For Matt Emerson, successfully staging conferences, meetings, trade shows, and other events is about more than just using the latest AV technology; it is about having the right ideas and the right people. As one of America’s premier event services production companies, AVFX is passionate about delivering experiences that are nothing less than seamless and spectacular.
Taking a partner-vendor approach, AVFX works collaboratively with clients to ensure the best possible results—and it all comes down to the company’s highly qualified engineers, technicians, and media producers who strive for perfection with every event.
“AVFX is a place where people can come to be at their best every day and apply their passion for the industry and service,” states Chief Executive Officer Matt Emerson. “It’s a place where people can learn and grow. We have dozens of people throughout the company who came in at entry-level positions in the warehouse or as entry-level AV technicians, and now they are department heads, project managers, or part of our logistics team. Even our Vice President of Operations started at the company over 15 years ago as a warehouse technician. We support our team in their growth and invest in their training and development.”
Hire for attitude, train for skills
Growing to three offices today—Boston, Denver, and Orlando—AVFX has come a very long way since it was founded by Murray Lapides in 1981. Widely regarded as a visionary by event planners, producers, and designers, Lapides saw opportunities to advance the use of video, audio, and lighting technologies to create memorable experiences.
“Murray was really ahead of his time with regard to understanding how technology could be used in the event space,” says Emerson. “Our entire team continues to honor his major contributions to the company and to the industry as a whole.”
In 1961, Matt Emerson’s father Jack Emerson founded Denver-based CEAVCO, a respected, full-service audiovisual production company. CEAVCO and AVFX merged a few years ago and then acquired Orlando-based AV Matters in 2023. Today, all three businesses are part of the AVFX family and under Matt Emerson’s leadership, AVFX continues to thrive.
Matt Emerson joined the family business back in 1989. He didn’t come in on the technical side but rather the business side. Starting as a finance manager, his strength is in building a winning team by creating a great place to work. By focusing on the business itself, he hires solid people and creates a space for them to be at their best.
“Years ago, my dad and I spoke about the goal to hire for attitude and train for skills,” he says. “We have people who are no longer with us because they didn’t have the social skills, emotional intelligence, or ability to work well with others. I never want to have someone on my team who is really great technically but needs to be kept away from the client.” In the business of creating memorable experiences, AVFX seeks people who are genuinely interested in helping clients and who enjoy working with their colleagues.
Investing in technology
Extremely well-supported by its dedicated staff, AVFX also stays on top of the latest advances in event technology. Much has changed in audiovisual gear over the decades, and the company regularly invests in new technology. By increasing its depth of inventory, AVFX increases its ability to produce and support more shows. And if clients specify certain equipment the company doesn’t have, AVFX can turn to its industry partners for particular projectors, monitors, or screens.
“In the early days, each of our offices had a reputation for having the very best technology,” says Emerson, “and we still have a strong reputation in the market for equipment that is well-maintained and in great operating condition. It’s like the tide: it goes out, it comes back in. A lot of our energy goes into just managing our inventory,” he explains.
“Our operations team sets up our production team for success by getting them the right gear package in working order and delivered on time. Each of those components impacts the quality of the show. What sets us apart now is our reputation for being a great company to work for and a great company to work with.”
Although the pandemic resulted in a massive drop off in in-person events due to safety protocols and cancelled shows, there was a silver lining. Switching from in-person to virtual shows accelerated the need for AVFX to purchase new and different equipment, like network switchers and LED walls. And as the world emerged from COVID and events returned to live, clients wanted sessions streamed.
“Everything went virtual for a while,” says Emerson. “Making content available was one thing; how attendees accessed it was an entirely different matter. We had to identify virtual event platforms we partnered with, and we even invested in developing our own virtual event platform for larger events and clients who had more specific needs. We built out studios in our warehouse that served as broadcast centers. They were very much like television studios.”
The company also got heavily into scheduling, pre-recording, and editing sessions for Internet streaming and on-demand viewing. In the early days of the pandemic recovery, some speakers could not or did not want to travel, so AVFX brought them to one of its studios. In fact, the company still has a permanent studio in Boston, because some clients have events well-suited to broadcast-style virtual event formats.
“There were remote attendees, and at times there were remote presenters, and some sessions had both,” says Emerson. Sometimes, panels had two presenters in person and one remote, which required different expertise and skill sets AVFX gained during the pandemic. “What we’ve seen since then—and it’s all based on client demand—is our clients didn’t have attendees who were interested in attending remotely when it was possible to return in person. Some clients made considerable investments in recording sessions and making them available on-demand. There are still some events that have a hybrid component, and some who record for on-demand purposes.”
The WOW factor
Staging an event is one thing; staging an unforgettable event is another thing altogether. Working collaboratively with clients, AVFX strives to achieve a “WOW” factor, ensuring events are impactful and memorable.
On its Instagram page, AVFX recently explained that “the real ‘wow’ factor is about achieving intimacy with your audience. That means you have to smash through the ‘fourth wall,’ the invisible barrier between presenter and audience where the real magic happens.” Under the leadership of founder Murray Lapides, AVFX was one of the first companies in America to incorporate state-of-the-art, larger, flexible LED tile displays and projection mapping to engage audiences with a “WOW” factor.
“In the early days, companies differentiated themselves by the technology they owned,” says Emerson. “The technology has since become more ubiquitous. Today, advanced technology is table stakes—everybody’s got to have it—but also, anybody can get it. In the early days, if you didn’t own it, it was hard to get. People were definitely looking for companies that owned this gear or that. The industry has changed a lot. From our perspective, the ‘WOW’ factor now comes from the creative ways we deploy that technology and the content that technology delivers. It also comes from clients saying, ‘Wow, I didn’t know an event could go that well,’ or ‘Wow, I really love working with your team.’”
The AVFX team provides AV production and support for all types of events, big and small, with the same enthusiasm and professionalism. Some shows are under $10,000, while others break the million-dollar mark. Before embarking on any event, the company meets with clients to see if they are a good fit for each other. They then discuss event objectives, past experiences, potential challenges, and what the client would like their audience to experience and feel.
“A good fit for us is where the client values the knowledge and expertise we bring to events,” states Emerson. “A good fit for us is when a client recognizes that we’ve got new ideas that can help them improve their events. Some clients, especially associations, know their event calendar years in advance, while corporate events often have shorter runways,” he explains. “Corporate accounts don’t make money on events like association accounts do. For an association account, that event is part of their economic engine; for corporate, it’s not.”
Sometimes, AVFX is contacted just weeks before an event. In other cases, the team works on requests for proposal a year ahead of time. Some clients include the American Statistical Association, and Beacon Hill in Boston.
AVFX works with clients across the country and worldwide, and in the past year it has supported events in every major event market in the United States, as well as shows in Berlin and London. One important reason, says Emerson, is because the company works in partnership with clients as a trusted advisor. New and repeat clients alike appreciate the company’s collaborative approach and how the AVFX team applies their experience to make every event better and better.
“If the client recognizes AVFX’s expertise and the benefits of collaboration—if they want to deliver an exceptional experience—then they are probably a good fit for AVFX. AVFX is definitely interested in that conversation,” says Emerson.
Continuing to grow, AVFX is looking to acquire a company in the Southwest region of the United States, which would complement the company’s presence in markets where meetings happen. “We have a clear presence in Boston, Denver, and Orlando,” comments Emerson. “If we have an office in San Diego, Las Vegas, or Phoenix, we would be within a day’s drive of eight of the top 10 convention markets. So the Southwest is our next area of focus.”
And as important as investing in technology is, AVFX is just as invested in its people and working with existing and new clients to create successful events that make a real impression.
“We become attached to clients, and clients become attached to us when the relationship is working well. It’s working like a trusted advisor or partner. Basically, the highest compliment we are paid by a client is, ‘I know when I am working with AVFX I don’t have to worry about the AV; you guys have my back, you’ve got it covered, and I have peace of mind.’ Clients don’t want to give that relationship up because it’s efficient and collaborative and it’s built on trust,” explains Emerson.
“We are always thinking about the next event,” Emerson says. “We are always applying expertise we gained on one event that may be applicable to another event. We really work to make every single event better than the last.”
