What You Need to Know 

Have you been tasked with hosting this year’s company’s function or latest family party?

Coordinating these big event for such a wide range of people can be challenging. How do you decide what kind of entertainer to book? This checklist will help you book the best entertainer for your event.

Check references and tesimonials

When interviewing potential entertainers, make sure to ask who they’ve worked with before and consider if your needs are similar. You’ll either want to find someone who specialises in the type of event you are hosting, or, work with an entertainment agency that has experience supplying entertainment for a variety of events. For example, if you’re planning a small, private event, you may want to work with someone who’s performed at many weddings or restaurants. Or, if you’re hosting a large corporate event, you’ll need to make sure that the performer has experience working at larger venues and in front of big audiences. References from past clients will reveal these strengths or weaknesses, and also give you insight into things like reliability and costs.

Watch Demo Videos

A high-quality professional entertainer should have a website that showcases their work that features a range of performances or musical styles. If they don’t have a demo reel on their website, this could be a red flag. Watching these demos will give you a sense of their style, strengths, and level of professionalism.

Ask About Their Equipment Setup

One of the most important considerations when booking an entertainer is to ensure that they have the right setup for their performance. From microphones, lighting, speakers, cables, and instrument stands, there are a lot of factors to consider. Make sure to work with an entertainer who can either provide their own equipment that’s upto the task. Tracy and her band members have their own industry-standard quality equipment for the output of the best professional sound.

Discuss Performance Options and Range

You may or may not have a good idea about what kind of performance you want to book. Are you after light classical background music, 80’s, 90’s rock, contemporary pop hits? Or maybe an experienced entertainer like Tracy that knows instinctively how to read a room and use just the right tunes to get the crowd moving to  blow your attentive audience away. A good entertainer will be confident in what they can and cannot provide, so don’t be shy and ask away.

Ask How Many Years of Experience They Have

Just like any job, time and experience allows for improvements to performance and technique. Working with an entertainer who has years of experience and industry knowledge can be a real advantage. An entertainer like Tracy with over 35 years full timw experience knows a thing or two about entertainment.

Consider Presenting a Playlist

If you have a list of songs and performance elements in mind for your event, share this with the entertainer and get a sense if this is something they’ll be able to take on. If you have no idea what songs or speeches should occur during the event, ask them for suggestions. An average to  good entertainer should be able to provide ideas, and suggesgted playlists, an experienced profssional like Tracy should be able to tread the room and adapt their delivery of the performnance on the fly to cater to the changing moods of the night and attendees requests so you won’t need to worry.

Ensure Availability and Guarantee of Performance

It’s best to plan ahead. Speak with your entertainer about options to handle this worst-case-scenario. Post pandemic it’s advidable to know if there are dedicated professional back up atists that can easily step in and perform. At the least, make sure to ask about payments and refund deadlines should the entertainment not be able to commense on the chosen date. Or have a secondary date available. This way, your event will be covered, no matter what.

There are a lot of factors to consider when booking entertainment for your event, but the good news is that there are plenty of artists out there. Just be sure to choose a full-time professional, do your homework and your event will be a success!