Twenty years of the advice we give most often - the things that turn a good booking into a great night.
No performer works during dinner service. The focus is on the plate in front of them - and you're competing with cutlery, waiters and conversation. Nobody wins that.
Tip 2The act's requirements shape the schedule more than most people expect. Booking first gives you options; booking last gives you compromises.
Tip 3A room that's sat through twenty minutes of awards has nothing left to give the next performer. Put the entertainment first, or leave a real break between.
Tip 4A restructure announced that morning changes what lands. Performers can adjust if they know - not if they find out on stage.
Different acts need different technical support. Some need specific lighting, some need rigging. Confirm early - it's the detail that most often derails a good booking.
Tip 6Two hundred guests means proper microphones and speakers. Past four hundred, start costing in screens.
Tip 7Tall centrepieces block sightlines. The moment someone can't see, they turn and talk - and that spreads across a room in seconds.
Tip 8Most venues assume a toilet will do. It won't - particularly for anyone in costume or working with props.
Tip 9Shared walls and someone else's DJ will beat almost any acoustic act.
Tip 10An illusionist with a truck and a goods lift booked out for catering is a real problem - and always discovered too late.
Tip 11Know who's operating lighting on the night, and whether they're still there at 9pm.
Fifteen guests doesn't automatically mean close-up. A parlour show - a hybrid of roving and feature work - can be superb with an intimate group. Ask what the act can do at your size.
Tip 13Roving covers about 70 guests an hour and works in hourly blocks. A corporate stage set is typically 30 minutes, sometimes 40 depending on the act.
Tip 14Roving performers work a group for a few minutes at a time. Ask staff to hold off on that group - guests will survive five minutes without a canape.
Tip 15Guests arrive at different times. Two shorter blocks reach more people than one long one.
Tip 16Material that kills with a sales team can land badly with a family audience. Multi-generational crowds need to be flagged.
A great social media clip proves someone can cut thirty seconds well. It says nothing about whether they can hold a room for half an hour. Different skills entirely.
Tip 18Television and film work, consulting work, and high-profile cruise contracts. Those are tried and tested - someone else has already done the vetting, hard.
A thirty-minute show can be three days of preparation. Trimming ten minutes off the set doesn't trim ten minutes off the work.
Tip 20One act's fee may cover sound and lighting; another's may not. The cheaper number isn't always the cheaper booking.
Tip 21Flights, accommodation and a day either side. Factor it in before falling in love with an act from another state.
Tip 22Most acts want a deposit, and some won't hold a date without one. December dates especially.
Tip 23A cheaper act in the wrong slot costs more than the right act in the right one. The money isn't wasted on the fee - it's wasted on the event.
The budget narrows the field faster than any brief - and it isn't shown to the entertainers. It stays with us, to help us search.
Tip 25More useful than describing what you want. The misses tell us more than the wishes.
Tip 26Popular acts in December go early. A shortlist of four gets you an answer; a single choice gets you a maybe.
Tip 27Book direct and there's nobody to raise it with afterwards. Book through an agency and the performer is accountable to us as well - for your event and every one after it.
Tell us about your event and we'll match the right act - and flag the tips that matter for your night.
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