What's Included in Full-Service Event Production Support?

"Full-service event production" gets thrown around so loosely it's almost meaningless. Some vendors mean "we'll do everything" — others mean "we'll do everything that's profitable, with markups everywhere, and disclaim the rest in the SOW."

Here's what full-service should actually mean — and how to scope between scopes when you don't need everything.

What full-service actually includes

A real full-service production engagement covers four functions. If your vendor isn't owning all four, they're not actually full-service.

1. Production design

The pre-show creative + technical work:

• Run-of-show — minute-by-minute schedule from doors to wrap
• Stage and AV plot — drawings showing every piece of gear, every cable run
• Lighting design — programmed cues for every moment
• Content workflow — how slides, videos, and graphics get to the screens
• Show calling — who's on headset, what cues fire when

This is where the real expertise lives. Vendors who skip the design phase and start quoting hardware are doing event labor with extra steps, not production.

2. Crew

Full-service means the crew shows up briefed and led:

• A1, A2, monitor engineer (audio)
• LD + lighting programmer
• Video engineer + camera operators
• ETCP rigger if flying anything
• Stage manager / show caller
• Stagehands for load-in and strike

A real production company assigns a dedicated PM who owns the show end-to-end. Same person from kickoff through wrap report.

3. Gear

Audio, video, lighting, staging, truss, atmospherics, comms. Either:

• Owned inventory — what the production company has on the truck
• Sourced through partners — for gear they don't own, brand-agnostic sourcing through trusted rental partners

Either model works. What doesn't work: vendors who hide markup on sourced gear, or push specific brands because they're tied to dealer rebates.

4. Logistics

Freight, warehousing, customs, multi-city routing if applicable. The unglamorous infrastructure that lets the show actually happen on schedule.

When NOT to book full-service

Full-service is the right choice when:

• Your event needs are mid-to-large scale (200+ attendees with real production)
• You don't have an internal production team
• You want one PM owning everything
• You're comfortable paying a 15-25% premium for end-to-end accountability

Full-service is the wrong choice when:

• You only need one piece (just crew, just gear, just freight)
• You have an in-house production team that already owns the design phase
• Your venue has dedicated AV and you just need the show called

How to scope between scopes

Most production buyers actually need a subset:

You need	Book
Just crew for an event your in-house team is producing	Crew-only engagement
Just gear rental because your team has crew	Gear-only engagement
Crew + gear, no freight	"Crew + gear" bundle
Show calling + crew, your team owns design	"Crew + show calling" hybrid
End-to-end with one accountable PM	Full-service
Tour staffing in multiple cities	Tour crew engagement

Vendors who refuse to scope below full-service are protecting their margin, not your interest. Real production companies will quote any scope.

What to ask before signing

1. "Who's the dedicated PM, and is that the same person from scoping to wrap?" Continuity matters more than firm size.

2. "What's the line-item breakdown of the quote?" Real production quotes show every hour of crew labor, every gear category, every freight charge. Bundled "all-in" pricing usually hides 20-30% margin.

3. "What's NOT included?" Insurance, COIs, parking, badging, travel, per diem, OT, weekend differential, holiday differential. Real quotes specify these. Bad quotes leave them ambiguous and surprise-bill.

4. "What's your cancellation structure?" Standard is 14+ days = deposit refunded, 7-14 days = 50% retained, less than 7 = 100% retained. Anything more aggressive than that is the vendor protecting themselves at your expense.

How we structure full-service

Honest disclosure: we're Axios Pro Solutions. We do mini productions end-to-end up to 500-attendee events. Larger productions, we crew for your producer.

Our full-service engagements include:

• Same-day scoping call
• Run-of-show + budget within 5 business days
• One dedicated PM, your direct cell
• Pre-briefed crew, broadcast-grade gear sourcing
• Hybrid + webcast capability standard
• One invoice, one PM, one wrap report

For larger productions (festival main stages, arena tours, broadcast specials), we crew for your producer — same operational rigor, just labor instead of producer.

📞 (407) 885-5770 · 📧 info@axiosprosolutions.com