I don’t normally put tip jars on my pianos or ask for tips when I do a corporate gig. I think it’s generally inappropriate to charge thousands of dollars to a client and pedal tips from their guests.  And we are quite capable of putting on an engaging show without using the tip mechanism. But…tips do add a very interesting element to the dueling piano format, as you can see on some of our demos. Let’s say someone gives us a request for Piano Man along with $5. If someone hates that song, they can stop it immediately with $6 and have us play their song instead. The original requester may choose to “re-start” Piano Man by giving us $7. It can get into a hilarious battle. Dueling shows use these types of “tip battles” with College Fight Songs, North-South duels, Male-Female duels, etc. to great effect.

A professional event planner that understood the “dueling” aspect of Dueling Pianos recently suggested giving the guests “play money” to use as “tips” to drive the content of our request-based show. I don’t like the idea of play money, because it’s not going to cause the same crowd response since the crowd will know that the person tipping doesn’t have skin in the game. And if anything, it will make the show more chaotic without adding the fun factor you’re trying to achieve.

Here’s a suggestion…rather than using “play money”, give each guest an envelope containing $3 or $5 or $20 (or more depending upon how extravagant you want to get). Seal the envelope so they can’t see what’s inside (a dark colored envelope or manila should do the trick), and put the guests name on it. Under their name have written instructions not to open the envelope until instructed to do so.

Then when the dueling pianists begin the show, they tell everyone to open their envelope. The duelers explain what the money is for, but tell them that they are permitted to pocket the money and keep it as a gift (cool, right?) OR use it in song battles. They can also pool their money, to have more power in choosing the direction of the show.

How many events do you know that have given cash as a door prize? It’s a unique gift, and it’s memorable. But far more memorable is the fun they will have pooling it, and stopping songs, and starting songs…kind of like a really fun team building exercise. And depending upon how much money the client wants to put in the envelopes the dueling piano entertainers may be willing to lower their entertainment fee.

I know that many of you have never planned a party before. Perhaps you’re planning a wedding or your husband’s 40th Birthday Party. This list is a product of many years of providing private event entertainment (specifically Dueling Pianos, but this list is applicable to most forms of entertainment). These are the questions you should be asking your performers before you sign on the dotted line.

1. Where (and for whom) do you do the majority of your shows?
What you are trying to find out is how experienced and equipped the performers are for working private events. Many bar performers represent themselves as event entertainers but may not have the experience working with venues and professional event planners, or they may lack the equipment or insurance that is necessary, especially for larger venues.

2. Can you show proof of insurance?
While I’m not convinced that this is always necessary for event entertainers, this speaks to the professionalism of the entertainer. If the entertainer does a lot of private events in nice hotels and country clubs, they will be more likely to carry liability insurance, as many of the higher-end venues require this. If you entertainer is not insured, then perhaps they are not working many of these venues, which could mean that they are not attracting the top end private event clients.

3. What is the cancellation policy?
Most entertainment companies will penalize you for canceling a performance that has already been contracted. They look at dates on the calendar as inventory. If you reserve your date, they can’t sell it to anyone else. So if you cancel, they may not be able to rebook. It’s similar to how event venues or photographers view their calendars. If you think there may be a need to cancel or change your date, discuss this with the entertainment BEFORE signing a contract and see if there is any flexibility on their policy. I’ve written contracts for clients that allowed them to cancel up to 4 weeks after entering the contract to suit a particular situation.

4. How much is the deposit and is it refundable?
This goes hand in hand with the previous question. Usually deposits are not refundable. This serves as incentive for a client not to cancel or reschedule. A common deposit structure is 50% upon signing and 50% upon arrival at the venue.

5. Do you bring stage lighting?
A pretty standard thing for entertainers to supply, but some of the smaller groups won’t have this, and some of the higher-tier entertainers may expect that this would be supplied by an outside production company. You should ask.

6. Are the people I am seeing in the video the same as those working my event?
If not, who will be working my event? In the case of New York, NY Dueling Pianos, we have a brand of entertainment that is accurately represented by all of our promo videos, regardless of the individual entertainer, not unlike The Blue Man Group, or a national touring company of a Broadway Musical.

7. How long do you need to set up?
Make sure you coordinate this with your venue. If the venue is using your space for another client prior to your time slot, you want to ask the venue what is the earliest time that the entertainment can load in, and then verify that this is sufficient with your entertainment.

8. Ask the venue if there is specific wording they require on the performer’s insurance certificate.
Some venues just want to know the entertainer is insured, but many require that they, the venue, (and sometimes the parent company) are listed on the entertainer’s insurance certificate as Additional Insured.

9. Find out the power requirements of the performers. Most commercial circuits are 20 Amps, and residential circuits are usually 15 Amps. Depending on what electronics the entertainers are running they may require a single 20 Amp dedicated circuit. Dedicated means that nothing else is drawing power from that circuit. If they are running incandescent lights, or have a large sound system the entertainers may ask for 2 or 3 dedicated circuits, or even more for the more elaborate shows.

10. Ask for space (and staging) requirements from your entertainers. This includes length, depth, height and placement. Verify with the venue that this can be accommodated. If it can’t, find out how flexible your entertainers are regarding these dimensions and placement. Many performers can do their show with no staging platform at all if necessary but they will all need a certain amount of space to set up. Know what this is.