What’s Trending in Event Production: Q&A with PRG’s Lauren Hendricks
December 1, 2023
What’s trending in corporate event production in 2023? Sustainability, engagement with technology and tighter timelines, according to Lauren Hendricks, PRG senior vice president business development, corporate and events, who joined the full-service production company in 2019.
This year, PRG has produced and supported hundreds of events — from the Essence Festival and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance to Post Malone in Times Square and the Florida Realtors Convention & Trade Expo (view pictures and details from these events here).
Back story
Founded in 1983 by Jere Harris, PRG has grown from a single New York location to a global presence — with 38 locations in 29 countries across six continents — encompassing every major technology and serving every market in entertainment and live events.
With deep roots on Broadway and well-known for its concert production, PRG also partners with brands, agencies, associations and trade show clients to create unforgettable moments. PRG delivers technical production expertise with a range of services, including lighting, audio, staging, LED, projection, engineering and project management.
TSNN caught up with Hendricks to get her take on the latest tech innovations in the fast-changing landscape. Plus, we take a deeper dive into how PRG worked with Go West Creative to produce the CVS Health Retail Leadership Experience.
Watch our full interview here, or read highlights from our interview about what’s trending.
Sustainability
“Everyone's trying to figure out how we can wrap our arms around sustainability, particularly in an industry where we do use a lot of power,” Hendricks said.
How is PRG responding? “From a PRG standpoint, we are the audio-visual technical solution at the end of the day,” she said. “We are not the event producer itself, but we are constantly strategizing ways to be more efficient when it comes to power usage, as well as the number of trucks that it takes to transfer the gear for that event. Sometimes we bring in sustainability consultants. That's becoming a new role that you're going to see pop up more and more.”
Engagement
“Everybody needs these events to be even more engaging than ever before,” she said. “There needs to be a reason for people to travel, to show up and attend events. We're always thinking and ideating about how we can utilize all of this amazing gear that we have in our arsenal to help drive that engagement. Projection mapping continues to be a real buzzword.”
On the consumer side, PRG worked in partnership with Giant Spoon on projection mapping onto the Empire State Building in New York for the launch of season four of Stranger Things. “That has been one of the most awarded activations, and it's because it really drove engagement,” she said. Netflix reported more than 9,000 fans congregated in New York to watch the display. View a video here.
Tighter timelines
“We're seeing events are confirming later and later,” Hendricks said. “We used to have about a year out to plan events, and that timeline has condensed tremendously, particularly coming out of the pandemic.”
Is this the new normal? “It seems like that's something that's here to stay,” she said. “A lot of changes are happening right at the last minute, and there's a different level of short-term urgency that we hadn't seen prior.”
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