The AV BOM, itemized.

The five categories every BOM needs

A complete AV bill of materials for a corporate product launch breaks into five categories. Miss one and the show breaks. Cover all five and the show holds.

1. Gear — every piece of hardware in the room, by brand and model
2. Crew — every named role on the call, by day
3. Days — every day on the calendar, including load-in and load-out
4. Content — every video, graphic, audio cue, and asset on the playback chain
5. Redundancy — every backup deck, hot-swap, and failover, by system

A BOM that lists only gear is a rental list. A BOM that lists gear plus crew is a vendor quote. A BOM that covers all five is a production plan.

1. Gear — brand and model, not category

A bad BOM line item: "Audio system." A correct BOM line item: "L-Acoustics K2 line array, 12 boxes flown left and right, with KS28 sub array on the ground, processed through DiGiCo Quantum 338 at front-of-house."

Specificity is the difference between a quote you can lock and a quote that turns into a change order on show day. Demand brand and model for every line.

The categories your BOM should specify:

• Line array — brand, model, box count, sub array, amplifier rack, processor
• Microphones — brand, model, transmitter + receiver pair count, antenna distribution
• FOH console — brand, model, redundancy
• Monitor mix — IEMs, wedges, headphone amps, communications
• LED video — pixel pitch, panel array dimensions, processor (Brompton Tessera SX40, Novastar MX40), redundancy processor
• Projection (if applicable) — lumens, lens, throw distance, blend processor
• Lighting — moving heads count and model, key light, audience light, scenic, console (grandMA3 or Hog 4), DMX backbone
• Show control — playback server (Disguise, QLab on dedicated Mac), broadcast switcher (Ross Carbonite, Blackmagic ATEM), redundant servers
• Comms — base station (Riedel Bolero, Clear-Com FreeSpeak II), belt pack count, IFB
• Rigging — motor count, truss specification (12-inch, 20.5-inch), rigging plot
• Power — power distro count, generator (if outdoor), tie-ins
• Scenic + staging — deck dimensions, stair count, scenic panels, custom build

For a product launch specifically — the reveal mechanic itself gets its own line. Custom rigging for the reveal product, the rig to lift the cover, the integration of pyro or cold-spark or kinetics. None of that fits inside a generic "lighting" line.

2. Crew — named roles, by day

The BOM should list every crew role and the days each role is on the call. A correct line: "Front-of-House engineer · Days -1, 0, +1 (load-in, show, load-out)." Not "Audio crew."

Typical crew roles on a corporate product launch:

• Front-of-House engineer (audio lead)
• Monitor engineer
• RF coordinator (in dense RF environments like Vegas during CES week)
• Lighting designer / programmer
• Video engineer (V1)
• Camera operators (if broadcast / IMAG)
• Audio assistant (A2) — mic wrangling, gaff, hand-off
• Show caller — the role that owns the run-of-show
• Stage manager
• Content operator (Disguise / QLab)
• Vision mixer / broadcast switcher operator
• Stagehands (count varies by venue + scale)
• Rigger (if motor rigging)

For a launch with a reveal moment, add: reveal mechanic operator — the person whose job is the four-frame window when the product is revealed. That role doesn't fit inside any other line.

Per-diem and travel for each crew member should be in the BOM as a line item, not buried in a "miscellaneous" line.

3. Days — every day on the calendar, including the ones you don't think about

A common BOM mistake: pricing only the show day. The real day count for a one-day product launch usually looks like this:

• Day -3: truck load at warehouse, half day, 2-3 crew
• Day -2: travel day (if out-of-market), half-rate billable
• Day -1: load-in + dry tech + content QC. Full crew on dock at venue's load-in window.
• Day 0: tech rehearsal AM, dress with talent + product PM, show evening
• Day +1: load-out + truck pack, half day
• Day +2: travel day return (if out-of-market)

That's six days of crew labor for what looks like a "one-day event." A BOM that prices only Day 0 is a BOM that's wrong by 80%.

For multi-day events — conferences, multi-stop tours — add a load-in day per major rig change and a contingency day before each public-facing show.

4. Content — every asset on the playback chain

Content is the line item that surprises producers more than any other. A correct BOM specifies:

• Pre-show content — the 30-minute lobby loop. Who's producing it? Spec? Frame rate? Codec?
• Walk-on / walk-off content — the talent's intro and outro
• Sizzle reel — the brand video
• Lower thirds + chyrons — every name plate, every title card
• The reveal content — the actual product reveal video / animation. The most expensive line on the launch.
• Live cue cards — speaker confidence monitors content
• Sponsor / partner slides — if applicable
• Post-show recap video — if you want one

Each line should specify who's producing it (us, your agency, your in-house team), delivery deadline (typically 5-7 days before show), format spec (4K ProRes, h.264 for broadcast, etc.), and QC pass (when does it get reviewed on the actual wall before show).

If the BOM doesn't separate content production from playback hardware, you're going to get a surprise bill from somewhere.

5. Redundancy — every backup, by system

A corporate keynote can fail because the talent forgets a line. A product launch can fail because the playback server crashed during the reveal. The difference between the two is redundancy planning.

Every BOM should specify redundancy for these systems:

• Playback servers — primary + hot-standby, frame-synced
• FOH console — primary console + mirrored backup
• Wireless mics — primary capsule + backup capsule per talent, plus a wired emergency mic on stand
• RF — primary frequency + backup frequency coordinated
• Power — primary feed + backup generator if outdoor or critical
• Internet / streaming uplink — primary fiber + bonded cellular failover (Peplink + LiveU)
• Camera — primary plus a robotic PTZ on auto-track if budget allows
• Show caller — primary caller plus an assistant trained to take over if the primary loses headset

For the reveal moment specifically: the cue should be triggerable from both a hardline GPI/MIDI trigger and an RF backup. Two engineers should know the cue. The exact "fire" command should be written on a card next to every operator who's part of the moment.

What a complete BOM looks like

For a 1,500-cap corporate product launch in Vegas, on a 16:9 mainstage with a custom LED canvas, a reveal cue, broadcast IMAG, and a global stream — the BOM should be 4-6 pages. If you're being shown a one-page BOM with vague categories, ask for the real one.

Categories on the cover sheet:

1. Gear (3-5 pages, brand + model on every line)
2. Crew (1 page, named roles + days)
3. Calendar (1 page, day-by-day from Day -3 through Day +2)
4. Content schedule (1 page, deliverable list + spec + deadline + QC pass)
5. Redundancy summary (1 page, per-system)
6. Total (1 line — all-in)

An honest production studio writes a BOM that takes a careful reader 20 minutes to digest. A bad vendor writes a BOM that takes 30 seconds. The difference is what shows up on the change-order log on show day.

What's NOT in a good BOM

Some line items signal the vendor is leaving themselves an out — and you'll see the bill later. Watch for:

• "Miscellaneous gear" — should never appear. Every box has a brand and model.
• "Crew labor (estimated)" — crew should be specified by role and day, not estimated.
• "Plus applicable freight" — freight should be a defined line, not a TBD.
• "Subject to availability" — gear availability should be confirmed before the BOM is signed.
• "Starting at" — never in a real corporate BOM. Either it's quoted or it isn't.
• "Up to X" — vague upper bounds let the bill float upward.

If your BOM has any of these, you don't have a BOM. You have a fee schedule with an asterisk.