Five More Essential Tips for Corporate Entertainers.
In my last post, I gave five of my best tips and techniques to avoid them old corporate blues. Corporate events can be the best of gigs and the worst of gigs. However, they will probably be your best paying shows of the year. This time, I will give you five more tips that have worked for me over the years.
1 Make sure that your performance area is as close to the audience as possible. You do not want a vast gap between you and your spectators; this space is often referred to as a “comedy moat” and can kill any show instantly. Arrive at the venue and ensure there is no massive dance floor between the audience and the little stage in the far corner they have designated for you. If this is the case, working on the dance floor is usually far wiser than fighting the long-distance attention war. The longest and most uncomfortable time in human existence is how long it takes a spectator to get up, walk across a cavernous dance floor, and climb up steps onto your stage. Bookers sometimes think they are doing the magician a favor by isolating him on a faraway stage, well, unless you have more and bigger props than Franz Harary learn to graciously just say,“No.”
2 While you will almost inevitably begin your performance way later than the optimistic and unrealistic guesswork featured on your contract, don’t bank on it. At least once a year, you will find yourself facing an on time or even (gasp) an early kick-off to your performance. Be ready early; you can always kick back with a cup of coffee and idle away some time on your iPhone. You only get one shot at a specific corporate event, so don’t run the risk of blowing it over such an elementary mistake. The client usually has no idea of the way an evening will unfold time wise, so be one step ahead and as prepared as a Boy Scout.
The reason for the remainder of the payment to be delivered prior to show time is obvious. Once you have performed that show, your importance to the company has vanished into thin air. You may well find that you are delivered into a “standard” billing cycle, and that might easily be a 90-day cycle. Entertainment should be a cash-on-the-barrel form of payment, it may be OK for the company to put their manufacturers on a 90-day billing cycle, but they are a large company and you are an individual. If your remaining 50% payment check is not waiting in an envelope for you prior to showtime that is the time to extract a definite guarantee that a check will be cut and mailed to you the very next day. You can be nice, but must remain firm, this is how we arranged to do business, and that is why we signed an agreement.
I usually recommend a 45-minute length for my after-dinner show, but I do so with the following caveat, “If the crowd is having a blast, we can stretch it another 10 minutes or so. I seldom do this though, because 45 minutes is a rather long stretch for any audience who not only hasn’t paid to see you, but had no idea that you would even be there. The other scenario I slip into is, “Of course, if the show is running late, we might want to tighten it to 35 minutes.” I then suggest we just write it into the contract as 45 minutes and play it by ear. I have never had anyone say, “No, damn it, I want a full hour!” However, if you signed a contract to perform for a full hour, then you might well find a bead-counting exec who bitches if you did that same 45-minute set. Your job is to guide the buyer with your devastating expertise in these situations, so don’t be afraid to be an expert.
4 The only way that I will address my financial remuneration for a corporate event is a 50% deposit with the return of the letter of agreement (I have eliminated the term contract) to reserve the date, with the remainder payable prior to show time. This way, if the client cancels the gig, you are covered, you can always offer them that 50% as a deposit on a future booking, or you can even return the deposit if you want to. The choice is yours. This is a very reasonable way to do business, and it can quite honestly be described as a standard in entertainment booking. This protects both you and your client because it establishes that you will lock into that date even if a higher paying one comes along.
5 If you have been booked by a corporate buyer, agent, producer party planner, etc., if you book any subsequent gigs because of that booking, then you must run any bookings through them. Make sure you request a pack of their business cards in advance to give to prospective clients. You will get bonus points from your buyer just for doing so! This is the way that things are done, and if you try to squeeze your representative out of a future booking, you are making a big mistake. They always find out about it; they guard each potential future client like a mama bear guards their cubs. You might win a short-term battle if you book the next date yourself, but you will lose the long-term war, and believe me, the only way to go about being a corporate entertainer is to think long-term.
I hope the tips I have given in these two blog posts will be of use to you in your corporate shows. Needless to say, a great deal of what I have said applies to all kinds of magic show.
REMARKABLE MAGIC 