We’re kicking off the year in style—catching up with Chicago-based AV Productions, CEO Marvin “Marv” Worst. AVP is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025 and with a URL like avproductions.com, you KNOW they’ve been around for more than a minute.
AV Productions is an audiovisual company with deep roots providing in-house (and out of house) services and solutions for hotels. Servicing more than forty properties, AVP has served more than 15,000 clients (15,000!) and helped produce shows in nearly every state. In 2024 alone, the company did more than 2500 shows. And what are all those shows? They include corporate events, trade shows, social galas, fundraisers, roadshows, festivals, and concerts. Said Marv, “If it’s a live event, we do it.”
As AVP celebrates twenty years, Marv just notched forty years in the business. And the AVP staff has more than 1,000 combined years of live events experience. Clients include hotel properties, event planners, brand managers, and more succinctly, “anybody that is responsible for producing an event.” It’s easy to get the picture. AVP gets it done for whoever needs it done.
Prior to Flex, AVP was using Salesforce, “which worked until it didn’t.” He mentioned that Salesforce was fine for the quotes and invoicing but had nothing to do with inventory management or the workflows we needed to run our business. “An industry buddy told me about Flex.” Then comes the part of the story that is so very Flex.
Marv explained, “I remember this very well: While on a plane to Clearwater with my family for Thanksgiving, I checked the Flex website, looked at the intro video, and knew it was exactly what I needed. I called Chris and he picked up the phone on Thanksgiving weekend. I signed on immediately.”
And once AVP signed on, they were all in. AVP is a power user of Flex. “We really know the platform like the back of our hand, and the recent integrations with Quickbooks, Flex Payments, and StaffingPlus are amazing. Soup to nuts, Flex has everything we need. We are lifetime members over here.”
We certainly didn’t mind as Marv continued, “Like Chris picking up the phone Thanksgiving weekend, you not only listen, but you want to.” He told the story of how one of Flex’s favorite features, bundling, came into being. “We wanted to be able to scan a single case filled with multiple items. We shared that with Lisa, and she made it happen.” (NOTE: Thousands of Flex users are grateful to AVP for this and from now on Marv is to be known as, “The Bundle Godfather.” We need to get him a pinky ring.)
Okay, let’s get into this 20th Anniversary celebration. As we look ahead in 2025 and the future, what is AVP hoping to see? By now, we had come to expect a heck of an answer from Marv. He didn’t disappoint, “If you ask my family, they are looking for me to retire, but they have nothing to do with this. So that’s not happening.” (NOTE: This conversation was on the record. It’s staying. Best of luck, Marv.)
Aside from domestic bliss? “We’re aiming to expand nationally with more in-house location business. We’re now in San Antonio. We would like to get into Florida.”
And then in one of those comments that tells you all you need to know about a person or a company, Marv offered, “When we first started AVP, I had the opportunity to get some hotels in other states. I passed on them because we weren’t ready at the time. The last thing you want to do is get a hotel and not be able to service it. We’ve gotten to that point where I feel we could just keep getting more and more and more. You know, you’re only as good as your team. We’ve got the right guys in the right spots.” Cheers to that.
Marv mentioned that they are also ready to take on more road shows. “We have one longtime customer who goes to five different cities. It’s New York, DC, San Diego, Chicago, and Atlanta. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. They all go in a row every five years. More of those.”
We figured it might be an impossible ask, but we wanted to know about any favorite events they might recall. “We did a show for a long time customer at a hotel where we’re not in-house. The in-house company at the hotel was hitting our client with a lot of fees so we had to redesign the show after the contract was signed. We wound up doing something totally different than they’ve ever done before and they loved it.
And the favorite bit about Flex? “The thing that I like most about Flex is if you need something… it’s going to get done.” We can say the same about AVP.
Happy 20th Anniversary, AV Productions!
