Friday, February 10, 2012

Maximize Trade Show Leads with Entertainment

For many businesses, gathering leads at trade shows are a very important component of their yearly marketing plan. In a major trade show every booth is vying for the attention of the attendees. How can businesses generate as many leads as possible?

How Can Entertainment Be Your Ticket to A More Successful Trade Show?

Create a Show to Generate Interest 

Recently a client had created a theme for their booth and was looking for a show to create interest and generate traffic. The theme was the “Old West”.

The mission was to:
    1. Reinforce the Theme
    2. Stop traffic allowing for the message to be introduced
    3. Continually build the brand of the business
    4. Generate viable leads for future marketing efforts
What Kind of Show? 
An old time saloon show concept was created for this client. The show consisted of five cast members. Three singer / Dancers and two character actors. It started with a musical number to generate interest and gather a crowd, then led into an comedy audience participation segment with “Rattlesnake Pete” and an audience volunteer. The show then ended with a huge musical finale number.

The show was designed to be “short and sweet”, and a tight 12 minutes. During the performance, the client’s brand was mentioned over a dozen times, but never seemed to be a “commercial.” to the audience. As the show ended and the applause erupted the cast gave a “pitch” to generate leads though the sign up drawing. 

This was the perfect time as the guests had enjoyed the performance, liked the performers and were ready to interact with them.

Other Concepts
There are many show concepts that can be created. At Shows In A Box We have utilized Chinese Acrobats, Magic Illusions, and Cirque acts successfully in the past. The formula is simple:
    • Create “high Impact entertainment” to generate a crowd.
    • Incorporate your message
    • Collect leads
    • And most Importantly……follow up on those leads.


David Thomas is an experienced Event Producer and Event Entertainment Planner as owner of Shows In A Box. David focuses on bringing the “WOW!” factor to your event maximizing return. For more information about how Shows In A Box Can help with your event you can contact David at showinfo@showsinabox.com

Thursday, December 29, 2011

4 Key Steps for Advancing Event Entertainment


The venue is chosen, the date is booked and your special event date is drawing near. All the details to make your date a hit have been taken care of. The entertainment has been arranged, but have you properly advanced the show?

Failing to be properly prepared for entertainment can sometimes lead to unwanted results...



Here are the key steps to advancing corporate entertainment:

1 - Ask for a written rider - Each act will have requirements to ensure that they have what is needed to properly showcase their performance. Remember you want a great and memorable show. Even the best of acts can fall flat on their face if they are not given the proper tools.

2 – Study the Rider - It is critical that you really listen and understand what are the entertainer’s needs? The rider that you are given will address the follow:

  • Air, Hotel and Ground Transportation
  • Parking Requirements
  • Labor needed for load in and load out
  • Dock times for the in and out
  • Staging (how big, wing space needed?)
  • Approximate set up times and rehearsal needs
  • Green room and dressing room
  • Hospitality for cast and crew
  • Technical labor to run the rehearsals and show
  • Power requirements
  • Rigging requirements
  • Lighting, video and sound requirements

3 – Pass Rider on early - One of the most important things to do is to distribute the rider before the act is booked, onto you production staff. They will be able to estimate what the costs are to “produce” the talent. Many times the cost of production can equal or exceed the cost of the talents. So make sure you have a full understanding of these elements.

4 – Consider an Entertainment Specialist - If you are having a local ensemble or speaker, the rider needs will be easy and you should have no issues. But if you are stepping out to the national platform, then using a company who has experience in the corporate arena may be prudent. As you are working with the provider of the show, it is not uncommon to ask for help in estimating the costs of providing the production elements or for help with booking of airfares and the coordinating of labor. 

is a leading corporate magician and entertainment producer with Shows In A Box Corporate Entertainment Planning. David has over 25 years of event entertainment planning experience and focuses on making YOU look great!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Choosing the Best Entertainment for Your Event

Choosing the Best Entertainment for Your Event

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The type of event you are holding will greatly influence what entertainment you should hire. Whether it be a formal corporate function, a wedding, a 21st birthday, a family reunion or a fund raiser, you need to choose the right entertainment to suit the personalities of your guests and also the occasion. You may choose to organise the whole event yourself, including hiring the venue, choosing the food and booking the entertainment, or you may prefer to contact a party hire company and get them to handle everything. Whatever you choose the entertainment still needs careful consideration.

Formal Corporate Events

For formal corporate event entertainment, whether it be a black tie dinner or business orientated do, suitable entertainment needs to be arranged that is more on the conservative side. Having a roving belly dancer would not be appropriate, nor would a heavy metal rock band. You may choose to start the evening with drinks in a separate foyer and have a string quartet playing or an A Capella group singing or a strolling magician. Your entertainment could also be in the form of ice sculptures which are positioned around the venue and are carved into shapes that best represent the evening or the company.

Themed Event

Themed events could range from an elegant formal evening, to a casual party, or day time get together. Themes are great to work to when you are planning an event because you can link everything in, from costumes, food, decorations and also your entertainment. For a corporate gathering you might choose a masquerade ball or an Arabian Nights theme. This is where hiring a belly dancer to entertain guests is appropriate, even if it's a more formal occasion, it is acceptable within the theme. Themes open the doors to a huge range of entertainment ideas, limited only by your creativity. Choirs, face painters, story tellers, dancers, bands, puppeteers, artists or even a fire eater. The event could become quite a spectacle if you have the right theme to work with.

Step Back in Time

Similar to choosing a theme, you may want to have guests dress in period costume and have the event based around a particular decade. Guests often love to wear fancy dress and it is a fantastic way to break the ice at any party as guests will, more often than not, talk about their costume. You may choose to take your guests way back in time to ancient Rome or the Middle Ages, or you could simply choose a more recent decade, like the 1920s or 40s. When choosing an era think about how you can decorate the venue, what food would continue the theme and also what sort of music would suit. It may be a little difficult to replicate lutes and other instruments found during the time of Camelot, or it may be a little uninteresting to dance to, so perhaps you might choose some time in the 1900s. A swinging jazz band in the style of the 1920s or a big band like the 1940s would get everyone up and dancing and would be a party not easily forgotten.

By the way, do you want to learn more about Arts and Entertainment? If so, I suggest you check Party Hire and Event Hire.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_K_Carlton

Monday, January 10, 2011

Understanding The Process Of Finding The Right Venue For Your Corporate Event


Many people will be interested in finding the proper location to hold a special occasion or corporate event. It is true that Finding the Right Venue for Corporate Events Entertainment can be very overwhelming. It is important to make sure that they prices charged by the location are going to be affordable for the business.
Nothing is worse than having to overpay to hold an event that does not meet the financial expectations of the people running it. Searching around for many different location options is very important. It is also vital to make sure that the area is easy to find. When people are not capable of finding the location they will usually give up on attending the engagement.

People also must be sure that the staff of the function hall is professional in every way. Failure to look into the professionalism of the people involved is usually detrimental to the overall success of the event. When a person does not feel that a company has chosen the right location it can leave them with a bad taste in their mouth.

People also need to consider the amount of time that they will need to set up for the function. Taking into consideration whether or not there will be people available to help with any set of responsibilities is also very important. This is beneficial because sometimes the organizers of the function do not understand how much work will go into making sure everything comes off properly.

Make sure that the room where the function will be held has enough space that everyone will be comfortable in the room. Sometimes when a certain location gets overly full people are uncomfortable. This is never in the best interest of anyone connected with the event. It is important to make sure that everyone attending the function has a positive experience.

Looking into whether or not the location serves food is also very important. If there is the expectation for food to be served it is usually better that the food is prepared on the premises. This is beneficial because most people do not want to consume food that is cold or has been transported from another location.
If food must be transported from another location it is important to make sure that there are proper kitchen facilities to see it is heated to a proper level. Failure to do this will result in many frustrated people attending the function. Sometimes people do not consider the amount of parking that an area has. This is detrimental because when people are not able to find a place to park they will become frustrated.

If music is going to be part of the event people will need to check into the noise ordinance that is expected to be followed in the area. When a person is not aware of the legal expectations sometimes problems can develop. This is never in the best interest of anyone connected with the event.

Finding out if the place the event is being held has a cleanup crew is also very important. Speaking about the expectations in regard to how the room itself is left is imperative. When these expectations are not discussed prior to rental there can be many problems for everyone connected to the situation.

People must also consider whether or not there will be enough seating for everyone that is going to attend the event. When individuals find out that they do not have enough chairs a person must consider whether or not they are willing to rent seats for people to say they know whether that is not a good idea.

Depending on the type of function that is being held access to tables may also be important. This can be especially important if food is going to be served. Usually people are able to establish whether or not they are going to use a certain facility within a single visit.

Normally it is better to look at a place in person before making a final decision. Just because it comes highly recommended as not mean that it will be able to meet the expectations of the people organizing the function. The more people are willing to investigate their options the happier they will be overall.

Most of the time it is relatively simple to understand the ways to go about Finding the Right Venue for Your Corporate Event and Event Entertainment . The process is not at all complicated but does require significant research on the part of people involved in the planning process. Most individuals would rather avoid doing the research is all possible but this is usually not advantageous for them.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Learn How To Find the Best in Corporate Entertainment

For some individuals, hiring entertainment for that corporate event can be hard. At times, it can be an overwhelming task. The entertainment that is chosen will need to be professional and for everyone of all ages. You should definitely not get stuck with doing the same old thing you did the year before - you want to have something that is unique, entertaining and fun for everyone. Below, you are going to learn how to find the best in corporate event entertainment.

There are many professional event entertainers and production companies available to hire for entertainment at your next party or event.  You should definitely know the type of event entertainment you have in mind to hire at the party before you can totally plan the event. We say this, because you should plan the event around the entertainment that is being offered.  That way when booking a space and catering you know what to expect.

In order to find corporate event entertainment, you will need to set some time to the side to do your research. The Internet search engines are a resourceful tool that will help you find the right person. If you are no sure what to do, then you could always hire a an event planner.

The individual will be paid to plan the venue and will be in charge of planning the entertainment. They will plan the party based on the individuals that will be attending it, so you will need to let them know the age range that will be attending the special party.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Reasons For Hiring A Corporate Event Planner

Planning a company corporate event can, at the very least, be a little daunting for a business official with no experience in this area. If you have been given the task of organizing an upcoming convention for your corporation and are feeling a little overwhelmed about the duties, you may benefit the most from hiring a corporate event organizer.

Company executives who have found themselves in similar situations to you have turned to these convention organizers for assistance and were thrilled with the results they received. As such, here are a few of the main perks that are typically associated with hiring event planning and production professionals.

Better Connections
The organizer that you decide to hire for the entertainment and event production planning duties will likely have several professional connections from the previous corporate gatherings they planned. As such, you can use this resource for input on which local keynote and motivational speakers are the best options to energize the convention attendees.


An Expert Opinion
If you don't have any previous experience organizing a corporate event, you likely are feeling a little lost on how to begin the process or how such an event can best be organized. In situations such as this, an event planner can be just what is needed to provide an expert opinion on event planning and production..


The event planning company that is hired will have experience organizing the conferences of other corporate events. Therefore, they should be able to provide guidance on what corporate event entertainment will turn out well and which should be avoided.

Increased Success
Given the expert connections and opinions that the event planner you hire will likely have, the decision of turning the organizing duties over to them will hopefully increase the overall success of the convention. Regardless of how extensive of a role is given to the corporate event organizer, the overarching goal is likely to ensure the success of the corporate convention.