Managing freelancers for events can be time-consuming and complicated without the proper tools. Without a system that allows you to onboard new freelancers, negotiate contracts, and schedule them for events, the process of freelance management can add to your stress and make it more difficult to create events that will wow your clients and entertain their audiences.

Producing a successful and entertaining experience requires event management. With the right freelancers on your crew, everything will go as planned and the result is a happy client. The best way to ensure smooth sailing is to choose skilled freelancers and assign them to event roles where they can do their best work.

If you have a project in Las Vegas with your employees or contractors, be sure to check that they have completed the OSHA 10-Hour or 30-Hour General Industry course.

Tom Stimson wrote an excellent and insightful article yesterday highlighting his answer to What Do Owners Want For Their Business?  It's an excellent read that every owner and senior leader in an AV company should read.  Especially if the company has an established revenue base and is working to set a strategic direction for the future.

He answers the question of what owners want by focusing on five key themes:

1. Cash Flow
2. Profit
3. Growth
4. Satisfaction
5. Harmony

We thought it would be helpful to examine how AV Labor impacts each of these five themes by specifically highlighting opportunity areas and watch-outs based on our 16+ years experience with leading AV companies. 

The gig economy may be expanding in various industries, but it’s always been a big part of the AV world. Freelancers have long been a part of AV projects, providing specialized skill sets and extra hands on deck when large projects land on an AV company’s desk.

AV freelancers have long been a part of executing projects in the AV industry. Yet even with their longstanding role in the AV industry, there’s still a lot of confusion surrounding how to properly pay AV freelancers.

As AV projects become larger and more complex, they require even higher levels of thoughtful project and crew management. The introduction of the right smart technology solutions may allow AV teams to better manage growing crew member numbers, the search for crew members with specialized skills, and evolving project needs.

AV companies face an interesting dilemma in 2016: companies in industries all around them are adopting SaaS tools to optimize their projects and workloads while gaining better efficiency, while AV companies themselves struggle to find a SaaS solution that can fit their processes well enough to merit a switch from the disjointed project management tools they’ve used for decades.