5 biggest mistakes when booking entertainers for an event
You’ve sorted out a venue for your event, and you’ve decided on a live band to play; now you want to hire an entertainer to provide something extra for people to enjoy. An entertainer can be a massive positive for an event, or a huge negative. Much of this is down to whether you choose the right entertainer in the first place.
It’s not as simple as, if someone is good you should hire them. There is such a wide variety of entertainers out there, including comedians, poets and illusionists. One of the most important aspects of choosing the right entertainer for your event is deciding which type of entertainment is the best fit. Then you have to choose the entertainer you want to hire. Here are some tips about what to avoid and what to consider.
Does the entertainment suit the event?
An entertainer can be really good at what they do, but if the entertainment isn’t a good fit for your event the result is unlikely to be a good one. You know what you’re trying to achieve from your event and you know who is attending. This should mean that you’re a good judge of what type of entertainment will go down well. For instance, it may not be a good idea to have a comedian with fairly adult material at a wedding reception with family attending, but at a sports club event it could help the night go down well.
What does reputation suggest
One of the best ways to find out if an act is the right one to hire is to actually see them perform; that way you can judge for yourself. You can also take a look at any independent reviews you can find. It’s worth noting what type of work an entertainer usually gets. If they perform at major venues, or possibly on TV, then chances are they have a pretty good reputation and are good quality.
When attitude is a problem
If you’re organising event you don’t want to have to deal with anything that makes the job harder than it needs to be; this includes an entertainer with a questionable attitude. Talent, and the ability to entertain, is one thing; having an ego the size of a planet is another. You need to make sure that any entertainer you hire is going to be easy to deal with at the event.
What time is the right time?
When you ask the entertainer to perform is entirely up to you, which is why you need to think through timings very carefully. If you’re organising a party or wedding reception then people often spend the first part of the evening settling in and having a drink. It makes sense to ask the entertainer to perform a short way into the evening when people are more settled but before they are all ready to hit the dancefloor. A slice of fun entertainment is a good way of getting people to relax and really start to enjoy the event. Alternatively you may want to break up the musical entertainment with something a little different; just to keep the party fresh. You can still end the night on the dancefloor.
Being realistic about cost
If you want to hire the services of a great entertainer then you have to realise you need to pay an appropriate price. We’re not saying that you should take out a bank loan, but equally you have to be prepared for the fact that you need a reasonable budget to secure high quality entertainment.
There is always going to be some element of risk in hiring an entertainer for your event; the fact is that people have different tastes. You could hire Dynamo to perform at your event and if anyone does not like magic they probably won’t be impressed. Short of taking every individual guest’s opinions into account, there’s nothing you can do about this. What you can do is give your event the best chance of success by hiring a reliable and talented entertainer with a good reputation.