What to Confirm with Your Orlando Venue Before Booking AV

Before booking AV for an Orlando corporate event, get written answers about room access, required venue services, production approvals and the full setup-to-teardown schedule. Those answers determine what your production team can deliver, when it can work and which costs belong in the budget.

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For a marketing, communications or HR team approving the spend, the useful outcome is a written venue handoff: what has been approved, which services must be ordered and who will resolve the remaining decisions. Our large-event planning guide covers the broader Orlando picture. This checklist focuses on what needs to be settled before the AV commitment.

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Start with the room and the program

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Give the venue the same brief you give prospective AV providers: audience size, presentation format, stage needs, breakout sessions, rehearsals and any evening event. Include the moments that matter, such as an executive address, awards presentation or product reveal.

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Request the current floor plan for the exact room configuration. Ask whether airwalls, adjacent events or a room change could affect sound checks and rehearsals. Confirm where the stage, audience, control position and accessible routes can go. A room's advertised capacity does not establish how many guests fit around your proposed production layout.

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Ask who supplies, approves and charges for each service

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Outside-provider access depends on the venue agreement. Ask which services may be supplied by your production partner and which must be ordered through the venue or a designated provider. Separate general AV access from power, rigging, internet and any required technical supervision.

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For example, the Orange County Convention Center identifies itself as the exclusive rigging service provider for show managers and exhibitors in its published rigging guidelines. That is a specific venue requirement, not a rule for every Orlando property.

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Have the venue confirm the applicable charges and ordering deadlines in writing. Your production proposal should identify who requests each service, who pays for it and whether the amount is included or billed separately. This prevents an approved AV budget from leaving necessary venue services unfunded.

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Reserve access for the work before guests arrive

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The event start time is only one part of the schedule. Confirm the earliest crew access, loading appointment, equipment delivery route and when the room must be cleared afterward. Ask about freight elevators, storage and whether another group has the room immediately before or after you.

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For the Bishop Moore Catholic Legacy Gala at Rosen Shingle Creek, New Sense coordinated access, technical requirements, installation scheduling and operating procedures directly with the venue. That work connected the proposed LED, video, audio, lighting and draping to the ballroom's practical constraints.

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Use that same level of specificity in your own handoff. Reserve installation, system checks, content playback and speaker rehearsal inside the venue's access window. If the room changes from general session to reception, have the crew confirm the reset schedule before both bookings are approved.

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Put technical approvals on the calendar

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Ask what the venue needs to review: floor plans, equipment positions, power requests, rigging designs, insurance documentation or special effects. Get the correct contacts and submission dates for your event rather than borrowing requirements from an older production.

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The dependencies matter. At the FIS Emerald evening experience at Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort, New Sense worked alongside Hello Florida and coordinated projection, lighting, rigging and power. A visual concept involving the building therefore needed more than permission to bring in projectors.

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Let your qualified production team handle technical submissions. As the budget owner, confirm who obtains each approval and what remains conditional in the proposal. Include a decision deadline and cost implications for any outdoor element or backup room.

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Leave the planning call with a written handoff

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Bring the venue event manager and production lead into the same conversation. Your planner or destination management company can help coordinate it, while your internal team retains approval of scope and spend.

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The written handoff should record the approved room plan, access schedule, required services, outstanding approvals and the person responsible for each. Mark open items clearly and set a date to close them. If an answer changes the proposed show, ask for the revised design and cost before authorizing it.

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