Complete AV Checklist for Corporate AGM or Board Meeting

Annual General Meetings and board meetings carry a level of formality that most corporate events do not. Shareholders are present. Resolutions are passed. Proceedings are recorded. A single microphone failure during a chairman's address or a projector going dark mid-presentation can stall the entire agenda and create compliance headaches for listed companies.

This checklist is built from our experience setting up AV for AGMs and board meetings across Delhi NCR hotels, corporate offices, and convention centres. It covers every piece of equipment you need, the redundancies that protect you from failure, and the layout decisions that affect audio quality in the room.

If you are organising an AGM AV setup on rent or planning a corporate event AV setup in Delhi NCR, use this guide as your pre-event reference.

1. Choosing the Right Microphones for AGM Meetings

Microphone selection is the single most consequential AV decision for an AGM. The wrong mic type leads to feedback, missed audio in recordings, and frustrated speakers. Here is what works in practice:

2. Redundancy Planning: Backup Equipment That Saves AGMs

Redundancy is not optional for AGMs. Unlike a product launch where a brief AV hiccup is forgettable, an AGM interruption can void proceedings or delay statutory filings. Plan for equipment failure before it happens.

• Backup microphones: Carry at least 2-3 spare wireless handhelds (charged and frequency-paired) and one spare gooseneck unit with cable. If a gooseneck fails at the board table, swapping takes under 60 seconds when the spare is pre-tested.
• Backup projector or display: For AGMs with a single projection screen, keep a second projector on standby (powered on, input connected, but lamp off). Switching to backup should take under 2 minutes.
• Spare cables: At minimum, carry 2 extra HDMI cables (3m and 5m), 1 VGA cable with audio, 2 XLR cables, and 1 spare power extension board. Cables are the most common point of failure.
• Spare laptop: Load the presentation on a second laptop. If the primary machine crashes, the backup is already connected to the switcher.
• Battery stock: Fresh AA and 9V batteries for wireless mic transmitters. Even rechargeable packs can fail. Always carry disposable backups.

3. Backup Power: UPS and Generator Considerations

Power cuts happen in Delhi NCR, even at five-star hotels. Most hotel venues have DG backup, but the switchover gap (typically 5-15 seconds) is long enough to crash a projector, reset a mixer, or corrupt a recording file.

• UPS for the audio mixer and recording system: A 1kVA online UPS covers a digital mixer, a recording laptop, and a streaming encoder. This is non-negotiable. The mixer going down kills all audio in the room instantly.
• UPS for the projector: A separate 2kVA UPS handles a 5000-lumen projector. Note that projectors draw high wattage, so a standard 600VA UPS will not work.
• Confirm venue generator specs: Ask the hotel AV coordinator for the DG switchover time and whether the ballroom power circuit is on the DG backup. Some venues only back up lighting and air conditioning, not the wall sockets.
• Surge protection: Use surge-protected power strips for all AV equipment. Voltage spikes during DG switchover can damage mixers and amplifiers.

4. HDMI, VGA, and Adapter Kit for Connectivity

Board members and presenters bring their own laptops, and you will not know the port configuration until they arrive. Some directors still carry older ThinkPads with only VGA output. Others bring MacBooks with USB-C only. Your adapter kit must handle everything.

• HDMI to HDMI cable (3m and 5m lengths)
• VGA to HDMI converter (with audio extraction)
• USB-C to HDMI adapter (for MacBooks and newer Dell/Lenovo)
• Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter
• HDMI splitter (1-in-2-out) for simultaneous projection and recording feed
• Wireless presentation dongle (Barco ClickShare or similar) as a cable-free fallback
• HDMI signal extender if the projector is more than 15m from the presenter table

Test every adapter with the actual projector before the event. Adapters that work on one projector model sometimes fail on another due to HDCP handshake issues.

5. Recording and Live Streaming Requirements

For listed companies, SEBI regulations and Companies Act provisions require that AGM proceedings be recorded. Many companies also offer live streaming for shareholders who cannot attend. Here is the equipment chain:

• Audio recording: Take a direct line-out from the mixer (not a room mic recording). This gives clean, isolated audio of every speaker. Record to two devices simultaneously — a dedicated recorder and a laptop — for redundancy.
• Video recording: Use at least two cameras — one wide shot covering the dais and one for the presentation screen. A third camera for audience/shareholder reactions is useful for compliance documentation.
• Live streaming: A hardware encoder (Blackmagic ATEM Mini or similar) takes the camera feed and presentation feed, allowing you to switch between views. Upload bandwidth at the venue must be at least 10 Mbps sustained for 1080p streaming. Test the venue Wi-Fi or arrange a dedicated wired connection.
• Streaming platform: Zoom Webinar, YouTube Live, or a dedicated shareholder portal. Confirm the platform with the company secretary at least one week before the AGM.
• Backup recording: Run an SD card recording in the camera as a failsafe, independent of the main recording chain.

6. Stage and Dais Layout for AGM Meetings

The dais layout directly affects microphone placement, camera angles, and sight lines for the audience. Get this wrong and everything downstream suffers.

• Board table arrangement: A straight or gently curved table works best for AGMs. Avoid deep U-shapes because board members at the ends face each other rather than the audience, causing their microphones to pick up cross-talk.
• Projection screen placement: Place the screen to one side of the dais (stage-left or stage-right), not behind the board table. If the screen is behind the speakers, the projector light washes out their faces and makes video recording difficult.
• Podium position: The podium should be to the side of the board table, near the projection screen. Route a gooseneck mic and a laptop HDMI connection to the podium for presenters.
• Cable management: Use cable ramps or tape-down channels across any walkway between the dais and the AV control table. Exposed cables are a trip hazard, and a tripped cable can pull a mixer off the table.
• Lighting: Ensure the dais has even front lighting for camera recordings. Avoid overhead downlights that create harsh shadows on faces. If the venue has only downlights, bring portable LED panel lights and position them at 45-degree angles.

7. Seating Layout and Room Acoustics

Sound behaves differently depending on how the room is set up. A ballroom configured for a wedding reception will sound very different when rearranged for an AGM with theatre-style seating.

• Theatre-style seating (most common for AGMs): Rows of chairs facing the dais. Place column speakers on either side of the stage, angled inward to cover the audience evenly. For halls wider than 15 metres, add delay speakers halfway down the room.
• Avoid speaker feedback zones: Position PA speakers ahead of (not behind) the gooseneck microphones on the dais. If speakers are behind or level with the mics, feedback will occur at higher volumes.
• Carpeted vs. hard floors: Carpeted ballrooms absorb sound and reduce echo, requiring slightly more speaker power. Hard marble floors reflect sound, which means you need less volume but more careful EQ tuning to avoid harshness.
• Partition walls: Many hotel ballrooms use moveable partitions. These are acoustically thin and leak sound from adjacent events. If a partition is present, place speakers so they project away from the partition and increase mid-range EQ to compensate for bass leakage.

8. Real Scenario: Listed Company AGM at a South Delhi Hotel

To make this concrete, here is a setup we handled for a BSE-listed manufacturing company holding their AGM at a hotel in South Delhi. The meeting had 220 shareholders in attendance, a 12-member board on the dais, and a live stream for remote participants.

Setup began at 6 AM for a 10 AM start. By 8 AM, all equipment was installed and tested. The company secretary ran a dry rehearsal at 8:30 AM, confirming mic levels, camera angles, and recording quality. The AGM ran for 3 hours and 40 minutes without a single AV interruption.

The key takeaway: the meeting went smoothly not because the equipment was expensive, but because every item on the checklist below was ticked off during planning.

9. The Complete AGM AV Checklist

Print this checklist and walk through it during your planning stage and again on setup day. Each item should be verified, not assumed. Actual AV requirements may vary depending on venue size, room lighting, audience distance, presentation content, and event format.