It has become more challenging to find skilled AV freelancers for live events. The pandemic brought about significant changes in producing live events: the mass retiring of highly-skilled freelancers, a shortage of newer freelancers entering the industry, and overall higher labor inflationary costs all around.

At Mertzcrew, we understand how crucial it is for production companies to be able to find and contract AV freelancers who can deliver high-quality results. When quality takes a hit, so does client loyalty and income. There’s an undeniable need to reduce expenses on the administrative side, and that’s where using a contracting service can help. With that in mind, here are five ways to reduce AV freelancer costs by using a contracting service.

Putting together any live event is a long process and can be an inefficient one if you don’t have the right tools to optimize your work. Technology is available that can assist you as you conceptualize, plan, and produce events, making it easy to get your work done quickly and ensure a smooth production.

There’s a lot of work involved in AV freelancer management. When you’re contracting skilled AV freelancers to work an event, you need to source the right people with the right skills for the job, make sure they have all the necessary paperwork including proof of insurance, and that they complete work on time and get paid on time. It’s a lot for anybody to juggle without the right tools.

Producing memorable events takes a great deal of time and energy. With many moving parts to integrate, including equipment, labor, and timing, it’s essential to have the right tools to streamline planning and communication to get the best possible result.

One of the most challenging things about producing an event is event crew management. Even small events involve multiple people handling various aspects of production and everyone needs to be connected to ensure a successful and entertaining event.

Producing any event requires extensive planning and preparation. Not only is it necessary to understand the scope of the event and plan it from start to finish, it’s also a requirement to create an event roster with each crew assignment detailed and scheduled to make sure the entire crew knows what’s expected of them.

On May 15th, the Freelance Isn’t Free Act went into effect in New York City.  Below we share important details of the law and what it means for AV companies working with freelancers in New York City.

Once you have found a potential AV technician to fill a role on your project, what is your process to qualify this individual to determine if they are the best fit?

Here are 6 best practices to select the right people for your project:

#1 Start Early
A best practice for an operation is to start lining up technicians as soon as you are aware of a project's potential, all the way down to the stagehands. You're not the only company with a busy season so make sure you don’t get stuck competing with others to find techs.  If you wait too long, your available quality will go down and your costs could go up!