Everything is planning until the doors open. Then it's a show. And I run it.
Technical direction, show calling and production management for conferences, annual meetings and galas.
You know your message. My job is making sure it lands.
Companies and nonprofits stage large events: conferences, annual meetings, galas, leadership summits. Every one of them arrives as a pile of decks, videos, microphones, cameras, a livestream, an executive who hasn't rehearsed, and a schedule that started slipping last week.
I'm the one at the back of the room with the headset on. I plan the show for months, run the rehearsals, direct the crew on the day, and call every cue from the first walk-on to the last slide, so that from where the audience is sitting, none of it looks like work.
If any of this sounds familiar
- Q1“Somehow I'm the one running our big conference and I have no idea what I'm doing.”
- Q2“They want the annual meeting livestreamed again. Last year it dropped in and out and it was embarrassing.”
- Q3“We hired an AV company but I don't actually know who's in charge.”
- Q4“They just sent new slides and we're on in five minutes.”
- Q5“We lost power an hour before doors and half the mics are dead.”
That's the room I get called into.
The traditional model
You hire an AV company
Your initial point of contact manages the proposal, the equipment and the budget. Once the contract is signed, execution shifts to a production crew that may not have been part of the conversations that shaped the event.
A more integrated approach
You hire a show partner
Your point of contact is the person actually running your show. The same partner is with you from planning through rehearsal and show day, carrying the context and calling the cues once the show starts.
No handoff. No lost context. One partner from the first conversation to the final cue.
When the audience is watching
Technology is only part of a live event. My job is to bring all the pieces together in real time: content, speakers, crew, cues and timing, so the show unfolds the way it was intended.
Clients keep me around
BSides San Francisco
Grew with them from one room to a main stage plus eight breakouts, all live-streamed at once. 2027 planning is well underway.
NAIOP “Night at the Fights”
A 1,200-guest gala built around a live professional boxing match.
The Levitt Foundation
A national convening of 150+ grantees mixing executive programming with live music. Year four is in planning.
Arc Institute
Their IT team was fighting to get the quarterly all-hands to run clean. I rebuilt the event from the concept up. The scope has grown every year since: more screens, hybrid science talks, and my team now prepping the speakers before they go on.
Patelco Credit Union
Turned their annual member meeting from a plain Zoom call into a real broadcast.
David has been our show partner for seven years, and I can't imagine running this conference without him. We've gone from one room to a main stage and eight breakouts all streaming at once, and he's made every bit of that growth possible. He knows our event better than we do, and production has stopped being something I worry about.
How it works
Before you sign
I help you choose the right AV vendor, read the floorplans and pressure-test the budget against two or three venues before anything gets locked in or costs you money.
Before showtime
I take the content off your hands. Decks, videos and sponsor slides collected, tested and built into a show file that won't surprise anyone. Then I rehearse your speakers.
On show day
I run the room: cues, crew, timing, livestream. When it's over you get notes on what worked, what didn't and what to fix, so next year starts ahead.
If there's an event on your calendar that's been sitting in the back of your mind, call me. I'll walk you through how I'd approach it, where I see challenges and what I'd put in place to stay ahead of them. If that conversation is all you need, that's a good outcome too.