Company Update

Firm Treats Clients Like Partners

Editorial in 'South East Business' April 2011 edition


If you think a successful conference starts with booking the venue, it might be time to think again.

Audio-visual experts Convergence AV would much rather help you choose the right venue once you have planned the kind of conference you want – and they should know.

“We have plenty of experience of making conferences and other events succeed in a venue that’s not quite right, and we are happy to take on that kind of challenge, but if I could give organisers just one piece of advice it would be that they should bring us in sooner rather than later,” explained technical director Phill Metcalf.

Epsom-based Convergence AV employs eight full-time staff as well as drawing on a huge pool of specialist providers and talented freelancers to provide quality audio-visual services across the UK and abroad.

While the company specialises in the technical side of events such as sound, lighting, staging, video production, signage and special effects, Phill and his team would like to be involved from day one rather than being brought in towards the end of the process.

He explained that his “ideal approach” to customers was to sit down and ask the client: “Why are you having the event? What are you trying to say? Who are you saying it to and how do you want to get your message across?”

He added: “Only when you have identified the audience, the size of the event and the facilities you need can you really choose where to hold it. Too many people choose a ‘nice’ venue and then find it doesn’t really suit the event for some reason.”

Convergence AV specialises in working closely with its clients and treating them as partners rather than customers – even if that requires dedication beyond the call of duty.

When Phill spoke to South East Business he had just spent 36 hours working alongside an investment company for which Convergence AV had organised a conference and dinner for 180 people in a top London hotel.

“It was a big event and I knew how important it was to the client, so I was on site the whole time just to make sure it was every bit as good as it could be,” he said.


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