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Entertainment comes in all varieties, in all languages,
transcending all borders, whether upside down or inside out,
so booking headline entertainment means making choices from
among a vast number of options. For the uninitiated, it can
be a crazy process. You must first determine what fits your
client's needs and expectations, based on the event's goals
and objectives so that you will be able to provide the entertainment
management company with an audience profile that will help
them find the most appropriate speaker or headline entertainer.
A step-by-step guide to this process is presented below.
How to Book Headline Entertainment: The Process Simplified
1. Research the needs of the audience and identify the appropriate
resources to fill these needs.
2. Select an artist. This works best if you or your client
either selects five headliners you would like to have perform
at your event, or prepare an approximate budget and category
of music/entertainment/speaker in order to narrow the list
of options.
3. Have your agent or corporate entertainment company make
a written offer to the artist Remember, an agent can offer
you only the artists that are on the agency's roster. If the
artists you are looking for are represented by more than one
agency, you will need to contact more than one agent or just
one corporate entertainment company. I would counsel all to
utilize corporate entertainment companies. Are you prepared
and empowered to make a reasonably quick decision? It is common
to lose headliners when clients are not able to act quickly
enough to secure the act.
4. If the offer is accepted, sign a contract for services
of the artist. Once your written offer is accepted, it is
very difficult to turn back. Are you prepared to make a 50%
deposit when and if a headline entertainer accepts your offer?
5. Secure production for the show or have your corporate entertainment
company provide the product and services.
6. Monitor the production process and evaluate the outcomes.
 Mark
Sonder, CSEP is the Chief Entertainment Officer of Mark Sonder
Productions, a leading national entertainment agency providing
headline talent and production services for large venues,
corporations and associations. In addition, Sonder sits on
the faculty of The George Washington University MBA/MTA Diploma
and Event Management Certificate program. Event
Entertainment and Production is the book published by
Wiley authored by Sonder.
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