Audio Visual Equipment Hire in Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Purple Wave AV offer audio visual equipment rental in Sheffield and Yorkshire, though can work throughout the UK and Europe for the right project. Offering equipment such as stage lighting, smoke machines, stages, strobe lighting, projectors and screens, music/concert equipment or PA hire - Purple Wave AV can provide or source AV equipment to a whole range of events including private gatherings, weddings, corporate reveals or trade shows. From a single projector and screen to an entire venue set-up, Purple Wave AV can provide.

What do you need to know from an organiser in order to provide a comprehensive quote?

We pride ourselves on providing customers with realistic quotes from the outset. In order to provide an accurate quotation in the first instance, it is helpful if we receive information on the type of equipment you are anticipating, a little about the physical layout of venue, the number of guests you are expecting and how they are arranged for the event.

For example if we're quoting on a projection system, it is helpful to know that you are looking for something around 2m wide, the venue is large but dark with 5m high ceilings and you have 150 guests sat around tables, or in the case of sound systems you are running a conference for 200 people theatre style in a hotel conference room and would like back ground music and 3 wireless hand mics, or you have a wedding reception for 100 guests in a barn and would like a mic for speeches and music for a disco.

This gives us a great starting point for an accurate, fair price estimate.

What advice would you give to a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?

The most important thing when choosing an AV provider it to find someone who understands your event requirements, how important your event is to you and someone who provides audio-visual equipment on a regular basis.

There are plenty of people out there offering equipment for hire which is sometimes inadequate for the job and this can be either down to its age, poor maintenance and/or inexperience in the AV environment.
The key things to make sure that you're happy with is firstly that they are going to turn up on time, and secondly that the supplier can provide the right equipment for the event.

A good exercise is to think about the information you have provided and the questions the supplier has asked - is this enough information for them to provide a quotation custom to your event or is it just a standard price they give to anyone? Can the supplier offer choices or do they only have one solution which your event must fit to? Another quick check is does the supplier have Liability Insurance - many of the unreliable people don't bother with this aspect and that can be a truly massive deal in the event something should go wrong.

Please tell us a little bit about how and why you started the business.

Purple Wave AV was born back in 2005, based on the foundations of my time working as a telecoms engineer before moving on to Sky and then on to Virgin Media Business installations. In 2001 I applied my skills for a local AV hire company where I started to get a passion for the events industry and decided to build my own business. The name came from my favourite colour and a desire to retire by the sea!
Since 2005 we have provided all things AV from basic hire services to full event support through to custom sales, installations and system maintenance. We have worked for private individuals and small businesses through to big name multinationals locally, nationally and on occasion throughout Europe.

Please tell us about a booking you've had through Add to Event, how did it go? Would you recommend us to others?

We have had a number of bookings through Add to Event. It's a good introduction service to new clients and has brought a couple of repeat customers. We've just done our second event for a well known shoe brand who are exhibiting at a local specialist trade show. The feedback received after the first event was great and has been backed up by a second booking. I can see a good future in Add to Event.