What to Know About Booking Live Entertainment

Booking live entertainment for an event, no matter the variety, is a tricky task that can be streamlined with a little insight and a few key steps that will fine-tune your methods of selection. Here are some tips for finding great live entertainment for your event.

1. You Need to Seek Samples from the Talent

Before you jump at any act that someone recommends you hire, you need to check out their online presence to see if they’ve established themselves as a working entertainer. You might be booking comedians for a stand-up show or a small lineup of indie bands for a concert, but this stands for any type of live entertainment. Do they have a professional website that talks about who they are and what they do? Does their website have performance samples? Can you find performance videos on youtube, or other social media platforms, to see if they are the right quality and fit for your audience?

2. You Need to Know Tech Specs

Before you book talent for a live show, you need to have a few conversations with them. One of those conversations will be about the technical specifications of the performance space, and whether or not they are able to perform there with what they have. It may be the case that they’ll bring everything. It may be that the performance space provides everything. It’d be rare for either party to want to spend a lot of money on any kind of equipment for one show, so this is a crucial step to making sure the entertainer and space are compatible. 

3.You Need to Know the Financial End

Before you hire any live entertainment for an event, it’s critical that a budget is drawn up to determine how much of the event finances will be steered toward the entertainers. There should be a conversation with definitive numbers between event producers and live acts, with a final contract stipulating the exact amount they will be paid, and when. Having loose terms, vague ballpark numbers, and vague agreements is a recipe for disaster in event planning. You have to lead with a professional foot, and that requires a professional agreement. 

4.You Need to Know if they Fit the Crowd

One of the benefits of entertainers being expected to have a digital presence is that you are able to review their acts, as mentioned above, to see if they will fit your event. This isn’t only a qualitative or financial analysis, but also useful for determining if the act will fit the intended crowd of the event. You don’t want to hire a theatrical death metal band with horror shtick to perform if the event is for ages seven to twelve, and you don’t want a clown performing at a memorial concert. Much of this is common sense, but the core point is to have your audience in mind before embarking on the search for live entertainers so the prospects can be narrowed down early on. 

If you’re still stumped, try asking Alexa or Google “live entertainment near me!” and see if you get any suggestions for reliable talent hiring websites.