Abi Cannons, from the ibtm events team, delivers world class education content across the ibtm events portfolio. During 2014 she helped to create over 120 knowledge sessions to inspire attendees with new ideas and to keep up with industry developments.

You may have heard about “A Dummies Guide to A/V” at EIBTM in 2014, but if not, we chatted with Abi to find out a little more about where the idea for this particular session came from…

This was a new session to feature in the ibtm knowledge programme…how did you decide to do a “dummies” guide to A/V?

The inspiration for this session came out a conversation that I had about internet connectivity; I had no idea what the terms and numbers actually meant… and if I didn’t understand it, how on earth would I know if what I was ordering was sufficient for our event?

How did you think this would relate to event planners attending the show?

Event planners often come up against technical issues that sometimes are afraid to admit they know little about! I hoped that through attending this session they would be able to voice their own questions, even the most basic ones, and come away feeling confident in their ability to deal with common issues they are up against.

Have you ever had to work with any “scary” technical experts?

Fortunately, working for ibtm events has given me the opportunity to meet many of these technical experts and they’re not scary at all when you get to know them!

What format did you decide on for this session at EIBTM?

Paul Cook, Event Consultant with Planet Planit and I decided we should get these experts together to answer their most frequently asked questions in an interactive panel session at EIBTM 2014 to demystify their work. The idea was to open this up to the room, start from scratch and encourage questions the attendees may have been scared to ask. I asked each of the panelists to give me their top five most-asked questions which I then compiled in an easy-to-read document which is available online to anyone who would like to read it!

You can watch the full session here…”A Dummies Guide to A/V“