Entertainment

Archive for October, 2009

For many years I have supplied music for and played in bands that
provide music for corporate entertainment. Clients have included Audi,
The Evening Standard, Sainsburys, P.C. World, Safeways, Large corporate
clients at Henley and Ascot, I.T.V. and H.M. Treasury. Because of this
experience I felt it would be relevant in putting down some pointers in
helping clients choose the right kind of music for their particular
corporate entertainment.

Interestingly enough, most corporate hospitality entertainment work
tends to require music as an ingredient to a larger recipe. What I mean
by this is a great deal of corporate events are offering a multi
service package. Typically an organization may be putting on an
evenings entertainment to thank its workforce for a particularly
successful year. They may be offering music, food, comedy, a close up
magician, a casino and a caricaturist. The corporate client organizing
needs to decide what part the music has to play in the days/evenings
entertainment.

Questions he or she needs to ask are:

Is the music specifically for entertainment or is the music for background listening?

Do we need one style of music early on in the proceedings and then a change of style later in the days/ evenings entertainment?

Do you expect the corporate clients to be networking and discussing business or are they just there for a good time?

What overall atmosphere do you want to project with the event?

Is there going to be a change of location for the music as the entertainment event unfolds?

Different styles of music bands lend themselves to different
corporate hospitality situations. Below are a number of typical
corporate hospitality events with music suggestions for suitable music
entertainment.

Corporate entertainment model 1.
Evening reception with dinner and speeches.

In a situation such as this you will typically need music from the
outset as part of the meet and greet of the corporate evening. A
four-piece swing or Latin group is ideal with a larger ensemble for
particularly large gatherings. A professional outfit can pitch the
music at just the right decibel level so your guests can talk and enjoy
the entertainment without it encroaching on conversations. The
musicians would typically be dressed in Lounge Suits or Tuxedos (or the
female equivalent) to mirror what the guests are wearing themselves.
The music portrays an atmosphere of sophistication, which again
hopefully reflects the evenings overall ambience.

It is rare for corporate clients to want to dance especially as
clients there relationship is business not pleasure! In most cases it
is more important that the band is flexible in when it is needed over
the course of the evening i.e. At the top of the night for the
reception, a smaller version of the band (The pianist maybe for the
dinner), stopping for speeches and then after the speeches to play
until other entertainment is put on for the corporate clients. In this
situation give the band a clear idea of how you expect the evening to
go. What to wear, when they will be needed, when they need to get their
instruments in the building and be set up, when breaks will be
required, let them know if it is convenient or not to feed them and
then finally how they can leave when finished so as not to disrupt the
rest of the entertainment.

Corporate entertainment model 2.
Company Party.

Still corporate entertainment, still corporate hospitality but a
totally different set of requirements for the music. Ask yourself these
questions: Are your work force the type of workforce who will want to
dance at some point in the proceedings? If they are, then a
professional band with flexibility is essential. My experience is that
people of all ages will join together to dance to music from the
sixties and seventies. Whatever background music you require earlier in
the day/evening be it Latin, Swing, Rat Pack or Lounge, if you are
hoping to provide entertainment that will get people dancing remember
this fact. Sixties and Seventies. For some inexplicable reason this is
the music that gets people up on their feet.

When choosing your music ask the band if they can cover this part of
the corporate entertainment requirement. Get samples of their music if
need be. There is nothing worse than an ill equipped band struggling
through alien repertoire. However good the band is, if they do not play
the right repertoire, the right style of music then the corporate
entertainment will fall on deaf ears.

Let me at this point provide a caveat. Your workforce work together
They are not always going to be the best of friends however
professional their relationships are at work. Answer truthfully, will
they really want to dance together or is it asking too much? I would
say that in all the years of providing music for this kind of corporate
entertainment / hospitality , as long as the music is right, the
workforce tended to dance 30 or 40% of the time. It could be said that
a workforce who will enjoy each others company in this way is a
reflection on the talent of senior management to create a happy team!

Corporate entertainment model 3.
Company Fun Day.

These come in two types. The type to entertain your own workforce or
the type to entertain prospective clients. Both types of corporate
entertainment require music that is fun. This means that the music must
be perceived as fun and the band must be perceived as fun. In both
cases Jolly Dixieland Jazz or the summer sounds of Latin music are most
suitable.

Ask yourself these questions: does the band need to be mobile?
Meaning do you want the music to move around the site at various points
in the proceedings? If so then the jolly jazz route is most suitable. A
good professional outfit of four or five players can play acoustically
and move around a site as directed.

If the band can be static and close to electrical power then either Jolly Jazz or Latin Music is suitable.

Is the event outdoors or indoors and do you have provision for bad
weather? This is England, never trust to luck, assume the worst! Any
band that needs power cannot play in the rain for health and safety
reasons. At the first hint of inclement weather a band will have to
breakdown their equipment. Build this situation into your corporate
entertainment music decisions.

How do you want the band to dress? It is a fun day after all! In the
past I and my musicians have dressed as Elvis, Cavemen, Circus Clowns,
in fact all manner of characters in the name of corporate entertainment
and corporate hospitality. Good bands will have suitable outfits for
most situations but don`t hesitate in providing something off the wall
for a special event. Most professional players have a strange urge to
jump into such costumes at the earliest possibility! As someone who has
played at a nudist camp and for a toga party, both dressed accordingly,
take my word for it!

To draw this article together let me say this. Choose the right kind
of music for the event. Brief the band accordingly but make sure you
have a professional and flexible outfit, things can change over the
course of the event and you want to make sure the band are both
co-operative and able to fulfill your needs. Don`t hesitate to ask the
band for any special requirements you have. Do it in plenty of time so
they have time to prepare.

The corporate entertainment and hospitality you offer to your guests
reflects directly onto your company. The music and musicians must be
the type who are aware of this. Dont go for second best just to save a
small amount of money. You need a well prepared, well dressed band who
are both polite and charming to your guests. They need to play the
right kind of music for the event in order to help make the day or
evenings corporate entertainment a resounding success!

About the author

Jeff Williams is a London based trombonist and vocalist who has worked
all over the world in most areas of the business. He also runs a
successful, specialist, live music agency using the best of London
musicians, servicing both private and corporate clients playing all
over the country. He would be happy to advise you with your own event
or party and offers bespoke solutions for the perfect occasion.

About Us:

The Art Project is based out of Vancouver, BC and was created by two guys with a passion for art and the World Wide Web. The Art Project has created an environment with the artist in mind. It is a space where artists can set their own price, submit art pieces that they choose, and control many aspects of their own content without the hassle of building their own site. The Art Project is also a place where artists are not paying high art gallery fees which in turn allows buyers to get the best possible deal on amazing art, and the artist are compensated for their talent.

The Project:

The Art Project is a project that will let the artist display their work to the world. To aid the Art Project with marketing and promotions, we have teamed up with online marketing experts Fogg Industries to give artists the greatest internet exposure possible. This project was developed by artists for artists and is a place where an artist can be in full control of their art by choosing which art pieces to display, as well as how much they wish to charge per piece.

If you would like to sell art online at the The Art Project please see the submit section of our site. Or if you are looking to buy art online check us out too!

Why Choose The Art Project?

We have several unique programs:

1) Unique homepage gallery that features 3 artists per month.

2) Gallery Events

3) Partnership with Googles Picasa and Flickr.com for maximum online exposure

Also

- Over 30,000 website hits a month

- The artist decides the price that their art is listed for

- Great section for art collectors that want to sale their collections online

- Two unique and flexible payment plans Either cheap monthly rates or 20% commission* on sold art

- Partnerships with websites such as whole9, flickr.com, picasa.com, Artists in Canada, the Art Ads Network and Art in Canada guaranteeing maximum exposure

- Amazing organic Google search rankings, many of our artists and collections are on the first page of Google!

- Manually reviewed and updated ensuring that only high quality art is submitted onto the website.

- Buyer pays the shipping so the artist does not need to worry about extra shipping fees

- Easy submission and sign up

- Updated blogging

Thank you for using our site!

*The 20% commission only applies to online sales, art displayed in gallery events are subject to high commissions based on the gallery.

The Simple Way to Download Movies Legally – In order to download movies from movie sites, you have to first develop into a member. In which they often, as a rule of thumb, supply you a free audition or some kind of assurance. To construct advantages even with more enhancements, you are able to transmit your downloaded movies to not simply to your computer or notebook; but also to transportable devices reminiscent of iPods, the Zune, smart phones etc. At this moment depending on the movie site, you can duplicate your movie downloads onto a disc. This makes it effortless to arrange movies on a DVD or CD. Purchase movie downloads prior to their availability. Later, you’ll acquire an announcement the split second your sought after movie has been positioned on the website’s online movie catalog.

The Many Sorts of Online Movie Services – Movie Downloads come in numerous ways. A number of movie services charge for each movie download a fee and/or a monthly payment. Whereas other movie services charge you a fee on just one occasion for an unrestricted amount of free movie downloads for the rest of your existence! For as saving money; it is relatively certain as to what form of movie service is a superior alternative. Make certain to comprise of a comprehensive knowledge of what a movie site is providing. It is rather probable to be bamboozled by those movie trailer or movie clip sites that appear to provide full-length DVD quality movies. So maintain observation for rouge movie sties.

Free Movie Download Application – Vongo has numerous of the latest movies to watch, download, rent, burn, and purchase to embark on your own assortment of most wanted movies. Also, you are able to watch these on your TV. A good quantity of the movies are part of the monthly payment plan and others entail a per movie download charge to rent or acquire. You can download the Vongo program without charge to obtain a first-rate feeling of the movie download program.

Beware of Bootleg Movies – Something as well to maintain a look out forsideration for the quality of movie downloads, then illegal free movie download sites could possibly well be fine with you. B, are plagiarized free movie downloads. At this instant if you are presently trying to download movies for free lacking conut if you crave DVD quality movie downloads, be acquainted with this point. Plagiarized movies are for the largest part absolutely not of studio produced quality. Plagiarized movies are usually recorded in a cinema by a person with a camcorder positioning it at the gigantic movie display. These kinds of movies usually have interruptions like toddlers weeping and adolescents behaving badly. These footages are transferred onto a computer for Web entrance. From time to time there is a cost, but a much of occasions you are able to hit upon these illegal movies for free. It doesn’t cease, hard copies of these bootleg movies are made and distributed to world.

Access to DVD Quality Movies – If you wish for DVD movie downloads, then you have got to join authorized movie services. We have information on quite a few movie sites, compare them with each other and settle on which movie websites grant you the movie downloads you will find pleasant.