If you’re planning a conference, seminar, presentation or corporate event, one of the first questions is usually pretty simple:

“How much should I budget for AV?”

Unfortunately, the answer is usually “it depends” – but that isn’t particularly helpful when you’re trying to put together an event budget.

For a typical small-to-medium corporate event in Melbourne, professional AV might cost anywhere from around $1,500 to $8,000+, depending on the room, audience size, presentation requirements and how much equipment and technical support is required.

Here’s a more useful breakdown, that hopefully gives you a better idea of what to expect.

A small presentation or seminar: approximately $1,500–$2,500

For a straightforward event with around 30–60 guests, the requirements might include:

• A pair of professional speakers
• One or two wireless microphones
• A small audio mixer
• Laptop connection to an existing venue screen or projector
• Basic presentation switching
• A technician for setup, pack-down and part or all of the event

Venues often have suitable screens included with the cost of the space. Making use of this system can keep the overall cost down.

This type of setup works well for internal presentations, seminars, training sessions and smaller company events, where the exact vision of the event can be largely based around being cost effective.

A typical 50-150 person conference: approximately $3,000–$5,500

This is where many corporate events sit.

A more complete conference AV package might include:

• Professional PA system
• Lectern microphone
• Multiple wireless handheld or lapel microphones
• Audio playback for videos and walk-in music
• Presentation laptop and backup playback
• Confidence monitor for presenters
• Connection to a venue projector or display
• Basic stage or room lighting
• A dedicated operator or operators looking after the event

For an event of this scale, a budget of around $4,000 is often a useful starting point.

The biggest difference between this and simply hiring some speakers and microphones is that someone is actively managing the event. This means everything is thoroughly tested before the event, so tech issues don’t happen while all your delegates wait.

Microphones are ready when they’re needed, presenters can see their slides and speaker notes, videos play correctly, volume levels are adjusted as different people speak, and somebody is there to deal with problems before the audience notices them.

A larger or more production-heavy conference: approximately $5,000-$8,000+

Costs increase when an event requires more equipment, more technicians or more complex video systems.

That might include:

• Larger PA systems
• Six, eight or more wireless microphones
• Multiple presentation screens
• Large LED displays or projection systems
• Camera coverage and live vision switching
• Recording or streaming
• Stage lighting
• Speaker foldback or multiple confidence monitors
• Remote presenters
• Dedicated audio, vision and stage technicians

At this point, AV becomes a small production rather than simply an equipment hire.

For major conferences, multi-room events and events using large LED screens, budgets can extend well beyond these figures.

What actually determines the cost?

The venue

A venue with an existing projector, screen and suitable rigging can significantly reduce the amount of equipment that needs to be brought in.

On the other hand, sometimes existing venue equipment isn’t suitable for the event being planned, or comes at an additional cost.

We regularly integrate hired equipment with existing venue infrastructure rather than replacing everything unnecessarily.

The number of microphones

One presenter and one microphone is simple.

A panel discussion with a moderator, four panellists, audience Q&A and a lectern requires considerably more equipment and more dedicated attention – particularly if everyone needs their own wireless microphone.

Vision

A PowerPoint presentation displayed on an existing projector is very different from an event involving multiple laptops, videos, cameras, remote presenters and several screens.

Vision is often one of the biggest variables in a conference AV budget.

The number of technicians

For a straightforward event, one experienced technician may be able to operate the entire system.

Larger events often benefit from separate audio, vision and stage technicians.

Technical labour also includes work that happens outside the advertised event time: loading equipment, setup, testing, rehearsals and pack-down.

Event duration

A two-hour breakfast presentation and a 10-hour conference may use almost identical equipment, but the labour requirements are very different.

Early starts, late finishes and events spanning multiple days can also affect pricing.

What about the venue’s in-house AV package?

Many hotels and conference venues offer their own AV services, and for some events these are perfectly suitable.

However, you generally aren’t locked into using a venue’s contracted supplier.

An external AV supplier can often use suitable venue infrastructure – such as installed screens and projectors, stage lighting while supplying the audio, microphones, presentation systems and technical staff.

Should I just hire the equipment?

You can, and for very simple events equipment-only hire can make sense.

But for an important client presentation, conference or product launch, the technician is usually one of the most valuable parts of the package.

Corporate events tend to involve lots of small transitions:

A presenter finishes. A video rolls. A panel walks on stage. Four microphones suddenly need to be live. A laptop gets swapped. Someone decides at the last minute to play a video that wasn’t in rehearsal.

The equipment doesn’t manage any of that by itself.

A realistic example

Consider a 70-person company conference in a Melbourne hotel.

The venue already has a suitable projector and screen, but the client needs:

• A lectern microphone
• Two wireless lapel microphones
• Two handheld microphones for Q&A
• Professional PA
• Presentation playback
• A confidence monitor
• Audio playback
• Archival video recording of the event
• A technician for the day

A realistic AV budget might be around $3,500–$4,500, depending on the venue, operating hours and exact equipment required.

That’s the sort of event where a carefully designed system can deliver a polished result without bringing in far more production than the event actually requires.

So, what should I budget?

As a very broad guide:

Small presentation or seminar: $1,500 – $2,500
Typical 50-100 person corporate conference: $3,000 – $5,500
Larger or technically complex conference: $5,000 – $8,000+
Large conference / multi-room / major video production: quoted individually

These aren’t fixed packages. Every venue and event is different, and in many cases the most cost-effective approach for a polished result is to use a combination of venue infrastructure and hired equipment.

At Concorde Audio Productions, we specialise in designing practical AV systems around the event rather than forcing every client into a standard package.

If you’re planning a conference, presentation or corporate event in Melbourne, send us the venue, approximate audience size and a rough rundown of what you’re planning.

We can usually tell you fairly quickly what you’ll actually need – and just as importantly, what you probably don’t.