Key Takeaways
- The most revealing technical question: "Can you show me your PA system inventory list with model numbers and quantity?" — a production company that owns its core PA can answer this immediately
- Rigging certification (the engineering documentation for suspended loads) is required by every reputable Indian venue — a production company without it is not operating to venue standards
- Broadcast capability requires specific hardware (vision mixer, encoders, camera infrastructure) that a non-broadcast production company will not have and cannot quickly acquire
- Crew CVs for the show-caller, FOH engineer and LD are a reasonable request — these are the people actually running your event
PA infrastructure questions
Ask for the production company's PA inventory list with model numbers, quantities, and condition. A company that owns a d&b audiotechnik V-Series inventory knows the exact model, the year of purchase, the last service date, and the number of elements available. A company that rents its PA from a local supplier will not have this answer — they will say "we use professional equipment appropriate for the event." The difference between these answers reveals ownership versus sub-contracting. Neither is automatically wrong, but knowing the difference allows you to ask the right follow-up questions about the sub-contracting relationship.
Show-caller CV
Request the CV of the named show-caller before contracting. The CV should contain: the events the show-caller has called (formats, capacities, cities), the production companies they have worked with, and any specific training or certification. A show-caller with 5 years of corporate conference experience and 200 shows called is a materially different production resource from a production manager who was recently assigned the show-calling role. The CV allows you to make this distinction before you have signed the contract.