Entertainment at Special Events

Entertainment at Special Events

By Joel A Feingold, CFE

c. 2010


Making entertainment choices has never been subject to hard financial analysis. Mostly clients assigned a line item number to book the band, whether local or a headliner. However, in today’s new world, entertainment costs are going to have to be justified as worth the investment.

Interestingly, it may be argued that consideration of the factors involved in entertainment selection today is no more or less important than in 2007. To say this another way, understanding the event’s purpose, analyzing its entertainment needs, the demographics of attendees, and the impact upon the target audience required, both during the event and over the entire event cycle, all this information now is just as important as it has always been. But now managers have weathered the recession experience so they have increased focus on ROI.

In this short essay I will present some thoughts that can be used to help planners choose talent at cost levels that make sense. It will continue to be true however, that obtaining real data in monetized terms is difficult when it comes to entertainment. But knowing more about how entertainment influences attendee responses and impacts the totality of the event experience is important and helpful.

One way to consider entertainment at special events is to try to understand what role it fills:

• The primary draw
• The show
• A key component
• A performance
• Background

As a generality, the more important the role of the talent the more it justifies an increased spend. And with prices for the most famous entertainers exceeding a million dollars, and many important and well-known bands commanding fees upwards of $100,000, the decision to make this investment isn’t small. In major cities and incentive destinations the top regional bands often command $7,500 to $20,000. So while less expensive by a factor of 10 or more there is none-the-less a meaningful line item associated with them. Other types of entertainment that clear the “strong quality bar” routinely cost $5,000 to $50,000 or more. Understanding how the entertainment is used and what it’s deliverable is can help a planner make a good decision.

Consider when a company sponsors a customer party at a convention and trade show. The attendees are not a captive audience. Often there are competing options each of which includes food and an open bar. So the party needs to have some “sex appeal.” A “headline” artist with star power can provide that draw so that the party is well attended. While not the only element that improves draw it is a significant one, perhaps the most important in some situations. So national talent is often used. Usually the event marketing is structured so that the theme of the event builds upon the artist’s image and persona, presuming permission to do so has been negotiated. Sometimes the artist contract prohibits this and then savvy artwork and a carefully dropped hint creates the viral environment that delivers the audience.

When an event has a captive audience but a powerful impression must be made, such as at the closing night celebration of an incentive trip, the entertainment is often used as the sizzle that closes the night. Generally speaking this show will be a band. Since the event is a major company celebration and the buzz thereby created is an important motivating factor for the upcoming year, companies often spend heavily on national talent for shows at these events. Even if some folks just drink and network rather than watch, sing along or dance, when all is said and done they talk about the band at cocktail parties and their water cooler powwows.

Not all similar events use headliners. Yet experience and conversations with clients and colleagues indicate that at events such as these the two most important things are the food and the band. With due respect to décor companies and designers, when the event is done the conversation is about the music and the dinner. But budgets being what they are, and top destinations’ room rates being substantial, many experienced planners decide not to use headline talent. In these cases great care must be taken to put a band on stage that really smokes.

Selecting a regional or local band represents one of the greatest challenges a planner can face. Sometimes a planner is in the position of attempting to convince a client that the client’s choice isn’t the best one. For example, to impress a client, an agent or manager might sell an act by saying the lead singer is so careful s/he won’t even have a conversation the day of the gig. But my BS detector says, “The singer has a fragile voice. They may not have a good day or they get tired before the show is over.” Using industry references is an excellent way to avoid a problem act.

Using entertainers as Key Components is a crucial technique to bump up the impact of an event. Having a musical attraction or other visual and loud act on stage when opening the doors to the dinner from the cocktail reception creates excitement and pulls people into the room. Or a group might be used like a “Pied Piper” to lead guests to dinner. Later, developing a “shtick” with a performer and one of the executives can be a light-hearted and attention grabbing part of the program. An “alternative” performance for a short period of time can serve as a break in the program and provide a conversation starter too. Examples of such might be a lighting painting by a performance artist, hand balancing or other cirque act, or a 15-minute concert by a unique musical group. These sorts of uses enhance an event. They increase its quality and uniqueness that leads to more conversation about it downstream.

Some special events use entertainment that is peripheral to the main thrust of the event. It is a grave error to treat this entertainment as unimportant. By way of example, if a customer appreciation event is built as a cocktail reception with a buffet dinner and a band is hired to play a variety of cover tunes and they are not tight and in tune, responsive to guests’ or event managers’ requests, on time, and so on, there is a high potential for a problem. Meanwhile, the ambience that all have worked hard to create is jeopardized. Another, classic, example is a dinner and awards gala attended by employees and spouses. When the program is over if the band isn’t strong and danceable or plays an unsuitable repertoire it can drive people out of the room or, worse, end the celebration early. In both of these cases if time is short a planner can do far worse than hiring a top-line and reputable “wedding” band. While this act might not have some of the uniqueness of others, this category of band is experienced, understands customer service and usually has a very broad repertoire. Still caution must be used as many acts in this category have their own, rather small, sound systems. Usually these are unsuitable for a corporate event.

Lastly there is background music or alternative background talent. This would appear to be a throwaway and yet experience proves otherwise. Background music provides a terrific opportunity to set the stage for the whole event. If the client wants to project a very traditional image to a mature demographic perhaps a string quartet is right. But the same client might want to project a traditional image with a “hip” edge to a younger demographic, so a saxophone quartet performing versions of rock and roll hits might work better. Another option might be an a cappella group working acoustic, walking through the crowd. One song at a time, a small number of guests would be treated to an up close and personal show. There are other fascinating uses of background talent. Living statues costumed to support the event theme or corporate products can boost branding. A “card shark” might work the crowd and later corral the executive into a little show on stage. Putting some effort into the purposes of and possible results from background entertainment can yield fine results.

To summarize, analyzing the purpose of the event, the audience to whom it is directed, the need for and type of impact the entertainment must deliver, and the more subtle impressions that can be made, will help a planner make good artistic choices and allocate dollars wisely.

Communication in the Digital Age

Email. facebook. LinkedIn. MySpace. twitter. Blogger.com. The Internet. Instant Messaging. Google Groups.

These are just some of the tools available to planners in the digital age. Taken as a whole, these digital communication tools and channels comprise the social network and have led to the concept of social marketing. Yet some (many) have difficulty using these techniques, let alone embracing them, including clients and colleagues, internal and external to our organizations.

It’s not a stretch to argue that with so many outlets one might spend all one’s time communicating and none getting work done. A planner must choose the communication channels, just as a VP of Sales needs to select sales channels. And one does not have to choose all of the above. A, B, C or D, or two or three of them, are acceptable and I would argue better.

The two key aspects of choosing the channels are what resources are available to the planner and what are the communication preferences of the target audience. So when a planner has strong support in place for graphics, printed materials and website design and is an email user a sensible way to proceed is to build with that toolbox. A meeting website uses graphics either similar or identical to those in the printed material, amplifying branding. Constant Contact or another email program can facilitate group communication from the top down and individual replies bottom up. A password protected portion of the website can be created for attendees to view who else is coming. And so on. One might argue that much of this can be done with, for example, facebook. But compared to print and good websites, facebook lacks the branding and customizing ability required. So in this context it is useful only as a portal. Further, for a social networking novice, adding the numerous bits such as tweeting and blogging will be time consuming and thus have only modest returns.

On the other hand there are markets comprised of people that spend a great deal of time in the digital or social networking world. If your target audience is that market then it makes sense to eliminate the printed materials. (In 2008 through 2009 I managed the vendor and sponsorship marketing and sales for an international IT conference and did not use any printed items.) The audience doesn’t do mail much, thinks it’s not green, is on the road all the time, works virtually from laptops and handheld devices, so electronic and social networking tools are optimal for this communication. The audience likely has the facebook app. They probably have a Google account so with a password can access a Google Group. They communicate with each other electronically by text, tweets, Email, IM’s. If you have a tribal leader, an influencer, who will tweet or blog on your meeting’s behalf, you can really leverage these tools. Using social media to drive traffic to your website for details and registration, access to documents and so forth will probably be effective.

These examples show that both traditional and digital strategies are still very important. Use your strengths, the best tools in your toolbox, but don’t let your comfort with the tried and true stop you from making the effort to use the new.

Bean Counters and Meetings or Special Events

I just responded to a discussion about financial managers and meetings. I'd like to share it here:

Regarding financial management suggesting that events that "just get by" work and so the events that "wow" are no longer needed, as is so often true, neither is correct. Certain meetings or events that have goals which can be substantially met just by achieving a determined amount of face time will fall into the just get by = success category. But an event that needs to make a different sort of impact, provide motivation or introduce a new product or deliver a message with gravitas, these may require wow in order to achieve success, let alone maximize ROI. Frankly, in my experience, financial managers are not particularly capable of understanding this dichotomy. (That's OK. I can't do their job either.) Left brained, they are naturally oriented toward the dollars and cents analysis and the impacts of face to face interaction, the emotional quotient and memorable takeaways created by a wow factor, these just don't readily submit to number crunching. I refer to this as intangible ROI. Hard to measure, but it is there and it is vital.

Most important best practice!

Recently I was asked the question, “What’s new and different in events?"

This is, in fact not on point. There has been little change in the essence of a live event since Roman spectacles and theater. What changes is the content and how it is presented.

My belief is that the key best practice that planners must use is also the hardest, and that is to obtain a firm grasp of their client’s business, corporate culture both employees and brand, its customers, products and sales channels, chain of production and government relations, and then from this, formulate specific event goals and a strategy to meet them.

Delicious Healthy Recipe!

Hi,

Today I publish an excellent, truly excellent and healthy recipe. Uses only one fry pan plus a pot to cook the pasta. Manga!!!

Extra virgin olive oil is my low cholesterol salvation. Here's a favorite after-ride dinner:

In a fry pan on low, heat EVOO and place halved Brussels sprouts. Cover. When brown turn, add peeled garlic cloves - lots! Cover until done. Salt to taste. Set aside.

While sprouts cook, make turkey burgers. Season with coriander, garlic powder and cumin; don’t be shy! Salt and pepper the other side. Fry gently in EEVO until done. Remove.

Put sprouts and garlic back in fry pan with your favorite pasta. Toss with some Parmesan cheese and more EVOO.

Serve with hummus and Peroni.

Delishioso!

Today, on a Linked-In discussion forum, a member planning an outdoor festival asked a question about how to charge food vendors.

I've been a professional festival and event producer for 20 years and among many smaller events I have produced 16 large scale events of which 9 hosted over 100,000 people, 35 vendors, numerous additional food vendors, 5 beer gardens, multiple stages and jumbotrons, and many hundreds of corporate VIPs in fully catered hospitality. So I decided to help her out with a quick primer. After a moment I realized that it would be a good addition to my event blog.

First, I want to mention how important it is to NOT over populate a festival or event with vendors of any category, as their audience or potential customers' spend will be too diluted to enable them to share in the (hoped for) success. Naturally this will make it very hard to attract them back next year, if you are still around! (Festivals are very difficult to keep fresh, attractive to the audience, and sponsored.)

But to the question at hand: How does one charge vendors for their space?

There are three "standard" payment methodologies:

1) Flat fee
2) Percent of sales
3) Fee plus or vs. percentage

The advantage to a flat fee is that you allocate a number of booths and, if you sell them all, you collect your money up front. Contract it so you keep it rain or shine, unless you cancel the event. This way you can forecast your revenue better. The disadvantage is that if you have an unexpectedly large turnout you may give up some potential revenue.

Using a percentage of sales calculation doesn't have that problem, as the more revenue the vendor collects the larger the festival operator share. However, it is next to impossible to keep track of what your vendors sell. Thus, you are highly vulnerable to fraud. No disrespect meant, but the truth is that food vendors survive longer than the average festival, as so many festivals fail. So some look out for themselves and many fudge their books to the festival's (and the IRS') disadvantage. If you can trust your vendor a percentage arrangement does have the benefit of putting you both in the same boat, and you may be able to benefit from the vendor's marketing prowess, etc., should there be some.

As to the percent you could charge, there is likely some sort of "built in" commission in most vendors' standard pricing. 15 to 20% isn't a bad range. However, if that number results in too little income the festival operator might insist on a higher percentage, understanding that such will drive prices up. If multiple vendors are selling similar or identical items at different prices, that can be trouble, so rules must be in place and pricing monitored. At virtually every sporting or performing arts venue, and exhibition hall or trade center in the country, this problem is solved by exclusive catering arrangements with companies like Aramark. They operate both the catering and the concessions. If there is a suitable vendor in the festival area and the event's integrity will not suffer, using this model can be successful.

There are many permutations included in the combination category but those are for another day.

I'd like to point out one more important set of considerations for pricing. In nearly all cases it is normal for the festival or venue to charge extra for electricity and water, although in some cases it might be bundled into the booth charge. In an increasing number of cases vendors are not allowed by the permitting authority to provide their own tents due to liability and insurance issues. These and other elements will drive the actual prices charged.

Good luck with your event!

Joel A Feingold

Diverse Knowledge Helps a Planner Producer a Better Special Event

Over many years I have found that some elements of special events are more memorable than others. It is with respect for the environment designers, florists, staging manufacturers, and others that I can say, without doubt, that the things people usually recall about an event are the food & beverage and the band.

As a producer it's been my job to hire bands and caterers, that means consulting on music and on menus. And that is both fun and a great responsibility. Among other things, it's never so true that if the band is way too loud or otherwise uncooperative you can bet it will be hard to salvage the client relationship, irrespective of how good the remainder of the event was executed. And if the steaks are overcooked that will be what people talk about at lunch next week and dinner parties for months.

That being said, learning about food has been so much fun. Cooking is relaxing, and, when complete, you get to eat your own product. The improved sensitivity to spices, seasonings, doneness, and presentation when combined with professional knowledge about service levels and pricing will enable you to best serve your client.