Before employing Live Music for a business event
Four Crucial Ingredients event Planners Must Know
Involving live music into any business event is not as simple as it seems. Besides deciding on the band, there are four facets you must consider in order to have a hope of having a successful event. They are, in the order of importance:
1) Venue
2) Agents
3) Technical performance Up
4) band Character
In a moment I’ll tell you the details of the crucial issues that might aggravate and potentially ruin an alternatively beautifully accomplished opening . It will just take a few minutes, but as you read this page, more and more, you will start to feel better and better about employing live music for your next business or social event. Most necessary ly is . . .
Venue Selection
As an event planner, your ability to keep numerous things in mind when employing artist s. Selection of the optimum Venue is the first ingredient you’ll need. This ability alone might distinguish you as a professionals in an industry filled with amateurs.
When selecting the Venue, be certain the room size is in proportion with the number of attendees who will be attending.
I got into this business as a singing piano player. When I’m performing I need to connect with the audiences. If the room size is proportionate to the crowd size, I might do my job successfully. If the room is too extensive and there are not enough warm bodies in attendance, the audiences will feel too intimidated to approach the band. When you keep the band close enough to your attendees will feel comfortable enough to interact with the artists and vice versa.
Have you noticed yet that keeping the Venue small so the band may be close to your attendees will increase your opening s of having a successful event? Depending on the act, you might leave a little dance floor in front of the band. But all in all, keep the crowd near the band and allow the band to be an integral part of your event.
I have usually worked with event planners who are clueless when it comes to what size stage is required for a band.
“If you fail to plan ahead, then you are getting ready ahead to fail.”
Here are the stage specs for various sized bands:
3 Piece – 8 feet by 16 feet
5 Piece – 16 feet by 24 feet
12 Piece – 16 feet by 32 feet
With the is newly acquired information, experienced event planners will always like to go with a room with a stage rather than just placing the band on the same level as attendees. Proper getting ready for stage specifications avoids major headaches the day of the show. additionally, having the band on a stage allows them to be seen by anybody at all even by the individuals in back.
When selecting the Venue, you’ll additionally need to keep in mind the acoustics of the room. High ceilings and flat walls with lots of windows and no curtains to muffle the sound are not optimal environments for bands. Work with an experienced sound individual to mix the band and equalize the room and eliminate feedback.
Agents
There are only a handful of surprisingly few wonderful professional artists anymore. If you don’t know a wonderful booking agent, you’ll be hard pressed to find them. A wonderful agent will be the one to advocate you thru the minefield of mediocre, amateurs with amps that have no volume control knobs.
As an event planner you need to figure out your event theme and then contact a skill booking agency to see If the re are bands that fit.
The most popular artists play a expansive variety of styles. A wonderful group of artists knows tunes from the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Frank Sinatra has never gone out of style. So make sure the band plays what we call “Jazz Standards”. Depending on your event and your geographical location, it’s either “Country Music is King!” or “Classic Rock Rules!”. Know your demographics before employing a band.
As with any vendor, you get what you pay for. Let’s talk about budget. I wonder, even as you continue to read this report, if you realize the amount of time a band puts in before receiving a paycheck to practicing their instruments, learning and memorizing repertoire and coordinating lights and choreography. Most artists require anywhere from $1,200 to $45,000 per gig. Experienced booking agents will be able to place the right band for the event. With any event, experience wins every time. Ask for references and testimonials.
Technical performance Up
Once your artists are booked, you now need to cover logistics. Tech performance up includes the movement and placement of equipment and sound checks. Bands usually bring their own equipment.
Amplifiers, instruments, a PA system for vocals, lighting towers all the way down to carpet for the drums need to be performance up and placed and checked and moved and double checked again. Allow enough time for all of these details to be adequately addressed well before show time. Because it is not IF something goes wrong, it’s WHEN something goes wrong. And it always does with a band. Give them enough time to fix it.
Sound check must take place no later than 3 hours before the show start time. Load in should occur 1 or 2 hours before that. The sound check should take no more than an hour, and after that, let the band go back to their rooms, freshen up, take a nap, grab a meal. They should return NO LATER than 30 minutes before their performance.
Band Character
Musicians have traditionally had a reputation for being evil practitioners of any number of surprisingly colorful vices. It has been my experience, however, that we are no diverse than any other industry be it stock brokers, medical individual nel or city workers.
Use these simple rules and you’ll notice you might keep any group of performers in line.
* Performer members should not eat any food in buffet lines or inside the ballroom area. They should have a separate area or a “Greenroom” where they might eat, drink, warm up their vocal cords, stretch out and generally prepare for the gig.
* During a performance, artists should not consume alcohol or smoke. If the y can’t wait a few hours to partake of their preferred libation, fire them on the spot. You’ll avoid headaches and embarrassment down the road. Additionally, you will get the reputation you won’t tolerate any such behavior. Trust me. Word will get out you are a professional event planner.
Finally, remember :
Treating artists with dignity and respect translates into a happy band which brings you happy clients and attendees who find pleasure in the entire event no matter what the opening .
You’re now armed with the four serious ly critical ingredients for success that you did not have before. If you’ve learned this information through the school of hard knocks, you can feel assured that you are a true professional.
Now picture the night of the event. Following dinner (if it’s served), lights should be dimmed, the band is introduced, they hit the first chords and the excitement ripples through the room. individuals move towards the dance floor and the smiles appear on anybody at all in the room. Why? Because you did your job and offer d an exquisite ingredient that every business event needs: Live Music.