McCormick Place
Navy Pier Event Center
FDC Event Technology provides professional AV rental, event production, and technical support for conferences, conventions, corporate meetings, trade shows, and live events throughout Chicago and the surrounding region.
Chicago is home to major convention facilities, conference hotels, corporate meeting spaces, and distinctive event venues capable of supporting everything from executive meetings to national conventions with thousands of attendees. FDC can help organizations plan the audio, video, lighting, staging, presentation technology, and technical staffing required for events of varying size and complexity.
Whether your Chicago event involves one corporate meeting room or a multi-day conference with a large general session, numerous breakout rooms, LED video walls, cameras, livestreaming, and presentation management, FDC can develop a production plan around the venue, audience, schedule, and technical requirements.
A successful corporate event depends on more than individual pieces of equipment. Audio, video, lighting, staging, presentations, cameras, and technical support all need to work together throughout the production.
FDC can provide professional sound systems, microphones, projection, large-format displays, LED video walls, cameras, video production, stage lighting, staging, livestreaming, hybrid event technology, presentation management, recording, and onsite technical staffing.
For events taking place in venues with required in-house providers, union labor requirements, or other technical policies, FDC can work with the event planner and venue team to determine how production responsibilities should be coordinated.
FDC Event Technology provides professional AV support for conventions, conferences, corporate events, trade shows, and special events at venues throughout the Chicago area. Our team can deliver the right combination of audio, video, LED displays, lighting, streaming, and onsite support for a smooth, professional event. We coordinate around each venue’s layout, access, staging, power, presentation needs, and technical requirements to provide the best experience possible.
Chicago is particularly well suited to large conferences, conventions, trade shows, association meetings, and national corporate events.
These productions often extend well beyond a single stage. A main general session may include keynote speakers, executive presentations, panel discussions, videos, awards, live cameras, and branded visual content, while breakout sessions, workshops, and smaller meetings operate elsewhere in the venue.
FDC can coordinate these elements as part of one overall event technology plan.
Our conference and meeting technical support can help bring together general session production, breakout room AV, presentation workflows, equipment planning, and technical staffing for complex Chicago events.
For many conferences and conventions, the general session becomes the focal point of the event.
Professional audio ensures speakers can be heard throughout the room, while projection or LED video walls make presentation content visible to a large audience. Cameras can provide close-up views of presenters and panelists, and professional lighting helps create a polished environment both in the room and on video.
Presentation management, video playback, confidence monitors, staging, and technical direction may also be incorporated depending on the program.
FDC’s live event production services can coordinate these different technical disciplines so the general session operates as one cohesive production.
Chicago conventions and corporate conferences frequently use multiple meeting rooms simultaneously.
Breakout sessions may host training programs, workshops, educational presentations, panel discussions, executive meetings, and other smaller programs throughout the day. Although these rooms usually require less equipment than the main stage, reliable microphones, displays, presentation computers, and technical support remain important.
FDC can help standardize breakout room systems where appropriate, making it easier for speakers to move between sessions while giving technicians a consistent production environment to support.
For larger conferences, breakout room AV can also be coordinated with presentation management and the general session as part of one conference-wide technical plan.
Clear sound and visible presentation content are fundamental to the attendee experience.
FDC can provide professional sound reinforcement and microphone systems designed around the audience, room layout, and presentation format. Wireless handheld microphones, lavaliers, headsets, lectern microphones, and panel microphones can be incorporated depending on the needs of the program.
Video solutions may include projection, large-format displays, or LED video walls. Screen size and placement should take into account viewing distance, stage dimensions, audience size, room configuration, ambient lighting, and presentation content.
Large conference spaces may also benefit from multiple displays and live camera feeds so attendees seated farther from the stage can clearly follow speakers and presentations.
For conferences, product launches, awards programs, and high-impact corporate events, LED video walls can become an important part of both the presentation system and stage design.
LED displays can show presentation slides, corporate branding, videos, animations, sponsor graphics, remote presenters, and live camera feeds.
Professional lighting can then be coordinated with the displays, stage, cameras, and scenic elements to create a cohesive visual environment.
This becomes particularly important when the event is being livestreamed or recorded, since stage lighting directly affects how speakers and scenic elements appear on camera.
Chicago events may need to reach audiences well beyond the venue itself.
FDC can support productions requiring professional cameras, multi-camera video, recording, livestreaming, video switching, and hybrid event technology.
Cameras can also improve the experience for attendees inside large venues by displaying close-up views of speakers and panelists on screens throughout the room.
For hybrid programs, remote speakers and participants can be incorporated into the live production while the onsite audience sees and hears them through the same professional AV system.
Large conferences may involve dozens or hundreds of presentations throughout the event.
A coordinated presentation management process allows files to be organized, reviewed, and tested before speakers take the stage. Videos, graphics, fonts, and presentation formats can be checked in advance, helping reduce delays during the actual program.
FDC technicians can also provide onsite support for audio, video, cameras, lighting, presentations, streaming, and other technical systems.
Schedules change, presentations are updated, and production requirements evolve throughout an event. Experienced technical staff can handle those changes behind the scenes while planners and presenters remain focused on the program.
Chicago offers an extensive mix of convention facilities, waterfront event spaces, hotels, and specialized venues for corporate meetings and large-scale productions. FDC Event Technology can help plan audio, video, LED displays, lighting, staging, presentation systems, streaming, and technical staffing around each venue’s layout, production requirements, and applicable onsite policies.
McCormick Place is one of Chicago’s premier destinations for conventions, trade shows, corporate meetings, and large-scale events. The complex includes four interconnected buildings, approximately 2.6 million square feet of exhibit space, extensive meeting-room space, multiple ballrooms, theaters, and large assembly areas.
Events at this scale can involve large general sessions, exhibit halls, breakout rooms, complex presentation schedules, cameras, streaming, and multiple technical teams. FDC can work with planners and venue representatives to coordinate production requirements, equipment, content, and technical support within the facility’s operational and labor guidelines. McCormick Place maintains detailed policies covering contractors, technology services, labor, freight, room sets, and other production considerations.
Navy Pier Event Center provides more than 200,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space along Chicago’s lakefront. Its facilities include Festival Hall, the Aon Grand Ballroom, Lakeview Terrace, and numerous meeting rooms used for conferences, trade shows, corporate events, concerts, and special occasions.
Productions at Navy Pier can involve large presentation spaces, breakout meetings, staging, video, lighting, and extensive technical coordination. Because Navy Pier Event Center currently works with an exclusive onsite audiovisual provider and union labor for certain event services, FDC can help clients plan their broader production while coordinating technical requirements around the venue’s current policies and approved providers.
The Geraghty offers approximately 25,000 square feet of flexible event space in Chicago and is designed for corporate events, conferences, product launches, trade shows, awards celebrations, galas, and experiential productions. The venue also incorporates built-in technical and production capabilities.
For corporate events at The Geraghty, FDC can work with planners and venue production teams to coordinate presentation content, video, cameras, streaming, staging, and other technical requirements based on the event format and the services permitted within the venue.
Producing an event in a major Chicago venue requires more than choosing the right equipment.
Loading schedules, labor rules, power requirements, internet access, rigging, staging, room assignments, production control areas, screen sightlines, and venue-specific technical policies can all influence the final production plan.
Large convention facilities may also involve multiple service providers working together. In these environments, clear communication between the client, FDC, venue management, and required onsite contractors becomes especially important.
Planning these details early helps determine which equipment and personnel are needed, which services will be provided by the venue, and how the complete production will come together on event day.
For many corporations and associations, Chicago is one destination within a larger national event program.
An annual conference may take place in Chicago one year and move to Miami, Dallas, Las Vegas, Phoenix, or another major convention market the next.
Working with the same event technology partner can provide continuity as those destinations change. FDC can remain familiar with the organization’s branding, presentation standards, stage preferences, technical requirements, and production expectations while adapting the event plan to each new venue.
Explore FDC’s nationwide AV rental and event production services to learn more about support for conferences, conventions, corporate meetings, and live events throughout the United States.
From major convention facilities and conference hotels to waterfront spaces and distinctive corporate event venues, Chicago provides a wide range of environments for professional events.
FDC can help organizations develop a technical production plan appropriate for both the event and the facility being used. That may involve coordinating complete general session production, breakout room technology, presentations, cameras, streaming, lighting, or other technical elements with venue-provided services.
The goal is to create a production where the technology supports the program smoothly while providing speakers and attendees with a consistent, professional experience.
If you are planning a conference, convention, corporate meeting, trade show, product launch, annual meeting, or other live event in Chicago, FDC Event Technology can help develop a production plan around your venue, audience, schedule, and technical requirements.
FDC provides professional event technology, production planning, audio, video, LED walls, lighting, staging, cameras, livestreaming, presentation management, general session production, breakout room support, and technical staffing for events throughout Chicago and across the United States.
Contact FDC Event Technology to discuss your upcoming Chicago event and production requirements.