Five things to consider when choosing corporate entertainment

Ever been to an open mic night and cringed into your glass, embarrassed for the poor soul sitting on stage completely unaware that he should (really) stick to his day job? That feeling right there: one of awkward grimaces and a sudden urge to haul out your phone and check your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn? That’s exactly what you don’t want your guests to feel. That said, corporate entertainment often accomplishes the very opposite of its end goal: to truly delight and engage your guests.

Whether due to too-tight purse strings, a performer who’s miles removed from your brand identity, or an entertainer who’s on a completely different wavelength to your guests, poorly thought out choices of corporate entertainment often mar the rest of a great guest experience.

So how do you make sure that your guests are nothing less than enthralled by your entertainment of choice? By being cognisant of the following crucial considerations:

1. Is this choice in line with my event objectives?

Your event objectives – whether they’re to launch a new product, to honour loyal customers, or to wrap up a year of outstanding employee performance – dictate all aspects of your event. If you’re holding an end of year function for your top-performing salespeople, you know you should steer clear of any sombre and stiff entertainment. Instead, you’ll need your entertainment to emphasise the core of the event at hand: a celebration.

In the same vein, if you’re holding a brain-draining training conference for your operational managers, you’ll want your entertainment to avoid distracting guests from their knowledge-cramming session, and instead, require that it denote a sense of studious calm.  In short, your corporate entertainment needs to emphasise the core emotion you want your guests to walk away with. Which brings us to the second crucial consideration:

2. Who are my guests?

Having an in-depth understanding of the event equivalent of your target market is essential for all aspects of your event, entertainment included. If your guest list consists of retirees, it’d hardly be fitting to hire a barely-clothed, Britney Spears wannabe. If your guests are millennials who want to cut loose at their staff party, hiring a string quartet is probably not the best option. The moral of the story: have the necessary data on hand about your guests to pick out entertainment that they’d choose for themselves.

3. What are the unequivocal-unallowed, never-to-be-mentioned subjects I need to avoid at all costs?

Depending on the type of event you’re running, there may be some sensitive or contentious issues that you need to be aware of. Whether these are cultural, generational (a twenty-something rapper who drops F-bombs throughout his act isn’t going to charm potential investors) or corporate (having a chorus of singers dressed in pink – the colour of your biggest competitor – for example), you need to make sure your corporate entertainment won’t inadvertently land your brand in hot water and offend your guests.

4. Can I provide the necessary sound and lighting my entertainer requires?

If you’re hiring a continent-hopping rock band who require state-of-the-art audio and visual effects, you need to be absolutely certain that you can provide them.  If you’ve hired a troupe of aerial gymnasts, you’ll need to ensure that your venue can safely accommodate a giant trapeze. These examples may be (slightly) outlandish, but the heart of the matter is this: school yourself on the available technical and structural infrastructure before you sign an SLA with the manager of Disney on Ice.

5. Does this choice of corporate entertainment reflect our brand identity?

It should go without saying that every single event touch point is a tangible reflection of your brand – corporate entertainment included. Above all, your entertainment of choice should reflect the pillars of your brand identity. To make sure you corporate entertainment is a good fit, ask for a showreel of past performances and a list of previous clients – this will give you a clear idea of the calibre of companies who’ve associated themselves with your prospective entertainer.

Terry Sutherland and Associates has worked with hundreds of corporates to source entertainment choices that perfectly echo their brand. Contact us to find out how we can help you to do the same.