Mistakes To Avoid When Booking Corporate Entertainment

Mis­takes to avoid when book­ing enter­tain­ment for cor­po­rate events

Book enter­tain­ment for your cor­po­rate event and you lift it from some­thing that’s fair­ly rou­tine into some­thing gen­uine­ly mem­o­rable. A strong live per­for­mance serves as an ice-break­er, encour­ages col­leagues to net­work infor­mal­ly and boosts morale and engage­ment. Indeed, it can make or break an occa­sion like this. 

But if it falls to you to make the book­ing, what are the key poten­tial pit­falls to avoid? Here, we try and out­line the impor­tant ones: 

1. Leav­ing the book­ing until the last minute

This is a sur­pris­ing­ly com­mon error, and it can be easy to under­es­ti­mate just how far in advance the most pop­u­lar acts get booked up, not least dur­ing peak times such as Christ­mas. So don’t set­tle for sec­ond-best, or for who­ev­er is avail­able at the time. After all, you wouldn’t book the cater­ing or hire your venue as late as pos­si­ble, so why leave your enter­tain­ment until the last minute? 

Make it a pri­or­i­ty dur­ing the plan­ning process, and book your first choice of act as far ahead as you can, but ide­al­ly at least three to six months in advance. And have a Plan B in case your first choice of per­former is unavailable. 

2. Choos­ing the cheap­est act available 

Admit­ted­ly it’s tempt­ing to do this, and of course you’ll be work­ing to a tight bud­get for your event. But if you hire an act based on price alone, you may end up feel­ing short-changed. The con­se­quences of a poor-qual­i­ty per­for­mance could be quite sig­nif­i­cant in terms of the way your col­leagues or clients per­ceive your organisation. 

And, remem­ber, the best cor­po­rate enter­tain­ers don’t just per­form. They ​‘read’ the audi­ence, keep what they do appro­pri­ate and remain pro­fes­sion­al at all times in what is, after all, a cor­po­rate set­ting. The price of this exper­tise is invari­ably worth it in terms of the qual­i­ty of your occasion. 

So choose an act that can han­dle a busi­ness audi­ence, and think about val­ue rather than cost. Read reviews, research their expe­ri­ence of play­ing events like yours, plus their abil­i­ty to cus­tomise their show to suit your mes­sage or theme. Look close­ly at any pro­mo infor­ma­tion and pre-event com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and ask about Pub­lic Lia­bil­i­ty Insurance. 

3. Fail­ing to con­sid­er the event’s flow and audience

Put aside per­son­al pref­er­ences and con­sid­er what would suit your audi­ence and cho­sen venue. Day­time and evening events, for exam­ple, will need dif­fer­ent types of enter­tain­ment, as will dif­fer­ent sizes of organ­i­sa­tion, var­ied com­pa­ny cul­tures and par­tic­u­lar indus­try sectors. 

So con­sid­er your audience’s demo­graph­ics and tastes, the pur­pose of the event and the ambi­ence you’re aim­ing to cre­ate, plus any poten­tial cul­tur­al or cor­po­rate sen­si­tiv­i­ties which may come into play. 

4. Not get­ting the tim­ing of the enter­tain­ment spot-on

This is also cru­cial to the suc­cess of any busi­ness occa­sion for which you book enter­tain­ment. Make sure your per­former com­ple­ments your sched­ule instead of dis­rupt­ing it. For exam­ple, a musi­cian or come­di­an that needs close atten­tion may work at the start of the event while a band would be bet­ter lat­er on when peo­ple are feel­ing more relaxed. 

Tim­ing also extends to how long the per­for­mance lasts, and it’s always good to leave an audi­ence want­i­ng more, rather than wish­ing the show would just stop. As a gen­er­al rule of thumb, 30 min­utes is a good length of per­for­mance at a com­pa­ny event. 

5. Over­look­ing the tech­ni­cal side

Can your venue accom­mo­date your act’s tech­ni­cal require­ments? That includes sound sys­tem, light­ing, access to pow­er and stage space. So make sure you coor­di­nate these aspects well ahead – the last thing you want is any unpleas­ant sur­pris­es on the day. 

6. Skip­ping over the con­tract nitty-gritty

A pro­fes­sion­al enter­tain­ment act will always pro­vide a con­tract. Read and under­stand it and ask any ques­tions you may have. It should be a clear agree­ment which assists both you and the per­form­ers when it comes to man­ag­ing expec­ta­tions, while also pro­tect­ing both parties. 

The terms of the con­tract should cov­er tim­ings, set-up needs, pay­ment sched­ules and the can­cel­la­tion policy. 

Gecko Live for flaw­less cor­po­rate entertainment

With years of expe­ri­ence under our belts, we at GecMis­takes to avoid when book­ing enter­tain­ment for cor­po­rate events

Book enter­tain­ment for your cor­po­rate event and you lift it from some­thing that’s fair­ly rou­tine into some­thing gen­uine­ly mem­o­rable. A strong live per­for­mance serves as an ice-break­er, encour­ages col­leagues to net­work infor­mal­ly and boosts morale and engage­ment. Indeed, it can make or break an occa­sion like this. 

But if it falls to you to make the book­ing, what are the key poten­tial pit­falls to avoid? Here, we try and out­line the impor­tant ones: 

1. Leav­ing the book­ing until the last minute

This is a sur­pris­ing­ly com­mon error, and it can be easy to under­es­ti­mate just how far in advance the most pop­u­lar acts get booked up, not least dur­ing peak times such as Christ­mas. So don’t set­tle for sec­ond-best, or for who­ev­er is avail­able at the time. After all, you wouldn’t book the cater­ing or hire your venue as late as pos­si­ble, so why leave your enter­tain­ment until the last minute? 

Make it a pri­or­i­ty dur­ing the plan­ning process, and book your first choice of act as far ahead as you can, but ide­al­ly at least three to six months in advance. And have a Plan B in case your first choice of per­former is unavailable. 

2. Choos­ing the cheap­est act available 

Admit­ted­ly it’s tempt­ing to do this, and of course you’ll be work­ing to a tight bud­get for your event. But if you hire an act based on price alone, you may end up feel­ing short-changed. The con­se­quences of a poor-qual­i­ty per­for­mance could be quite sig­nif­i­cant in terms of the way your col­leagues or clients per­ceive your organisation. 

And, remem­ber, the best cor­po­rate enter­tain­ers don’t just per­form. They ​‘read’ the audi­ence, keep what they do appro­pri­ate and remain pro­fes­sion­al at all times in what is, after all, a cor­po­rate set­ting. The price of this exper­tise is invari­ably worth it in terms of the qual­i­ty of your occasion. 

So choose an act that can han­dle a busi­ness audi­ence, and think about val­ue rather than cost. Read reviews, research their expe­ri­ence of play­ing events like yours, plus their abil­i­ty to cus­tomise their show to suit your mes­sage or theme. Look close­ly at any pro­mo infor­ma­tion and pre-event com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and ask about Pub­lic Lia­bil­i­ty Insurance. 

3. Fail­ing to con­sid­er the event’s flow and audience

Put aside per­son­al pref­er­ences and con­sid­er what would suit your audi­ence and cho­sen venue. Day­time and evening events, for exam­ple, will need dif­fer­ent types of enter­tain­ment, as will dif­fer­ent sizes of organ­i­sa­tion, var­ied com­pa­ny cul­tures and par­tic­u­lar indus­try sectors. 

So con­sid­er your audience’s demo­graph­ics and tastes, the pur­pose of the event and the ambi­ence you’re aim­ing to cre­ate, plus any poten­tial cul­tur­al or cor­po­rate sen­si­tiv­i­ties which may come into play. 

4. Not get­ting the tim­ing of the enter­tain­ment spot-on

This is also cru­cial to the suc­cess of any busi­ness occa­sion for which you book enter­tain­ment. Make sure your per­former com­ple­ments your sched­ule instead of dis­rupt­ing it. For exam­ple, a musi­cian or come­di­an that needs close atten­tion may work at the start of the event while a band would be bet­ter lat­er on when peo­ple are feel­ing more relaxed. 

Tim­ing also extends to how long the per­for­mance lasts, and it’s always good to leave an audi­ence want­i­ng more, rather than wish­ing the show would just stop. As a gen­er­al rule of thumb, 30 min­utes is a good length of per­for­mance at a com­pa­ny event. 

5. Over­look­ing the tech­ni­cal side

Can your venue accom­mo­date your act’s tech­ni­cal require­ments? That includes sound sys­tem, light­ing, access to pow­er and stage space. So make sure you coor­di­nate these aspects well ahead – the last thing you want is any unpleas­ant sur­pris­es on the day. 

6. Skip­ping over the con­tract nitty-gritty

A pro­fes­sion­al enter­tain­ment act will always pro­vide a con­tract. Read and under­stand it and ask any ques­tions you may have. It should be a clear agree­ment which assists both you and the per­form­ers when it comes to man­ag­ing expec­ta­tions, while also pro­tect­ing both parties. 

The terms of the con­tract should cov­er tim­ings, set-up needs, pay­ment sched­ules and the can­cel­la­tion policy. 

Gecko Live for flaw­less cor­po­rate entertainment

With years of expe­ri­ence under our belts, we at Gecko Live under­stand the par­tic­u­lar needs of enter­tain­ment for cor­po­rate events very well. And as for­mer musi­cians our­selves, we know what kind of act works best for which type of venue, and can help you source enter­tain­ers to meet your busi­ness goals for the day or evening, across Hamp­shire and beyond. 

Browse our acts like Ruby Jazz and Alpha here, and get in touch to make your book­ing or to ask any queries you may have. We’ll be pleased to help.