Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Events with Performers, How Do I Do it?!

SO, you’re planning an event with a guest/performer and you don’t know what to do. Hakuna matata, I got your back.

Here is a list of the general parts involved with putting together an event…
Event Concept/Goal
Date
Budget
Venue
Performer
Food
Promotion

Event Concept/Goal
What is the main idea of the event? What are you hoping to accomplish by having this event? This can be as simple as creating a fun way for people to socialize to something as complex as raising awareness or encouraging a change in action from those who attend. It doesn’t matter what the goal is as long as you never lose sight of what it is.

Date
This may seem straightforward, but there is a lot to consider when it comes to when you are going to hold the event. The more flexible you are with this the better, and by that I mean, having the ability to choose from several possible dates, NOT to change the date several times before the event. If you know that the group of people you are targeting for the event are usually not free during a certain time or day, then cater to that. Pick out a few different dates to work with so you can easily coordinate with the venue and performer.
***ALSO, pick out a rain date if the event is outside, AND if necessary a snow date, if the weather shuts down your city*** 

Budget
It doesn’t matter how large your budget is, just as long as you are aware of it. Allocate the amount you are willing to spend on the venue, performer, food, and other expenses that may arise. You will see in the performer section, there can be many extra fees you weren’t expecting.

Venue
Regardless of whether or not the event is held at your school or at an outside location, you must have an appropriate venue for it. Typically you won’t have a lecturer about LGTBQ awareness at The House of Blues. Pick a venue based on the number of attendees you are expecting, the type of performer you are having, and what you have allocated towards it in your budget. Find out what dates the venue is open for use in comparison to the ones that you have picked out. Make sure you don’t book the venue until you compare the list of available dates with those of the performer. This coordination can be tough. If you are set on having a particular performer and aren’t as concerned with the venue, consider their available dates first then the venue. The same goes if the opposite is true. Ask the venue if they can hold the dates (and for how long) while you coordinate with the performer.

Performer
This is the most involved piece of the whole event.

  1. Contact their agent. When you do this, make sure you know what you are going to say before you do anything. You can send them an email or give them a phone call, but the safest way to lay out exactly what you want is through an email (a professional email). Tell them who you are, what the event is about, the available dates, and ask for a quote. Don’t give them your price range until you get a quote. This way you can haggle with them a bit without worrying about giving a number too high or low. Typically, you pay the price asked for, but if you can’t afford it and it is a reasonable request, you can ask them to work with the budget you have. If it’s within anything under a couple thousand, it is always alright to ask. Any more than that is typically unprofessional. They will also offer other performers for you to check out in your price range.
  2. Contract. When they send a contract, or you send yours, READ IT! In it they will define what they are going to provide for you, what circumstances will cancel the show, insurance, promotional guidelines, and more. It is important to read through it and get it signed by the appropriate people in a timely manner. Don’t do anything else until the contract is signed. IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT TO ASK QUESTIONS WHEN YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND! The agent knows you are not necessarily a law student or familiar with the process, so they are more than open to questions. They would prefer that over a conflict resulting from not asking that question later!
  3. The Rider. A rider is a list of what the performer requires in order to perform. This will outline technical requirements as well as “hospitality” requirements. Read through the technical requirements and contact your venue or whoever is running the tech and forward them this rider. They will know what is possible to provide and what isn’t and more importantly if there is an additional fee for it. Sometimes the fee can be worked out with the agent, so they cover, but sometimes that isn’t the case. If it is a small scale event, you most likely don’t have to worry about it existing. Pay special attention to the hospitality requirements. You may have to provide food, hotel, dressing room items, comped tickets, volunteers, and parking. If there is any issue, contact the agent about adjusting the accommodations. Don’t wait until the last minute to read this!!! This is where budget becomes important, because bottled water, food, towels, HOTEL ROOM adds up!
  4. Contact. Make sure the agent AND THE PERFORMERS have the day of contact persons information and they have theirs! About a week before, let them know the address of the venue, when to arrive for load in and sound check, where they can park, and (if applicable) what hotel they are staying at. The day before they arrive, you should contact the performer directly to check in and REMIND them that they have a performance the next day. I mean don’t outright say “I’m calling because I assume you forgot,” but rather “I’m just calling to check in with you about your performance with ___ tomorrow. Do you have any questions for me?”
Food
If your event is going to have food, make sure the venue is aware of it, and is ok with it. They may require that you use a specific caterer or their own food. If that’s not an issue, then your only concern is picking food that is appropriate for the style of show or event, within your budget. For example, if you are bringing a lecturer to an on-campus event, you could have appetizers/finger food before they speak, or you can have sit down meal while the lecture (as long as they are aware of that), or you could have a reception after. There are many options, just make sure whatever you pick fits with the theme of your event.

Promotion
Promotion should begin as soon as the venue and performer are fully booked. You should be able to answer who, what, when, where, to start promotion. The heaviest promotion should start two weeks before the event, but it should lightly start immediately to get a buzz beginning. General forms of promotion include Facebook, Twitter, flyers, announcements, and posters. Some atypical ways of promotion are holding minor events to solely promote the bigger event, creating a teaser video, promotional items, newspaper, radio, and interviews. Get the performer directly involved, ask them to tweet about it or post on the event page on Facebook. The first step is to ask the agent or performer if they have any tips for promotion or materials they would like you to use. Most would rather you get pictures and videos from their websites rather than Google Images or YouTube.

As you can see, there are a great deal of pieces involved in putting on a successful event so here are some things to keep in mind…

Make a list
Delegate jobs
Set deadlines
Have check-in points
ASK QUESTIONS

All of this may seem overwhelming, but it is entirely doable. As long as you stay organized and give yourself the time you need to accomplish your goals and never lose sight of the overall goal, then you are set to have a successful event. 

I hope I have helped answer some questions about what to do, and quelled some fears about holding your own event.

If you ever have questions, feel free to contact me! [email protected]

 

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Events with Performers, How Do I Do it?!