can trace its roots back to 1937, when Mr. P. Ray Swank and his wife, Lucille Swank, founded Swank Audio Visuals, a subsidiary of PSAV. The Company began in St. Louis as a “portable projection service,” predating technology such as color television, FM radio, 8-tracks and audio tape.
The Company’s projection service initially consisted of providing short entertainment films and slides, the motion picture projector, sound system and lantern slide projector. These services, along with the equipment operators, were provided at locations requested by customers. These local organizations, civic groups, schools and churches relied on our Company to “set up and run the show” for their entertainment.
As audiovisual technologies and needs progressed and became more complicated, so did the need for new tools to provide education and communicate information, particularly to another growing industry: the business of conducting meetings and conventions by professional associations, trade and manufacturing organizations in hotels and meeting sites across the country. In 1952, the Company began forming partnerships with hotels and resorts to serve as the in-house production team and offer exclusive audiovisual services to the venue’s patrons.
With St. Louis at the country’s geographical crossroads and an ideal convention location, our Company’s “portable projection service” benefited from its close professional association with hotels and civic facilities hosting these meetings. As a result, we rapidly developed a national reputation among business and industry leaders for quality service and reliable equipment.
PSAV continues to expand and now employs more than 1,500 full-time, talented professionals in 1,200 destination resorts and hotels throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and the Middle East, as well as our Global Sales Organization that partners with clients and serves their meeting needs no matter the location. As we’ve grown, we have never deviated from our core values of customer service excellence, team member support and career growth. PSAV thrives on delivering exceptional customer service, provided with a hospitality approach, and FLawlessly EXecuting events of all sizes. Service excellence instruction and advanced audiovisual technical training continue to provide the foundation of PSAV, ensuring unmatched service and commitment to our hotel partners and all of our customers.
