How music sets the tone for an event
Events are about bringing many different types of people together. Not everyone at an event will speak the same language. Not everyone will have the same career motivations or personal values. Events will be attended by drastically diverse groups of people, even if they are in the same industry. They all come from different backgrounds, different socio-economic status, and have their own distinct history. How can meeting professionals create an environment that will not only set the tone that aligns with the client’s brand but also connects with everyone regardless of their cultural, social, racial or ethnic background? The answer is obvious—music.
Music transcends the barriers between people and is critical to providing guests at an event with an experience that invokes a response more meaningful than your average event. But how do you find the best talent, the best equipment and the best staff to create the exact ambiance for your event attendees? Here is a “need to know” for meeting professionals so they can enhance events with the best in the business when it comes to sound design and AV.
Read More: How to Add the Power of Music to Your Next Event
In-house, Outside or Production Company?
Many event venues offer AV and sound services included in the space rental package. The convenience of all the equipment and staff being on site can relieve many stressors for meeting professionals by removing the worry of transportation and employees not being on time or simply falling through. However, hotel employees are only sometimes trained in AV or sound design and quotes can get muddled when negotiating what is needed and expected from the event space team. Meeting professionals may run the risk of dealing with hidden fees.
Outside AV services tend to have more modern equipment and a staff who is focused and knowledgeable about the process. The outside companies also have competitive pricing—bringing in an outside team can help an event budget. Yet there is a counterpart to this. If meeting professionals turn down the option of using an event space’s AV team and bring in an outside company, there could be a clause in the contract that charges an extra fee for external services. Always be sure to read contracts carefully!
Production companies do it all. With top-tier staff and state-of-the-art equipment, production companies go far beyond providing a service. They will work with meeting professionals and clients to do perform “sound design” services – a comprehensive soundtrack that will represent your brand through sound and music. Production teams can also procure live entertainment with some of the most recognized artists, comedians and musicians in the world. Sound is an element of an event that can transport the audience to the exact branding mindset the event was aiming to emulate.
Read More: Power of Music Unites Puerto Rico
Exclamation Group
As one of the premier production companies to work with both European and American luxury brands and more, Thomas Serrano and Anastasia Nisenbaum understand the importance of music for the human experience at an event and working with a vast demographic of brands, each wanting their own unique proverbial soundtrack for their event.
“When you talk to clients, the challenge will be the personal taste and the personal preference,” says Serrano. “So that’s why in the beginning with Anastasia, we decided to commit to being meaningful and memorable. Meaningful, meaning that there is a rationale behind the choices you do. After the rationale, we can go more into the emotional and that’s when the event becomes memorable.”
Nisenbaum began her event career at the Olympic Games and remembers how a certain track she was listening to with a client brought her straight back to the medal ceremonies at her first Olympics.
“I was experiencing those feelings I experienced back then,” says Nisenbaum. “So, it shows you how powerful sound is. So we try to map the emotional journey of our own clients from beginning to end. What are they going to feel when they enter the room? And they’re moving to the next room – what emotion will you trigger?”
Working in both Europe and America, Exclamation Group works with European luxury brands that have had a historical and high-end reputation for centuries to breaking-ground American technology companies, their services for talent acquisition or pre-recorded sound design and equipment serve a wide diversity of clientele—and they are equipped for it all. Serrano explains the importance of working with the client to understand branding, experience and cohesion.
“Those discussions are interesting, if you can trigger the right question to the client,” says Serrano. “That’s the beauty of putting some thinking behind it and making sure that you don’t just select the first artist that the client wants because they’re popular.”
Serrano and Nisenbaum proceeded to play a piece of classical music during our interview. It was described as a triumphant voyage across the ocean. It was invigorating, timeless and set a specific definitive tone. It was a clear representation of the way music can create an atmosphere in an instant—no words, no language, no lyrics. Simply the universal and collective understanding of sound is enough for events to brand themselves in a “meaningful and memorable way” to represent the brand.
