Entertainment Contracts: Need to Know Information

It is always recommended to use the entertainment contracts – both for performers and clients.  While (fingers crossed) your event should go as planned – anything can happen and you want to be covered.  You don’t want any unpleasant surprises leading up to, or on, the day of your event.

Below are a few of the questions about your event that you should ask your entertainer before you sign a contract.  The answers to these questions will likely form the basis of your entertainment contract:

How much time will they need to set up? 

While you’ve established the date and time of the performance, you may not have discussed what time the performers need to arrive to set up. Once that time is determined, you’ll need to clear it with the venue and make certain that they’ll have access to the venue’s event coordinator during that time, in case they have any questions or problems. Most likely, you will be busy during this set-up time; so it’s important that someone at the venue is available to them.

Which of their group members will be present at your event? 

When you first picked this band you were probably impressed by the specific group of performers that you saw performs either live or on video. However, it’s important that you verify which of the band, DJ or ensemble members will actually be present at your event.

Will the performers consume alcohol at your event? 

This is really a question for you. You need to determine your comfort level with this issue. Remember, they are working for you…do you want them drinking on the job?

What will they wear at your event? 

You should find out what their standard attire is for your type of event and make sure that it fits in with what you envision. If your event is black tie, they should know this in advance. On the other hand, if you’re having a more casual event, you probably don’t want your entertainers in tuxedos.

What is the performer’s cancellation policy?

This is a two-way question: they could cancel or you could cancel. It’s important to understand what happens in both scenarios. In the case of a performer cancellation, you should select a certain number of days prior to your event that you can live with. For example, you might decide that they can cancel the contract up until 14 days before the event. While this is not something you even want to think about, it’s obviously important you allow ample time to find a suitable replacement. Naturally, you’ll want to be sure that if they cancel, that they’ll return your deposit to you.

There are a couple different scenarios if you cancel:

1.    If they’re requiring that you pay a non-refundable deposit, then the performer will need to select a date by which you can cancel and not be further obligated to pay the balance.
2.    If you’re paying a refundable deposit, then the performer will select a date by which you can cancel and receive a refund for your deposit.

What form of payment will they accept for the balance? 

You don’t want to be surprised on the night of your event when the performer asks for a certified check. So, be absolutely sure that you ask this question! Cash, money order, certified check, personal check, and credit card are all possible options.

Do they have personal injury and property damage liability insurance? 

Before you ask this question of the performer, you should discuss with the venue what they require or recommend. Ask the performer to provide their proof of insurance BEFORE signing the contract.

What are their space and electrical requirements?

Understanding how much space the performer needs as well as their power requirements is really important because it affects what the performer brings to set up. This will also determine where they set up, which needs to fit in with the overall layout of the space. Ideally, you’ll have a meeting with the performer and the event coordinator at the venue prior to your event – you can certainly discuss these details during this meeting.

Will they provide the sound and lighting systems? 

The answer to this question varies from performer to performer – and could be affected by the venue’s existing sound and lighting systems. So, find out what, if any, sound and lighting systems are available at the venue, and make sure that the performer’s systems are compatible.  This is another important item to discuss at the meeting with the venue.

Are they available for overtime? 

Months before your event, the idea of paying your performer for overtime might sound totally crazy when you carefully pore over every budget item. But, on the night of your event when the party is in full effect, you might say, “to hell with the budget” and ask them to play for another hour or two. So, we advise that you find out beforehand how much overtime they’d be willing to provide and at what rate.

Once you’ve discussed all of these questions with the performer, you’ll be better prepared to sign the contract that they send. You should make certain that the answers they provided during your conversation are consistent with what you see in the contract.

Understanding the consumer mindset - Tips for advertising

Advertising works at the exact instant it is experienced. Advertisers must understand how consumers relate to the advertising in terms of their interest in purchasing the product at the moment they see the ad. Most people fall into three stages of interest in any product or service at any given time.

Passive stage: most people are not in the market for most products most of the time. Their attitudes are passive, and it is likely that they will not notice the advertising. At best, advertisers can hope to generate enough interest in their brand so that the consumer will consider their product when it is time to make a purchase.

Acquisition stage: at this stage people have decided they need a product, and begin to collect information pertinent to their purchase decision. When consumers are in this phase, they are receptive to product facts and brand information. The amount of time consumers spend in this stage depends on the size and importance of the purchase, i.e. automobiles and toothpaste.

Decision stage: consumers now enter the decision stage when they will decide on their final choice and make the purchase. In this stage, they are extremely susceptible to price and value-related information, which is very often communicated at point of sale, or by point-of-sale extensions.

Effective marketing must account for each stage of the purchasing cycle, allocating resources to maximize the potential impact of the advertising on target customers as they move through the stages.

In terms of the advertising component, a strategic decision must be made as to which stage of the purchase each aspect of an overall campaign should target. This can be determined by addressing the following three questions concerning the target audience for the specific piece of advertising - as opposed to the broader target for the product.

Question 1:

Is the advertising directed at people who are actually not interested in the category, product or brand (passive stage), but who will, at some time in the future, be actively seeking out product information? In this case, the advertising should do nothing more than persuade the audience that it would make sense to consider brand x (awareness advertising). Although awareness advertising is essential, it is generally not a predictor of product sales.

Question 2:

Is the advertising directed at people who have decided they need a product (acquisition stage), and are now trying to learn which brand would be best? This advertising should focus on specific product advantages, differences and benefits.

Question 3:

Is the advertising directed toward people who know what they want, are aware of the advantages and benefits of the product, and are now looking for a trigger to help them make their final choices (decision stage)? Here the advertiser must close the sale by convincing the target customer that this is the time and place to make a commitment.

Research should be directed towards understanding the purchasing process: what the "passive stage" audience finds interesting about the category that the brand can latch on to; what "acquisition stage" consumers really want to learn that only the brand can tell them; and what are the added-value triggers that will close the sale for "decision stage" consumers.

After the tradeshow tips:

§  Follow up! Attendees are saturated with presentations and vendor pitches, so there’s a 99% chance they've forgotten about you. Yes, even if they took your oh-so-memorable swag or your fabulously-designed brochure. It’s up to you to follow up and remind them who you were, and take them up on their offer to get a demo, trial the software, or look at a draft of an article you want published.

§  Apply what you learned about selling. You talked to hundreds of people, pitching a hundred different ways, with mixed results. What did you learn? Some questions to get you started:

§  Which one-liners got people’s attention, and what did people not relate to?

§  How can you incorporate the successful one-liners in your home page?

§  How should you change your 2-minute demo?

§  What were people saying about your competition? What were your best retorts?

§  Apply what you learned about your software. Having to demo the product 50 times always churns up invaluable product information. Some questions to get your started:

§  What features did people ask about which you already have, but it wasn’t obvious?

§  What features did people keep asking for which you don’t have?

§  What part of your demo seemed to drag because your workflow wasn’t easy enough?

§  What part confused viewers because the interface wasn’t obvious?

§  What terminology made no sense to newbies?

§  What did people hate about your competitors, and how can you maintain that advantage?

§  What did people love about your competitors, and how can you close that gap?