If booking the balloon-tying clown for your kid’s 6th birthday party was the last time you hired an act for an event, you might appreciate a little expert advice on getting it right for your corporate gathering. After all, you want someone who knows that audience interaction encompasses more than knock-knock jokes. Nate Berg, Entertainment Consultant at G.L. Berg Entertainment, Performing Artists and Speakers can show you the ropes when it comes time to hire that amazing hypnotist, magician, singing group or comedian for your event.
Q. Tell me a bit about G.L. Berg.
A. We’re one of the largest providers of creative entertainment in the country, booking out performing artists, speakers and entertainers for more than 2,000 events across the country each year.
Q. When a planner wants to book entertainment for their holiday gathering through you, what information should they be prepared to provide at your first meeting?
A. We’ll go through a series of questions with each client to determine the best act to suit their group. So for example, we’ll ask about the event and the audience — what type of event? What kind of audience, e.g., corporate shareholders or the hourly workers? Is the gathering corporate and formal or relaxed and casual? How many in the audience? What’s the venue? What’s the budget? What are they looking for? In other words, do they have something specific already in mind? Taking their information and then basing it on our past experiences, we’ll put together several options from which to choose. We book talent for a lot of corporate gatherings, so we’re very good at recommending a performer or an act that fits a group.
Q. How does a client then go about auditioning the act to determine if it’s right for them?
A. We send out a video to the client that gives them a good demonstration of the talent’s act. We’ll also send the entertainer’s bio for the client to review. If it’s a big project and the planner feels like they’d like more, we can put them in touch with an event where that particular entertainer is performing so they can see them live. It’s not something we do all that often, but it is an option.
Q. What questions should the planner ask the entertainer?
A. Typically we do that for them. What we want to ensure is that we maintain a good dialogue with the talent so they’re aware of the audience and exactly who they’ll be entertaining. Many of the entertainers tailor their acts to the specific company or industry to which they’re providing the entertainment.
Q. What questions should the planner ask the agency?
A. The planner should make sure they know what they’re getting. Is this entertainer going to be right for this crowd? How long does the act last? Does the act work well in the venue space; a theater, for example? Will the act work well as an after-dinner show? Then our job is to make sure we get the best talent that fits those needs.
Q. For holiday gatherings, what’s the optimal time frame for booking talent?
A. As of right now, we’re pretty booked on the prime dates; most of our talent is booked for the Saturdays through January. Obviously there are other days that they can book as well. However, the best time to book for the holidays is a couple of months out.
Q. Any other advice?
A. Yes, one thing we offer to our clients is the assurance that the entertainer or entertainment is going to be perfectly clean. We ensure that there’s no reason to worry that anyone in their audience will be offended. Since we do so much for corporate events, it’s important that there be no profanity and nothing suggestive or questionable.
Nate Berg grew up with the company his father, Gary, founded 23 years ago in St. Cloud, MN. Always feeling like a part of the G. L. Berg family and knowing many of the staff, performers, and the business for the majority of his life, he was very excited to recently take on a sales role with the company, helping clients get the right entertainment for their unique event. Nate resides in Minneapolis and helps serve the Twins Cities area.
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