When I first began entertaining at private parties, weddings and corporate events I would always ask where the stage was going to be located.  Sometimes the stage was located on the small side of a very large rectangular space leaving me positioned far away from the majority of the audience. I would always find myself working twice as hard to capture a room and many times it was impossible. Then, a few years ago, I changed my approach. I was talking to a friend who is also an event entertainer and he said something that always stuck with me. He told me that when he works an event, rather than asking where the stage will be, and accepting this as a done deal, he works with the client to inform them where the stage would be most effective.

In the case of both my friend and I, we both run a dueling piano show in different cities, and the key with both our shows is audience interaction. We want the audience to have direct access to the stage to make requests, or come up and dance, or bring the birthday boy or bachelorette up for a roast.  We also work the audience from the stage, encouraging singing, clapping and general mayhem. So the way that works best is when the audience is in close proximity to the stage.  That can mean placing the stage in the middle of the longest wall (rather than the short wall where you are at the very end of a long narrow room), or even better, in the middle of the room where we are central to everyone. This “theater in the round” setup wouldn’t work for all types of entertainment, but for the situations it does work, it serves to cut the distance in half from the stage to the furthest audience member, making audience interaction so much easier.

Another consideration for me is the height of the stage. Higher isn’t always better for every type of show. With dueling piano shows, it’s not a concert but rather, the entertainer is the first partier among equals, meaning that I don’t want to be looked at as “the performer” but rather as the guy who leads the party while still being part of it. So I find that a stage height of 6″ -12″ inches is perfect for small to medium-sized rooms, because that makes me more accessible both physically (for those who want to come up on stage) and figuratively (I’m not elevated above the guests.) In larger rooms, a higher elevation may be appropriate so that those that are far from the stage can still have an unobstructed view.

So if you are a professional event planner, or just a person throwing a party, know that where you choose to put your entertainers could make or break your party. Ask your entertainer for their informed opinion. Obviously what works for Dueling Pianos may not work for a magician, and what works for a magician might not work for a wedding band. Every room is different and every show is different. If you are working with professional event entertainers, they will gladly research the venue and help you figure out how they can make the maximum impact for your guests.

Here’s some ideas for large event venues that can hold upwards of 1,000 people in the Philly area.

Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel. It’s very close to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and Olde City, in the heart of Center City Philly.  Largest meeting room is 20,000 sq ft.

Philadelphia Marriott Downtown at 12th and Market, is also in the heart of Center City and adjacent to the PA. Convention Center.
Largest meeting room is 34,000 sq ft.

Commonwealth Plaza in the Kimmel Center at Broad Street and Walnut is a unique space with 150′ ceilings, a multi-tered lobby and room for 1250 people for a reception (750 for seated dinner)

Pennsylvania Convention Center is certainly an obvious choice with 528,000 sq ft. of contiguous exhibition space. They have two ballrooms, 32,000 sq ft and 55,000 sq ft. and a Grand Hall of 35,000 sq ft. There’s over 3,000 hotel rooms within a 5 minute walk.

Wildwoods Convention Center is located on the Jersey Shore, 80 miles SE of Philadelphia with a capacity to handle 10,000 guests. It’s located in a seaside resort town which allows for fun activities for the conference goer’s family. I don’t know if they sustained any damage due to hurricane Sandy, so you may want to double check on that. Their largest space is a 75,000 sq ft exhibition hall that can be divided in half.

Every Atlantic City Casino has facilities for large corporate events. Resorts has the smallest single room capacity at 1,130 while the Trump Taj has the largers single room capicity at 7,000 people. This is an easy 60 mile drive from Philly. Again, check with the specific hotel and verify that everything is OK after Hurricane Sandy.

As a Dueling Piano entertainer, I’ve worked in clubs and I’ve worked in corporate settings. I’ve seen performers get away with things in clubs that they could never get away with in a corporate setting. So many performers are very talented and creative people, and yet when it comes to translating that into doing corporate shows, they are clueless.

There’s so many critical things required of Corporate Entertainers. Many of these are the very same things that are required of any employee of a Corporation, i.e. dependability, communication, professionalism, lack of ego, ability to be part of a team, etc, etc. Many times successful artists have made their career out of being an individual, and not conforming. As an artist this may be critical, but as a corporate entertainer it can be a hindrance, especially off the stage.

But assuming they have these basic requirements and are on point with the business aspects of corporate work, the most important thing is that they must be able to capture and hold the attention of the group. They must be interesting. In order to be interesting they must relate to the audience. It’s the event planners job to hire to right entertainment for their group. If they hire redneck comedian Jeff Foxworthy to do a Investment Banker’s Convention in Montreal, or, similarly, hire Beyonce to do a bikers convention in Tulsa, it’s probably going to be doomed from the start.

If your group is high energy, you want to hire a high energy act. The choice of entertainment may depend on how much your crowd will be drinking. Have they been worn out by traveling all day, and if so, maybe you want to keep it short and snappy. Or maybe they’ve been in serious and staid conferences and classes all day and this is the opportunity for them to loosen up.

Speaking as a performer, once you are onstage, it’s important to identify where your audience is coming from, and be able to adapt. Do I try and grab them right away with a high energy set, or do I start out a bit slower, and let them ease into the show before rocking their socks off? If the crowd is still eating, I’m probably not going to try and force everyone to sing along to Crocodile Rock with a mouth full of Haddock. If I play Billy Joel, and I don’t get the response I’m looking for, I may change gears mid-song and rap out a chorus of Ice, Ice, Baby to see what I get back from the audience. I am constantly scanning the audience to determine what the next move should be. And that’s one of the most important skills a Corporate Entertainer must have. They must be able t0 read the crowd and adjust.

As an event planner, you will want to see video of all unknown performers. You will also want to speak to other event planners that have used this performer before and ask very specific questions about how they related to the crowd, and how the crowd related to the performer.

One of the most popular events I’ve seen used for corporate team building “entertainment” is a casino night. Each attendee is given a set number of chips and one raffle ticket at the beginning of the night and at the end of the night they can trade their winnings in for tickets towards a raffle. The more they win “gambling” the better the chances are of winning a prize in the raffle. If there are sponsors of the overall event, you can ask them for raffle donations. Otherwise, corporate branded items, Starbucks/Amazon gift cards, etc. can be used. I’d suggest one raffle item for each 10-15 attendees. They don’t need to be high value, although it’s nice to have one “grand prize” type item. Keep in mind if people have flown in for the event, size matters.

As you watch you’ll see alliances being formed and a lot of teamwork and coaching as more experienced players assist other players and players strategize with each other to defeat players deemed to be winning too often.

Sometimes there may be a few people not want to participate for religious/cultural reasons, and you should always have alternates for them–usually a couple of games suitable for two such as checkers and Uno to start, but they are always joined by people who have lost all their chips fairly quickly and you can have Pictionary with white boards set up for team play.

If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas, you’ll know that Dueling Pianos is a wildly popular form of entertainment that dovetails with the Casino party environment. This also works as an additional team building activity, as a good Dueling Piano show offers opportunities for group participation, and interaction both with the entertainers and among the participants. That will be the focus of our next blog post!

Planning a special event is exciting- and more than a little rough on the nerves. For the love of God, you never want your event to be remembered for the ‘AWFUL (insert venue, entertainment, food, atmosphere)’

You’ve already found great entertainment. But finding the right entertainment venue is one of the more traditionally vexing aspects of party planning. In the interests of making that process a little less fraught, here’s a few tips to help you make the best decision.

• Consider the season. You may have the absolute perfect venue in mind, but if it’s most charming features can only be enjoyed in warmer weather, and you’ve got a February event, keep looking.
• Can the venue accommodate the kind of entertainment you have in mind? Do they have in-house tech people to set up the stage, or will the performers need to bring all their own equipment and tech people?
• Is the venue relatively convenient for the majority of the guests? Of course, for special occasions most people don’t mind going a bit out of their way, but you don’t want your guests to become mired in complex travel arrangements- unless you’re prepared to organise and pay for it all, of course!
• Is the venue actually available at the time you have in mind? Many first time party planners mistakenly believe that a couple of months notice is more than enough. Very popular venues, however, can be booked out in peak months well over a year in advance. Before you get too carried away with the planning, ensure your venue of choice is actually available.

About the Author: Special Guest Writer Isabelle Riley is a copywriter working with Ballara Reception, nestled on 3 acres of English gardens, with it’s own picturesque lake, weeping willows and family of ducks–the perfect setting for a wedding venue Melbourne. When Isabelle is not working she enjoys writing restaurant and movie reviews and regularly updating her Facebook.

New York City is one of the event capitals of the world, and because of how precious real estate is, especially in Manhattan, many cool places serve double duty both as their original function (i.e. Library, Museum) and as event spaces that can be rented out. You’ve already figured out your unique event entertainment (New York, NY Dueling Pianos, of course!) Now, here’s 5 unique spaces on the island of Manhattan to consider if you are seeking something different than a standard hotel or convention space for your corporate event, wedding, or gala fundraiser.
Another great New York space is the Central Park Boathouse in middle of this beautiful Park. The Boathouse overlooks the lake which, in the warmer months hosts gondolas replete with gondoliers singing Italian love songs to starry-eyed couples. There’s a brick terrace right on the lake, perfect for cocktail hour before dinner. Capacity is 80 – 230.The iconic Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library just underwent a $50 Million renovation and is one of the more spectacular venues, located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. There are 7 different spaces available, each one breathtakingly dramatic. From the old school wealthy grandeur of Astor Hall or McGraw Rotunda to the Wachenheim Trustees Room, a warm 19th century drawing room, each space offers a historic slice of perhaps the greatest city in the world. These rooms accomodate from 40 up to 500 people.
While the Delegates Dining Room at the United Nations is certainly a wonderful space, it’s the adjoining patio that’s particularly special with it’s sweeping views of the city skyline and the East RIver. It’s one of NYC’s largest outdoor patios and can hold up to 1,000. Add the 800 capacity of the Dining Room, and you host an event for 1,800 people at this historic locations where ambassadors, diplomats and the occasional president roams.Whether you’re hosting a Black Eyed Peas concert or Sarah Jessica Parker’s wedding, this gothic synagogue built in 1849 will fit the bill. Angel Oresanz Centerwas  modeled after the Cathedral of Cologne with the gothic style of the German Reform Movement of the 19th century. The center has become one of the more dramatic event rental spaces in NYC with it’s rib-vaulted ceiling, wraparound mezzanine and it’s architectural detailed alter.  The main space can hold up to 300 people, with additional seating for 200 more in the balcony.

If inlaid marble floors, ten foot brass doors, soaring Corinthian columns and delicate stained glass windows amid gold-leaf domes are your thing, then you want to check out the magnificent Grand Ballroom at Gotham Hall.  There’s a plushly appointed mezzanine that looks out over the Grand Ballroom and the space is quite dramatic, as the name suggests. With 10,000 square feet on the floor of the Grand Ballroom, you can invite up to 800 guests, with room for 300 more up in the mezzanine.