Ordering Audio-Visual Equipment

Affiliates are responsible for equipment charges, including microphones and audio-visual, when event(s) or session(s) are solely sponsored by the organization. The AHA pays for equipment for sessions jointly sponsored with the AHA—in other words, accepted by the AHA Program Committee—if session organizers ordered the equipment when the session was submitted.

Affiliates have expressed concern about the high cost of ordering AV equipment for events that are not cosponsored by the Program Committee. As an added benefit of affiliation, escpecially for the smaller associations,the AHA will now offer affiliates use of one LCD projector for one room for one day at 50% the cost to the AHA for equipment and labor (i.e. the AHA will absorb the other half). The projector may be used for all sessions scheduled in that room on that day. Projectors may not be moved from one room to another.

Affiliates will be responsible for the cost of any additional equipment at the discounted rate negotiated by the AHA. To maximize savings, the Association will order all equipment directly and bill affiliates after the meeting. Affiliates must indicate AV requirements when submitting program information.

If it is your group’s decision not to authorize ordering any equipment, then please make that clear to all participants on all solo-sponsored affiliate sessions. In addition, we ask that you notify us before the annual meeting so we can respond to inquiries from your participants.

If your group plans to order AV equipment you must request it when submitting session information. Prices for the 2024 meeting in San Francisco will be:

One LCD projector for one room, for one day, at 50% discount: $375
Additional LCD projectors: $750
Audio connection (for playing audio from a laptop): $120
One Microphone and Mixer: $290
Additional Microphones: $120 each

Any cancellations must be made when returning the proof form over the summer.

Audio-visual costs have increased dramatically. The AHA is absorbing most of the price increase for our affiliates. In addition, the AHA has been able to negotiate significant discounts from list prices, which we pass on to affiliates. Nevertheless, AV equipment is very expensive. Unlike university or college classrooms, there is no “standard equipment” in hotel meeting rooms. A meeting room set for a session has theater seating with a headtable and podium or lectern. Anything added to this set has a charge—microphones, screens, carts, extension cords, internet connections, and patching a computer in to the hotel’s sound system. There is usually an additional, hourly fee for labor (which can sometimes equal or exceed the cost of the equipment itself) and a “connection fee” if outside equipment is brought in (where the group owns its equipment). By consolidating the AV order, we hope to minimize costs for everyone.