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by GNSadmin

Social Distancing Block Party Guidelines

Thank you so much for entering our sweepstakes!

Below is important information needed so that your Social Distancing Block Party can go off without a hitch! Please review the following rules and regulations:
1. Block party host and attendees should remain in their own yard and adhere to all social distancing recommendations from the city, state, and federal government.

  1. The block party must take place during daylight hours and follow city noise ordinance(s).
  2. Oncore AV will supply only the audio visual equipment for the block party.
  3. Winner will be responsible for the planning the event with their neighborhood, as well as any aspects that fall outside of audio visual equipment.
  4. A List Events is available for DJ services upon request of the winner. Their services will be provided within the guidelines of the sweepstakes and the winner will not be charged for any DJ services performed.
  5. Party must take place within 30 mile radius of Oncore AV home office located at 400 Ann St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
  6. Party will take place on mutually agreed upon date between Oncore AV and winning party any day between May 20th 2020 and June 14th 2020. Duration of event to be negotiated with host but cannot last more than 3 hours.
by GNSadmin

Short Notice? No Problem

The typical timeline for an event at Oncore AV, from the conception to the execution, can be anywhere from several weeks to a year in advance. We begin with a request for a quote, then move to finalization of a contract. After dates and venue are locked in for the event, OAV begins allocating our technology and designing the set up. Next we staff technicians and coordinate our arrival and set up, as well as anticipate tear down times. While we appreciate having more than enough time to prepare for our events, we are always ready to take on new challenges at a moments notice. 

 

Recently OAV was contacted to create a large scale sound set up for a concert at the Delta Plex arena for Christine D’Clario, a worship leader/singer songwriter. The initial request was made Wednesday, with the performance scheduled for the following Saturday. You can imagine the difficulty in fitting all of the necessary steps into such a short timeline. Regardless, OAV decided to take on the task and immediately began preparations.

 

When receiving an event on short notice we first have to ensure that we have equipment available to service our client. The Delta Plex arena seats roughly 6,200 spectators in various configurations. OAV assessed the venue and planned accordingly, ultimately deciding on our JBL VTX systems, and Crown Amplifiers to provide the best possible sound. 

 

After creating a set up based on the venue and needs of the client, our technology was prepped and set aside. Lastly the event needed to be staffed and coordinated. Load times, plus set-up and tear-down were all taken into consideration, and with large equipment we often need to find one to two technicians willing to work on short notice. 

 

Eventually everything was rented, loaded, and set up for Christine D’Clario’s performance at the Deltaplex arena, and went as smoothly as if we had weeks to prepare. Oncore AV is always ready to service your events whether they’re large scale concerts on short notice, or an intimate party planned a year in advance. Check out our Instagram story for photos from this concert as well as updates from other events!

by GNSadmin

Fall Follow-Up

Oncore AV has been busy this fall, so we’d like to bring you up to date on some of our recent events. From large retreats hosted at the Grand Hotel, to High School football games in the Whitecaps stadium, OAV was on top of things! 

October 4th we headed to the Fifth Third Ballpark for the South Christian V.S. East Grand Rapids High School football game. OAV’s partnership with West Michigan Whitecaps allows us the opportunity to provide support for specialty events like these! OAV prepared announcements, graphics on the big screen, and a full audio visual crew for the game. The baseball diamond was converted to a football field to allow the two high school teams to play for a cheering stadium crowd, which gave the players the full all-star experience! Additionally, it allowed OAV a variation from our regular baseball-heavy schedule.

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The next day our crew turned around and headed to the Grand Hotel for the Celebrate Your Marriage Retreat, hosted by Jay and Laura Laffoon. This is the 22nd year OAV has provided AV support for the retreat, making it one of our longest running events. We are able to provide lights, sound, and video for Celebrate Your Marriage, and occasionally some dance moves! Even with our expertise, Mackinac Island’s car ban always poses some difficulty. The event has grown each year requiring a lot of new technology, and moving it on horse drawn carts is not always a breeze. However, with each trip to the island our staff improves their strategy and efficiency!  After arriving at the hotel, the set up went smoothly and the event went on for 2 days complete with conferences, couples activities, and even a break for the Hokey Pokey!

Stop three was Hops ‘N Highlands at Boyne Highlands resort. OAV’s partnership with Boyne Highlands allows us to provide AV for all in-house meetings and gatherings, and sometimes that means large festivities such as Hops ‘N Highlands. OAV was able to provide a stage, sound, and lights to elevate this already lively event! Although the outdoor venue was a big change for our staff, they faced the rain and wind and successfully put together the audio visuals for this event. Saturday’s festival included booths from local breweries, as well as stein hoisting competitions, and performances by Huckleberry Groove.IMG_0129.jpg

Be sure to follow us on both Facebook and Instagram to keep up with all of the moving pieces that put Oncore AV ahead of the game!

by GNSadmin

AV Tips for Presenters

Whether you are watching or presenting, it’s likely you’ve experienced the uncomfortable moment of a presentation having ‘technical difficulties.’ A video won’t play, the projector won’t turn on, the audience can’t hear the presenter, etc. The list of potential problems is a long one, and although sometimes these events are unavoidable, there are several things you can do as a presenter to help the audio-visual components run smoothly. 

Number one: Practice makes perfect! Running through your presentation before you are in front of an audience is crucial. Run-throughs not only help to calm your nerves, but also gives the AV Technicians a feel for your pace and a chance to test the equipment and work out any potential issues beforehand. 

Number two: Back it up! Having two copies of your presentation eliminates any possibility of losing your information. The ideal places to store your presentation are online, and on a “hard copy.” For example, saving on both google drive and a flash drive.

Number three: Dress to impress! Surprisingly, what you wear can have an effect on the AV aspects of your presentation. Patterned shirts, such as pinstripes or small polka dots can appear blurry or grainy on video. Also, keep in mind you may have to attach a microphone to your clothing. Articles like turtlenecks and bulky sweaters can be difficult to mic, and clothing without pockets or belts will be nearly impossible to attach a battery pack to. 

Number four: Speak up! There is only so much a microphone can do to enhance your sound. Whispering closely into a mic can create feedback and make it even more difficult for the audience to hear you. A good rule of thumb for handheld microphones is to hold the mic approximately two to three inches diagonally from your face, tipped up so the audience can see your face! This will send your sound directly into the mic and give you a crisp, clear voice. 

Having an Audio Visual company, like Oncore AV,  assist with your presentations can help insure that everything runs smoothly. Taking some of the set up and preparations off of your plate can free you up to focus more on your content. Having a technician can boost your confidence that everything will run smoothly, and gives you peace of mind knowing that we have your back! Keep these tips in mind to help your AV technicians insure you have a great presentation.

by GNSadmin

Partnership with Boyne Resorts

We like to stay busy here at Oncore AV and for that reason, we are very excited about a brand new partnership with Boyne Resorts properties as their exclusive audio visual supplier and coordination team! Starting this year, we’ll be bringing our excellent professional a/v knowledge and experience to Boyne Highlands and The Inn at Bay Harbor, adding yet another layer to their already wonderful resort experience.

From Boyne’s website:

In Michigan, Boyne Resorts’ portfolio currently includes Michigan’s two premier mountain and golf resorts, Boyne Highlands and Boyne Mountain; and the Inn at Bay Harbor, in addition to eight other resorts across North America. This family owned company continues to build and improve four-season destinations to fit “a way of life” for the active families and friends who gather there. Offering the very best in golf, ski, tennis, biking, hiking and cross-country skiing together with luxurious accommodations, fine dining, cozy restaurants and lounges and exquisite spa facilities, Boyne remains a leader in the industry.

Oncore AV has plenty of experience providing audio visual services to the hotel industry from Rotary events that take place around the Midwest to providing for more logistically challenging customers such as the Grand Hotel. No matter the challenge, we’re up to the task of ensuring the success of all our live events.

Through this partnership, OAV hopes to further bring professional quality audio visual services to the northern Michigan area! Find out more about Boyne Resorts by visiting their website. Feel free to contact OAV with any questions, comments or concerns at our website or our Facebook page.

by GNSadmin

Partnership with West Michigan Whitecaps

Oncore AV is pleased to announce a partnership with the West Michigan Whitecaps in the coming 2019 season as their exclusive audio visual providers. In previous years, OAV has provided video engineering services to ensure a smooth broadcast to MiLB every home game night. We will be bringing the same quality and professionalism to our audio and content management services.

Last year was the Whitecaps’ 25th season anniversary and the ballpark celebrated with several updated graphics, new games, themed nights at the park, as well as welcoming their 10 millionth fan to the park! Every season certainly does have a story.

OAV is looking forward to making the Whitecaps’ 26th season the best one yet with the help of a graphic design and audio visual team dedicated to creating fun and professional animations, videos, and stills as well as delivering quality sound and video coverage to highlight all the fun to be had at the park.

Be sure to check out some Whitecaps baseball this summer and see our work in person at Fifth Third Field. Their 2019 season opens on Saturday, April 6th! You can find a schedule of the rest of their season here.

As always, be sure to visit our home on the web or on Facebook to see what Oncore AV can do for you!

by GNSadmin

Oncore AV Welcomes Ben Tafelski as Regional Sales Manager

January 14, 2019 – Oncore AV is excited to announce Ben Tafelski has joined our team as our Regional Sales Manager.

Ben brings to us his nearly ten years of experience in marketing and sales by way of live events, plastics, automotive, and steel industries. He has previously worked with a diverse clientele in both government agencies and the private sectors.

Ben is a Michigan native having grown up in the Grand Rapids area, though venturing out to Kalamazoo, Houston, TX, and Charleston, SC.  Ben ultimately decided to move back to his roots in order to be closer to friends and family. Ben holds a B.B.A in Marketing with an emphasis on Advertising from Davenport University.

In his role prior to joining Oncore AV, Ben began his professional services coordinating a vast variety of live events with several high profile clients in the greater Grand Rapids area.  From there he branched off into the plastics industry where he grew the company’s list of clients; landing clients such as Volkswagen, GM, and Jeep. Among the new responsibilities, Ben can expect to handle at Oncore AV, he will be instrumental in increasing the company’s visibility by continuing to help with the current growth of the company.

Bill Gilbert, President of Oncore AV, expressed “We’re extremely excited to have Ben come on board. His depth of knowledge, leadership, management capabilities, and great sense of humor will complement our growing team of seasoned executives.”

Oncore AV specializes in audio visual management for live events. For more information, contact Kasey Nemetz at (616) 259-9193.

Customers and current employees are also invited to reach out to Ben with their messages of congratulations and welcome him to the new position by emailing him at bentafelski@oncoreav.com

by GNSadmin

Live Events in Challenging Locations: A Factory Floor

Oncore AV has been fortunate enough to work with some incredible local businesses on their audio visual installations and live events.  A recent customer, Paragon D&E, is a certified small business that provides full-service tooling and machining with design and build capabilities.

Paragon designs and manufactures prototype to production tooling in aluminum, steel, Invar and composites for simple to complex aerospace parts. With 50+ ton crane capacity and machines from 1 ft. to 52 ft. in length, Paragon is equipped to handle any sized project.

For a recent event which was held directly on the Paragon factory floor for Autodesk Powermill, Oncore AV faced the unique challenge of  providing audio and video services that could compete with the noise of machinery and visitors. We decided to bring along elements of the JBL VTX line array system for the solution.  With this particular venue, this speaker system was necessary to cut through the noise of the crowd with high gain before feedback to ensure the multimedia presentations could be heard clearly.

To see if Oncore AV can help produce an event for your business, contact us directly at 616-259-9193 or visit us on the web!

by GNSadmin

Mic Check!! No, Seriously!

In the last few years, you may have purchased wireless equipment which broadcasts/receives 600 Mhz-800 Mhz signals. Unfortunately, those radio frequencies are now corporately owned and will become illegal for public use on October 31st, 2018. And by illegal I mean it will bring a $10,000 fine from the FCC. In addition to that, your service can be over taken. Only the new owner of these frequencies can broadcast on them, that means your church service is set to be interrupted by a higher power (not an angelic one).

Unfortunately, there’s no way around it.  You will have to replace your system or pay the fine. Don’t worry, Oncore AV can help.  We can help to coordinate the rebate that will give you back up to $500 per channel from Shure. But you need to act fast as these rebates are only offered through an extended deadline of October 31st, 2018!

We Can Help!

We will walk you through the process regardless of the manufacturer of your current equipment and can help you get the trade-in rebate of up to $500/channel on comparable new Shure equipment. We can also consult on what options you have for upgraded equipment with this new found money!

Find us on the web or contact us directly at 616-259-9193 for more information!

by GNSadmin

Live-Streaming: The Latest Tech Trend

 

In the past few years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of streaming video and people are watching more video-based content than ever before. Utilizing this ever growing platform can help your business grow and Oncore AV is here to help you stay connected with your customers through live-streaming technology.  Utilizing the same equipment we use to stream larger corporate conventions and live events (The Blackmagic ATEM Studio Pro Switcher), we can help your group or business reach your target audience through Facebook Live, YouTube TV or U-Stream.

We recently able to assist an outstanding client, Autodesk, at their recent SMC (Smart Manufacturing Celebration) celebrating their latest software Powermill.  We utilized the Blackmagic Switcher to stream their presentations and switch effortlessly between multiple camera angles and multi-media presentations. The end result was able to be viewed in real time by thousands of customers world wide. “While we do have access to the equipment required to live-stream our event,” Autodesk producer said of Oncore AV, “it’s always a relief to bring on a staff of professionals that we can rely on to expertly handle every aspect of the production. ”

For more information about live-streaming or what Oncore AV can do for your group or business, contact us directly at 616-259-9193 or visit us at our home on the web!