There are a few essential places that you can use to find great holiday party entertainment gist— each of these places discussed below with instructions on how to see them. Each has different pros and cons, and it's up to you to find what suits you best.
Entertainment or Talent Agencies, these can be both good or bad. Many entertainment agencies are run out of someone's home. Others are large multinational corporations; they have one focus in mind to get you to hire one of their entertainers. They get the commission from that entertainer usually of about 25%, and the entertainer and agency understand this.
Entertainment or talent agencies are easy to find in almost every area of North America, and many quality entertainers work with. A great place to look for entertainment agencies is online.
Entertainment agencies are a great place to look for holiday entertainment because they have a vested interest in providing quality, so they get repeat customers.
Meeting planners are another great place to look for great entertainment choices. A good meeting planner will not only be able to help you plan your event but also have a trusted entertainment roster that they've used in the past. This roster has entertainers that have proven themselves over time for that meeting planner.
Meeting planners can be found online or in the Yellow Pages. To see a quality meeting planner make sure they get testimonial letters. Testimonial letters should state the meeting planner did a great job planning their event. You should also look for previous client lists as this is a testimony of the quality of the games that the planner has done in the past. A beginning planner will not have an extensive client list or testimonials, and you may want to avoid them until they do have that experience. You should also look for a planner that only does corporate events planning a wedding is a lot different than planning organizational development and a good planner generally understands and knows this and only provides one service or the other.
Direct booking with the entertainer. Many companies do this for their holiday parties, and it's an excellent way to go. However, when you hire the entertainer directly is not usually backed by a quality company. When you do hire an entertainer directly make sure their professional, courteous and have your best interests in mind. An entertainer should have contracts riders promotional packages demo DVD's and other resources that you can use to make informed decisions.
The difference between a great holiday party and a lousy holiday party is often the entertainment. Make sure you make the right choices when hiring your entertainer and you're sure to have success.
John