FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Production Management One, a nationwide full event production company with locations in Detroit, DC, Iowa and Orlando has promoted several key staff members into director-level roles to fulfill the company's mission to provide better service and knowledge to our customers in today's challenging times.
Key appointments include Jeff Lacquement to Director of Virtual Events, Greg Pawelski to Director of Production Equipment Rentals and Tom Baclawski to Director of Full Event Production. These appointments reflect the combined experience of decades of these employees in their fields, in a time when other Production Companies have laid off staff and gone silent.
"For the past two months PM1's owner/parter team comprised of Ryan Palmer, David Plevan, and myself have been discussing ways that we can continue to be leaders in that industry. As we all adjusted to daily zoom meetings and heard ideas coming from our employees it became very apparent that the key to our company's success isn't just in our gear, but in our people," shares owner/partner Jarrad Scott. "We look forward to continuing to exceed your expectations for your events, virtual and live."
As PM1 pivots and refocuses our energies into emerging markets and strategies, it's important that we connect our customers quickly with our experts in each of three distinct segments: Full Event Production, Production Equipment Rental, and what we're seeing as the new "normal" in Virtual Events. Having a clear strategy and delineation allows us to respond faster, and with the right knowledge when our customers need it.
"On March 11th we converted our warehouse into a studio space in the hopes that our customers who'd just had their venues cancelled by the lockdowns would have a safe place to record their content," shares owner/partner David Plevan, who heads up PM1's DC shop (in Gaithersburg, Maryland). "Unfortunately, the lockdowns quickly spread, and we were unable to realize the potential of that offering. But fortunately, working with my team here in DC including Mark Baran, Marc Stuppel, and Jeff Lacquement it became readily apparent that we'd be doing these events virtually, and we could do it. We'd spent the better part of the last decade providing live video production services to some the highest level clients across government, NGO's, nonprofits and the Fortune 500, and we had a huge amount of experience in live-streaming since the 2012 presidential campaigns.
Within weeks we'd built out a live streaming studio in our shop able to bring in remote participants from across the country (or the Globe) via gigabit internet, put it all into our switchers, add graphics, and mix it all together into professionally-encoded streams with multiple endpoints across social media and private servers. We're calling it PM1 Studios for the time being and have launched a page on our site to ensure that you're aware of each and every way that PM1 can assist you with getting your message out."
To head up PM1's Virtual Event offerings, PM1 is proud to announce the appointment of Jeff Lacquement as Director. "I can’t think of a better way to help our clients get their message out, and based on what we’ve done lately, I want to help you get your message out,” shared Jeff about his recent appointment. “From the company’s recent partnership with Weymouth Strategies on the IllumiNative Town Hall to this week's livestream of a Southern USA state’s Governor, to ongoing projects with Live Entertainment Productions worldwide, PM1 has the technology, staff, and capability of keeping you connected with your audience, no matter where they are.”
Lacquement is a 20-year industry veteran and has been involved in Full Production for events ranging from the NATO/OTAN summit at Mellon Auditorium to handling events across multiple Smithsonian buildings, The African American Museum, the National Cathedral and other Iconic venues. “Until they reopen, I’m here to make sure that you’re able to hold you VIRTUAL event, anywhere,” he added. Full capabilities are listed over at PM1 Studios.
Across four locations including Detroit, DC, Iowa and Orlando PM1 houses over 200,000 ft2 of production equipment. Over the past two months it's all been upgraded, inventoried, cleaned and ready for when your events come back. "Since PM1's inception salesperson Greg Pawelski has provided knowledge, consulting and design help to our customers across North America," remarks owner/partner Ryan Palmer who provides daily operational oversight at PM1's 122,000 ft2 Detroit shop. "Greg's not only capable, but reliable, honest and knows our seating, staging, and production equipment better than anyone else. He's the right choice to ensure that your gear setup gets designed, installed, and removed with the utmost of efficiency and on budget. "Since entering this industry nearly seven years ago, I've been in awe of the myriad of ways that customers look at their events; venues, other equipment suppliers, and end users all work together to do some amazing work. From the Detroit Auto Show, Air Shows, Swim Meets, and for the past five years, helping our Waltz on Water customers plan their backyard events, I've had a lot of opportunity to learn from them.
Greg's also recently partnered with Metro-Detroit Wahl tent to provide complete turnkey solutions for additional classroom capacity in Michigan this fall, something that we're hoping allows classes to fully resume after the summer season.
"With a name like Production Management One, the company often finds itself in territories that aren't normal "equipment rental" operations, nor are they "creative content creation" normally reserved for agencies and creative departments. In that space, PM1's ability to partner with dozens of vendors when necessary and utilize the most of our own equipment offers our clients significant cost savings at every event, " offers PM1's Chief Marketing Officer, Ben Slayter. "Having worked with PM1 since it's inception on ensuring that we not only work well with other production industry giants, but don't step on anyone's toes has been a wonderful position to be in. I only wish that other equipment rental agencies would understand the value of true production partners."
With a 30-year background in live events, Tom Baclawski has been the driving force behind PM1 Orlando's immense growth in a crowded market. As General Manager of the operation, he's sat in every seat available in the industry from forklift driver and floor sweeper, to consulting with the highest end brands and clients in the World. "I've learned more from two years of working with Tom about Full Production than I have in my own 25 previous years in the industry," adds Ben, "He's the first to show up at a job site, and the last to leave. His ability to grasp production concepts and his dedication to our clients events have given the company a new goal to hit." PM1 is extremely happy to announce Tom's appointment to Director of Full Event Production.
Baclawski also recently received a Crowd Manager Certification at a recent Florida Festivals and Events association show (while doubling as a speaker about negotiating talent contracts for artists!), something that's going to be incredibly useful in the months to come as events come back. Tom's current projects range from Drive-in concerts, drive-thru graduations and Drive-in churches to hopeful projects in late 2020 and beyond that will give our customers the combined capabilities of our equipment, design, and production management. "I've worked with PM1's owners for the past ten years under various companies, and for nearly two years with their current company, and am thrilled to continue a journey with them," said Tom of his recent promotion. "I can't wait to help our industry recover and become greater than it's ever been."
Please see PM1's recent blog posts about how we're providing our customers (and yours) options and solutions in the industry over at our BACKSTAGE blog, where we take you behind the scenes to see what goes into some of the coolest events our customers come up with.
For inquiries, please contact Ben Slayter, CMO/CXO ben@pm1pro.com