Personalize material for corporate gigs
Hi Dave – Can you give us a few examples of how to work event themes into your material for a corporate gig? What is your process like? – MD
Hey MD – Speakers and comedians who work corporate gigs on a regular basis will (or should) have their own ideas and techniques about this process. As always, I’ll throw the offer out there for any of you would like to contribute. Send suggestions to dave@thecomedybook.com or leave a comment here and I’ll share the best ones in an upcoming FAQs And Answers.
But in the meantime, since you asked…
As a speaker and booking agent for corporate events, I’ve always felt it was SUPER important to personalize your program (or comedy act) to the audience. Of course if you’re a big star it’s not as necessary. The event planner is hiring you because they already know who you are.
For the rest of us? It’s always a good idea to show we know who THEY are.
Speakers and comedians (and performers in general) call this customizing or personalizing their material. And even though they might be giving the same presentation as they did a thousand miles away the night before, they’ll insert references to the area, the event theme and/or the audience.
Think of it this way…
Sir Paul
Paul McCartney (sorry, I’m a classic rocker) is on tour this summer. He’s doing pretty much the same set (song list) for every show. He needs to because of the lighting cues, video displays and other techno stuff that is designed and rehearsed in advance. It’s the same with The Rolling Stones and other large arena acts.
To continue this thought, it’s like a speaker with a specific power point display or a comedian with a killer closing bit. They HAVE to do it for their program to be successful, which is what corporate clients pay big bucks for. BUT it can be tweaked to make the audience feel this particular program is special for them.
Example:
McCartney played The Staples Center in Los Angeles. You can bet he yelled something close to0, “Hello Los Angeles – we’re rockin’ tonight!”
The next week he might have been at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Would he welcome Los Angeles again that night? No – he would personalize it for his audience.
“Hello New York City – we’re rockin’ tonight!”
Get it? That’s a very simple example, but demonstrates how personalizing your material works.
Another example:
I’ve booked a lot of comedians from NYC and LA to do shows near Cleveland. Honestly? Unless they’re from the area, they don’t know a heck of a lot about Cleveland. But the smart ones (and I like working with smart performers) will usually look for ways to relate to their audience. A popular question the comedians ask…
What’s a suburb of Cleveland that the locals makes fun of?
I tell them Parma (don’t ask if you don’t know). Then during their show, the comic will reference Parma and the crowd will feel he really KNOWS them!
But you know what? They know nothing else about Parma except the name. Next week when they’re in another location, they’ll ask someone else the same question and substitute that area suburb into the same joke.
It’s called personalizing your performance for that particular audience. And it works – BIG time!! Audiences, talent bookers and event planners LOVE it!
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Is there a certain process (getting back to the question) in doing this? Again, if you have a technique and care to share, just leave a comment or email dave@thecomedybook.com.
Here’s what I do for corporate bookings…
Enclosed with the contract sent to the client or event planner (snail mail or as email attachments) is a one or two-page questionnaire. The best way to learn about an event and audience is to ask. Based on their answers, I’ll try to work some of the info they share into my presentation.
Some of the questions I’ll ask…
Is there a theme for the event? If so – what is the theme?
Is there anything you’d like me to know about your city or event location?
Who are some key people in the company?
Will there be anyone in the audience you would like me to focus on as an audience participation volunteer or for special recognition?
What are products and/or services of the company?
If there a friendly-rival company I can mention – or not mention? Can I use (politically correct) humor at the expense of this rival company?
What are some favorite local hang-outs for employees?
Of course the list can go on and on, depending on how deep you want to get into personalizing your program.
Now, you might remember that in addition to personalizing, I also used the term customizing at the beginning of this article. This is an extra added attraction many speakers and comedians offer – usually for an additional fee.
In other words – they’re gonna charge more $$’s when they do more work.
Customizing involves finding out EXACTLY what the client wants you to talk about AND creating a presentation / comedy act based on that specific information. Again, the final program is usually based on the presentation or act the speaker has in the past – and what got them hired in the first place.
Example:
Sir Carrot
If you talk about communications, no client is going to hire you to customize a program on accounting. Same with comedy. If you’re Carrot Top, they’re not going to tell you to leave your props home.
Like McCartney, huge audiences will pay to see him. But he’d better play more than a few Beatles and Wings songs or a majority will leave disappointed (and feel ripped-off).
But customizing does involve more work in learning more about the client, company and audience – and then actually creating material and using it. In my experience, customizing has involved interviewing (phone and/or email) the event planner, the client and other key people from the company. On the lesser hand, to only personalize an existing program I’ve never done more than ask for them to return the completed questionnaire with the contract.
Okay, so that’s my process. Now I’ll wait to hear what you do…
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Dave’s next comedy workshop at The Cleveland Improv starts Saturday – July 13, 2013
Dave Schwensen is the author of How To Be A Working Comic: An Insider’s Business Guide To A Career In Stand-Up Comedy, Comedy FAQs And Answers: How The Stand-Up Biz Really Works, and Comedy Workshop: Creating & Writing Comedy Material for Comedians & Humorous Speakers.
For information about these books, comedy workshops at The Cleveland Improv, and private coaching for comedians and speakers in person, by phone or via Skype visit www.TheComedyBook.com
Copyright 2013 – North Shore Publishing
