Budget

A love / hate relationship...... That phrase will haunt you until the event is all complete and paid for.

Now depending on what you want, you will need to breakdown the budget:

Location, entertainment, photos, catering, sound/lighting, props, video, ect... each one may cost more or less depending on your needs and wants. The best thing to do is to call each vendor and talk to them about your event, and listen to what they recommend. Most of the time they can give you a rough estimate so you can quickly figure out what the cost may be. The next time you call them back you will have a better idea on what you can spend.

Always work from high to low. Get the bigger quote (not the way over board $100,000 party) but some that are on your higher side. It's always easier to cut back then to add on, in the end you may be able to do the higher quotes when cutting back on others. When in this phase you must decide if you want more sound, less food, or maybe more props and food but no video, the combinations are endless.

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Dates

The date of the event is very important and most of the time it has to be a certain date that cannot be changed. Keep in mind there are a lot of other schools that are considering the same date for Prom or Homecoming. (Especially in Phoenix, Az. there are about 100 Public High Schools not including private or charter schools). With the size of Phoenix you would think there would be a vast amount of services available, but like anything else there is a limit. So when choosing a date, sometimes an off date is better, like a Friday or even a weekday night instead of Saturday night.

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Location

As with dates, this is another item that is on a first come first serve basis. That's why with off dates locations that may be booked Saturday might be free Friday or even more likely during the week.

Choosing a location may sound fun, but a location can make or break the event. Even though a place may be cool to have an event, it could cost you in other ways. *Please see the break down below*

 

Space - Will the space hold the amount of students plus staff and techs? You do not want a room that can only hold 300 and your having 400 that are going to attend. The fire department will shut down your event.

Does the space have enough room for a dance floor, DJ/ Band/ stage, lighting/ sound / video rig ( if any), tables, chairs, food, props, so on?

 

Pictures - Always try to have photos taken in a different room then the event room. The photo company will love you for it and so will the lighting and video crew. Because of the big difference in lighting between photo and the event room, the two do not mix. You don't want a line for pictures going through the event space nor a light beam hitting you as they take your picture.

Side Note : If you're hiring out video companies just to film the event, consider that they may bring in a light boom for their camera. This is bad if you spend alot of money on the lighting and or video production for the room. Because their camera needs alot of light, the light boom will wash out alot of the effects you spend money on. If the company said its a must have, then I would not spend money on the lighting, because it will go to waste. Lighting needs a semi-dark room to get the effects. Most of the time they will have lights on their cameras which is fine, just let them know that you spent good money on the light / video show and to not over use the camera light on the dance floor all night. Now depending on the camera used, it may not need a light for the dance floor, our camera "A" packages do not need the extra lights, but they do cost a bit more. Its all a give and take, but do let the lighting/video company know before hand if another video company is coming in, so that they can both work things out and make your event the best.

 

Parking - This can be a headache if not taken care of before hand. Resorts and ballrooms have parking, but you will run into locations that parking does not exist or it's first come first serve because a nightclub down the street has the right to use the lot after 7pm, be aware of those circumstances. Please remember your vendors, vendors work hard to make your events the best, the last thing we have time to worry about is parking our trucks and vans. Talk with the location about truck parking and loading docks, alot of times they will need a time line of who needs the dock. Please talk to your vendors about what trucks they will bring and about their crew parking.

 

Catering - We do not do catering so I can not say what to look for. But I can let you know this, when placing your food tables remember to light them a little bit. Let the lighting company know how many food, drink, sign in, and other tables you want to be lit. The last thing you want is to be looking at a dark table wondering what you're getting to eat. Plus the caterers will have big smiles when their food is lit.

 

Load In and Out Times - When can the vendors start loading in? This is a big one to know right away, and if you have a large production, it will take all day to set and hours to tear down. If there is only a few hours to setup, then I would not go with a large production. But every production is different and it goes back to budget, if there is a very large budget, you can get things done that you thought weren't possible.

The best thing to do is to talk to each vendor and find out the time it will take them before signing contracts with the location.

 

2nd floor - Anything above or below where the vendors load in/out makes more work for all, and may cost you in the long run by paying for more labor cost just to get the equipment from point A to point B. When looking at these rooms, please think about "How do I get the equipment to this room?"

If equipment must be carried up or down any stairs, there will be extra charges for labor for most vendors, and in some cases a limit on what can be done, because of having no access for the big/heavy equipment.

Please tell all vendors on the first call if the room is not on the first level.

Desert MT Prom 05- Arizona Science Center- This part of the prom was on the Fourth Level.

MT View Prom 04 - Tucson U of A Student Union Ballroom- Third Level

 

Rigging - Your normal DJ/Band will set up their sound and lighting on trees (tripods) and stack the speakers, there is no need to rig anything. However at Creative BackStage we like to get a little wild, and most of the time we have to rig the lighting, sound, video, and possibly other equipment to the ceiling or off super lifts. This may sound like alot of work, or cost a lot of money, but the truth is, it is easy to do (only let professionals rig, do not attempt this yourself) and does not cost that much extra for the rigging equipment. When custom designing an event, we look at if we can fly in the room, this gives us a lot of freedom to come up with unique ways for the setup of the event. If we can not rig then we would use super lifts like in the above picture of MT View Prom 04.

Now most resorts you must use the in house rigging company, and these guys charge alot of money, so at times we can use towers and ground support the equipment to get around the extra resort charges.

At Creative BackStage, we will talk to you about design layouts and rigging vs ground support. Remember that every event is difference, and where one thing may work at one place it may not work at another.

Also most school gyms are fine to fly in, we would be glad to talk to the school about the details.

Desert MT Home Coming 03 - Flew all lighting and sound from gym's ceiling

 

 

Power - One thing alot of first time planners do not think about is the power needs of the vendors.

More equipment = more power = more cost

Meaning anything above a small setup will require extra power, and most of the time we will need to use an in house power hookup panel if they have one or we will have to bring in a generator.

Lighting is your biggest power consumer, then sound, video, and last coffee machines and heaters for food. Most, if not all, of our events require the extra power. If the event is in a hotel, they will charge you extra for the power drops needed (we will let you know what drops we need). Sometimes they may discount or waive the power cost to keep your business. You will have to search around, but you will find places that include the power in their room price. Otherwise we can bring in a generator to supply the power. In some cases we will run one generator for all, but we like to keep sound and lighting on separate generators.

 

Generator - The generators we are talking about are not the little 20amp / 2400w hand crank throw in the back of the pickup ones. What we need, depending on design is from 25KW up to 200KW. The reason I'm telling you this, is because we have shown up to event sites where the school said they would supply the generator and they only have a hand crank one that can only power up two lights. Creative BackStage and other lighting companies work along with many power companies, so let the lighting company bring in the power that is needed.

Before any power is ordered, please let us know if any other vendors will need power. The most common situation is after setup the catering company comes up and needs a 208v plug in. That happens too many times.

MCC 05 Graduation - Dual generator for lighting and sound - this event needed larger generator, most of the time they will be smaller

 

In House Staff - Without getting into too much information on this subject, but to give you a heads up, some hotels will charge you extra for an in house AV person to be in your room during setup and sometimes the show. This is what they can do and will do.

Most resorts and hotels that have in house AV do not like outside companies coming in, the hotel loses money every time the in house AV does not get the job. At most resort and hotels the in house AV has to pay the resort / hotel up to 50% of their profit for being in house. Which means that the in house AV will charge a lot more money for their services. The difference in cost could be hundreds to thousands if using in house.

The hotel will try very hard for you to use the in house because they want that extra money.

 

Outdoor Events - Outside does have its pluses and minus, please see below:

Plus:

- being outdoors, there is lots of freedom to design

-Fresh Night Air

-Dancing under the stars and moon

-More room

-often times cheaper

-Can use all the smoke you want (i.e. fog machines - mentioned later in article)

-Lighting designs can be as big as the budget is

 

Minus:

-For all of us in Arizona, it can be too hot at times

-Wind and breezes can cause big problems

-smoke gets blown away from wind

-You may need to supply tents, tables, chairs, restrooms and others

-Costs more at times

-Rain

-Bugs

Any event outdoors does have a chance to have problems because of the weather. Aside of that outdoor events can be as good as indoors.

Horizon Home Coming 04- Outdoor in the middle of the school

MCC 05 Graduation- Also in the middle of the school

Queen Creek Graduation 05 - Football field

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Special Effects

Smoke / Haze Machines -I'm going to break this down because there is to much confusion when it comes to smoke/fog.

There are two types of juice for smoke/haze: water based and oil based. Most fire alarms do not like oil base, plus most locations will not allow oil based. Water base is the safest way to go. Make sure to always ask your lighting company what type they use.

 

Smoke Machine - A smoke machine (also called a smoker, fogger, or fog machine) is a machine that produces large amounts of smoke. Best used for special effects, however not the best to bring out the beams of light for a dance. The smoke does not last long and most of the time it is too thick. *see Hazer for an alternative*

 

Hazer - A hazer is a machine that produces a very fine layer of smoke, these are the best to bring out the beams of lights. Haze will last a long time and does not smell as much as smoke machines do. Hazers are the way to go, but remember to be sure they are water based.

 

Low Lying Fog (Not called a fogger, but LOW LYING FOG) - I find that most customers get confused on this subject. Customers will ask for a fogger and not a low lying fog, there is a very big difference. The difference between the unit types is explained below.

 

Dry ice - If you called me up and said you wanted low lying dry ice fog, I will bring a 55 gallon tank and fill it with water and have boxes of dry ice. There are some dry ice fog machines out there, but I have never run across one for rent. So for the rest of us a dry ice fog must be done with a 55 gallon tank that has a heater in it with a fan and hose. These are great for special effects and a haunted house effect but will not work for dance events.

 

Low Lying Fogger with A/C unit - These are cute machines, a smoke machine with a built in A/C unit. What happens is that you use a certain juice so after the juice gets heated up into smoke then cooled down by the A/C unit, it comes out as low lying fog. Great for special effects and haunted houses but these machines can not get the fog cold enough to last on the ground. Plus these machine are harder to find for rent. Not good for proms/dances.

 

CO2 low lying fog - One of my favorite units; LSG- A LSG machine uses a liquid CO2 to take the hot smoke and rapidly cool it to about -30 degrees within seconds. Because of this we can produce mass amounts of low lying fog for large areas and keep the fog on the ground for a longer time. One small down side, these units do take up about a 7' x 3' area and use a 400lb CO2 tank. These machines are the best to use but a little bit higher in cost.

Word to the wise- Low lying fog is a great effect but just a little breeze will ruin it. Talk with your special effects company about A/C, open doors, and people movement, all of these will cause problems with the fog.

 

If doing an inside event, always ask right away if any type of smoke/fog can be used, or what their policies are about using it. Most times only a water based hazer can be used, or they must have a fire watch during the event. A fire watch is when either an in house staff or Fire Marshall stays through the event and makes sure nothing goes wrong. Generally you will have to pay extra for the fire watch. Also, most places want at least two weeks notice if smoke/fog is being used.

In order to have a great looking light show, haze must be added. There are places that will not allow smoke/fog. In this case you may want to do less lighting and more video.

Also another note, if you're having your event at your school and it's inside check with the school about their smoke/fog policies. More schools are not allowing it these days, if that is the case and if a great lighting show is wanted, there is always the idea of having it outside.

Horizon Prom 05 - LSG- CO2 low lying fog- can also be used as a water fall effect

 

Xavier Dance 05- LSG- CO2 low lying fog filling a gym floor

 

Desert MT Prom 04 - DF-50 Hazer- see how it brings out the light beams with out being thick like smoke machines.

 

Desert MT Concert 04- Smoke Machine was used- see how much thicker it is then a hazer.

 

 

Strobes - Strobe lights make a dance or concert, but too much of a good thing can be bad. There are different types of strobe effects:

Brief warning on strobes: Strobes can cause seizures at certain flash rates with certain people. A sign needs to be posted at all doors and a brief warning given at time of ticket sales. Don't let this scare you into not using strobes. There are certain things we can do to cut down on the chance of a seizure happening, by slowing down the flash rates and keeping a larger distance from strobe to person, and also by keeping the use of the strobes down.

Please download sign here

 

Real Strobe Lights - From very small to large lightning effects there are real strobes, they flash at a rate that can be controlled and some can be dimmed down by a controller. Use these with caution.

 

Intelligent Light Strobe effects - The rates are not close to the rate that a real strobe can do, plus using the random feature makes some wild effects. These are safe to use as strobes.

 

Strobe Tubes - 5' tubes that can be connected together or outline an object. Each tube has four strobes in it, these strobes act like a race track which can race down the tubes up to 140 MPH. These are a great effect strobe. Use these with caution.

Horzion Prom 05- 55' of strobe tube outlining a 12' x 7' "05"

 

Egg Strobes - Small little strobes, most are just random flashes approximately every 3 seconds, they are great for camera flash effects. These are safe to use.

 

Lasers - Lasers are always the coolest effects, but also cost the most. Yes, you can buy the cheaper lasers for about $99 that can dance and spin. Sorry to say those are throw away lasers, great for house parties and nothing more. A good laser show will eat up your budget very quickly. I would stay away from them unless you have a very good budget. All the lower end laser effects are 4.9mw, meaning that's what it puts out in watts.

The down side is that with the 4.9mw laser (Class 1-3), you need lots of haze to see it plus the beam must be coming toward you to see it, they are just to weak. For a good laser show a 500mw (Class 4) and up should be used, but you must have permits and a license for anything over 4.9mw or (Class 1-3). Laser beams must be about 6' over the tallest person and signs be placed around warning of 'laser in use'. Most of the higher output lasers must be water cooled, meaning they must be hooked up to a water source.

Now the good side, the "star wars" effect lighting, the different color beams, the 3-D effects, the water cloud effects, bounce mirrors, so on and so on.

 

Other Special Effects - Specail effects can be other effects like snow, bubbles, foam, confetti, rain, waterfalls, mirror balls, etc..Using certain effects can enhance your event, like using a snow machine at the winter ball or 4' mirror ball for a very formal dance. Depending on the effect you want and how big will depend once again on the budget. Please talk with your lighting company about what you like and they will let you know more about the effects.

Xavier Dance 05- 4' Mirror Ball