. However, a video wall requires a lot of power and is a heavy piece of equipment. Therefore the venue needs to offer the adequate floor load weight for such a heavy item – a ground floor venue would be most suitable.

What is the access like to the venue?

There are many factors surrounding access that will determine the equipment specification, crew numbers and timescales for your event. A thorough site visit will ensure the technical specification meets the desired results and your budget.

Technical Requirements

When it comes briefing your technical event production company about the equipment you require, don’t panic, they do not expect you to know the full specification. What is helpful is a basic understanding of what you need. Here is a list to choose from:

Audio-Visual equipment

AV includes items, such as handheld/wireless microphones, speakers, projection screens, laptops, video walls, LED repeater screens on stands, cameras.

Lighting design

It’s up to the technical team to deliver a lighting scheme that fits your event objectives, but you can specify the style lighting for the stage, room, and products. Providing pictures as examples of styles you like can be very helpful.

Video production

It’s important to confirm the duration and desired finish for your video production and how you intend to use the content. There are various ways people use event footage, including training, record keeping, social media and digital marketing. 

Depending on the objective and budget, we may specify:

  1. A fixed camera set up which records footage from different fixed angles throughout the event space. This is the lower budget option and ideal for a conference.
  2. An on the ground camera crew, who will creatively capture the event in all its glory ready to be edited after the event.

Sound 

Sound requirements vary depending on the event. Certainly a conference requires a high-quality speaker system. The number of speakers and associated mixing equipment will be determined by the size of the room, number of guests and the nature of the event.

Conference aids

Conference aids include:

  • Comfort monitors that sit at the foot of the stage and provide the keynote speaker with timers and prompts.
  • Digital lectern for displaying the speaker’s company logo or name.
  • Translation booths, transmitters and headphones.
  • Spot on annotation for digitally highlighting parts of a presentation live on stage (the modern day version of a pointer or laser pen).

Set Stage Design and Build

The set and stage design and build is part of the technical production remit for us at The Production People, so when we receive an event brief, we like to know if this is a requirement. 

Much of the information for the set and stage will be agreed during a site visit. However if there isn’t time, this is the information that will be required to begin the set design process:

  • The required dimension of the stage.
  • Venue access from the loading bay to the event space (smallest points of access should be note, such as low ceilings, narrow corridors, tight turns, lifts and stairwells).
  • Venue floorplans, floor load weights, rigging points and power supply. 
  • How many people will be on the stage at one time?
  • Is there a requirement for stage seating? If so, for how many?
  • Is a lectern required?
  • What is your preference for the set design, for example: panels with screen, video wall, or a truss structure.
  • Any additional information.

Budget

Understanding your budget from the beginning is very important to what can and can’t be achieved for your event’s technical production. An itemised quote will be provided so that you can see the breakdown of your budget and make adjustments as necessary. 

Having a contingency is always preferable to allow for additional requests and to withstand any unforeseen changes to the original brief.

Event Contacts

The event brief for technical production should include all the relevant contact details (name, role, email and phone number) for:

  • The main point of contact, usually the chief event planner
  • The venue’s main point of contact
  • The wider event team 
  • Vendors if necessary 
  • Other event suppliers that may require general lighting and power supply

Post Event Expectation

    Knowing the post-event expectations are equally as important to the lead up to the event. The event brief should cover:

    • The load-out time 
    • Timescale for video content 
    • A time to reflect, review and feedback on the process to make improvements in preparation for the next event.
    event brief for technical production

    Would you like Plan an Event with The Production People? Send us your Event Brief for Technical Production

    If you’ve found this guide useful and would like to work with us on your next event, you can send us your initial event brief and we’ll get the wheels in motion. Contact us today!

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