Every component of an event has a purpose and function. But the entertainment you choose plays a specific role that’s central to the entire affair. Whether it’s a musician, sommelier on stilts, or a keynote speaker, your entertainment is a driving force behind attendee engagement.
It brings an energy, which, if not aligned with everything else—can make or break your entire event.
That’s why your event strategy should inform your choice of entertainment. Planning from a purpose-first approach allows you to answer questions that are critical to event planning, like what is the message?
Here are four insights to think about when choosing entertainment for your next event:
1. Values & Vision
When planning your event, every last detail should align with your company values and vision. This works to deepen the connection between you and your attendees. You can do this by ensuring any messaging you promote about your brand and to employees is present in your entertainment and overall event.
For example, does your company promote family values? If you’re planning on hosting a family-friendly event, you’ll want to make sure your entertainment stays cohesive with that value.
Likewise, if your brand is dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion, you should incorporate that value in who you choose to entertain your guests. Hiring an entertainer who either personally has different values known to the public or promotes a theme that’s not cohesive with your company vision, can make your event feel disjointed and your audience questioning your dedication to your own mission.
2. Your Audience Is the Key
Without your audience you wouldn’t have an event, so a significant portion of your event strategy should be dedicated to them and their interests. This means considering your attendee age base, generational interests, ethnic backgrounds, occupation, education, gender, and more.
Sustainability and diversity are both increasingly important to organizations and their employees. The 2023 Global Meetings and Events Forecast reported 80% of survey respondents said their organizations take sustainability into account when planning meetings and events, and 87% said their organizations or clients strive to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) into their events. Given this is an important trend across the event industry, implementing diversity and sustainability are important to consider during your planning.
Ultimately, making sure to understand what’s important to your audience can help you choose entertainment that creates connection, inspiration, and surprise and delight moments.
3. Types of Entertainment
Of course the type of entertainment you choose is just as important to the event’s success. You want a seamless centerpiece to the decor and activity of your event, which means the type of entertainment you choose should naturally vibe with everything else.
Types of entertainment can include magicians, mentalists, musicians, jugglers, athletes, actors, authors, speakers, artists, and so many more. Whatever your decision, your entertainment needs to align with your event goals. Think analytically about what you’re trying to achieve. Getting a celebrity to speak at your event can create more buzz, but is the story the celebrity shares going to resonate with your audience? Sometimes it will, but other times this strategy may fall flat, or it becomes a missed opportunity to tell a greater story. Keep in mind the background of your audience and what matters to them during your search.
Music is often welcome, but typically going with a cover band, for example, will be more engaging and widens your scope versus a genre-specific band. When it comes to keynote speakers, make sure the message or story arc is cohesive with your event and values—and that it’s relevant to your audience.
For events in different cities or countries, think locally. How can you incorporate the culture of a place within your event and entertainment component?
Thinking about your audience means thinking how the entertainment or story arc is going to meet them where they are.
4. Innovate & Customize
Sometimes, choosing entertainment that will keep people talking long after the event is over requires you to innovate or take a risk—whether that means going with a keynote you know fits your event but isn’t well-known to your attendees or an act that’s outside the box.
Ultimately, it’s vital to connect the dots for your attendees and customize the content for a successful event. Research what’s worked before for similar events or be uniquely innovative—but remember your audience is the key to what makes good entertainment.
Connect with us to plan the perfect entertainment for your next corporate event.
