Scheduling AV crews is a process that involves a lot of communication and organization. The larger the crew and the bigger the project, the more difficult scheduling becomes. Time consuming tasks like searching through records and databases to find the appropriate crew members, creating and sharing schedules for multiple crews, and making last minute scheduling changes can put a major strain on AV schedulers as events draw near. However, many of these scheduling pains can be solved by introducing the proper scheduling system. Here are some of the most common AV workforce scheduling pains, and the tips and tools you need to solve them.

Independent AV contractors are highly valued contributors to the AV industry. Working with contractors on AV projects allows you to access a wider pool of audio-visual skills sets and experience levels, expand your team as necessary, and meet project deadlines when demand is high. Despite all of the benefits they provide to AV schedulers in charge of meeting project needs, securing contractors can also require more upfront work on your part.  

As an audio visual scheduler, it's important to approach each AV project with an open mind so you can cater to the individual crewing needs of each project. How you coordinate a new project often depends on the type of event you’re crewing and who is needed to achieve the project's completion and success. In order to make this process easy and efficient, regardless of the project, there are a number of tips you should follow -- from understanding the different positions and their qualities to automating scheduling. Utilize these audio visual technician hiring and coordination tips to ease the crewing process from start to finish.

For some AV schedulers and planners, arranging contracts and verifying insurance for audio visual crews is foreign territory — packing with it a hefty box of intimidating questions and variables -— especially when it comes to insurance. Rather than figuring out how to contract and insure freelancers properly, AV companies will often "hire" them as temporary Part Time employees to make the process simpler. While this may serve as a simple, upfront solution to a confusing hiring dilemma, doing this actually requires far more paperwork and is 2x to 3x more expensive. However, working with AV contractors doesn’t have to create extra work or complications. By becoming more familiar with AV contractor insurance systems and requirements, you can rest easy knowing that your crew has the necessary coverage so you’ll be prepared for any project related accident.

With the wide array of workforce management softwares available, almost all aspects of employee and independent contractor management can become streamlined and centralized. Now that mobile devices and technology tools have become more powerful and mainstream, there are a lot of options to be more efficient with workforce management — which is great news for the AV planners and schedulers who are currently relying on outdated scheduling methods, or even those trying to fit their approach into a industry non-specific software that doesn’t understand their unique needs.

Managing and verifying invoices and payouts on AV projects has a tendency to get overwhelming. This is especially true when your crew is made up of both independent contractors and internal employees and you’re tasked at tracking both. Regardless of inefficiencies manual time tracking presents, AV schedulers are expected to collect and manage time sheets for both freelancers and employees quickly, efficiently, and accurately.

Coordinating AV crews is often a long and daunting task. You have the perfect crew members in mind, but their availability doesn't match. You decide to add AV contractors to the project, but you're lost on how to handle their contracts and insurance. Your project times and dates need to be changed and you have to communicate these changes to your entire crew, fielding questions in between, but your communications are scattered and messages get lost in the process. AV crewing is a big job, and the more opportunities you have to streamline and automate the process, the more time you’ll be able to save and redirect toward managing the rest of your responsibilities.

As an AV scheduler, your job is all about keeping track of your crews, their schedules, and the labor costs associated with your projects. This can pose a challenge when your management resources and assets are scattered, leaving you to manually piece the puzzle together.

With the help of an AV crew tracking and management software, AV professionals can capture accurate labor data for better business analysis. When data is accurate, organized and easily accessible, reviewing your project’s performance and reporting that data back to your clients is simple. Even better, by streamlining your data collection and analyzing process, you’ll save yourself time and money, and potentially save your clients money too. Here are a few ways you can improve the way you collect and analyze crew labor costs in order to get the business insights you need to improve cash flow.

How do you pay the project-based technicians that work on your projects?  Do they have their own Workers Comp and Liability Insurance or do you provide their coverage?

In the AV industry, companies typically choose from two options:

Economic Conditions in 2014 are looking up for both the overall US economy as well as small businesses.  The Consumer Confidence Index has steadily improved since 2010.  AV consultant Tom Stimson of The Stimson Group is forecasting industry growth in both AV Integration and Rental & Staging.