A MEETING MASTERS MEMO

Created by
John K. Mackenzie

Last month we reviewed some reservations about the value of using sport celebrities for audience motivation. Now, here are some thoughts on using live talent at sales meetings.

Using Live Talent at Meetings
Business theater can add dimensions of emotional appeal and thematic depth to meetings seldom found in PowerPoint modules or rented videos. And I'm not talking about another Star Trek knock-off, either. But using actors is tricky. Consider these questions:

1. Has your producer worked with actors?

Experience gained working with speakers and projectors is not always the best preparation for working with singers and dancers.

2. Can you afford it?

Don't fall for the line that "A couple of talented kids won't cost much." If you're using your own people, maybe they won't. If you're using Actors' Equity union members, it adds up.

NOTE: If you're using actors in a video, made for the meeting, you could be dealing with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) or the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

Reasonable fees? Sure. But wait, friends, there's more!

• The script for a live talent show will cost more than one without talent.
• You'll need additional sound and lighting; and that means additional technicians and equipment.
• Your producer may want (need) a director, set designer, dance captain and stage manager.
• And you should reserve your meeting room another 2 or 3 days longer than you planned for setups and rehearsals.

If you add wardrobe, music, makeup, travel, hotel and meals a couple of talented kids starts to become a couple of expensive kids. (No value judgment intended. It can be worth the money.)

3. Have you monitored talent auditions?

After your producer moves on to the next job you'll still have yours (we hope). And you don't need post-show pains such as: "What happened to ethnic diversity!" "You should have had two women and one man, instead of two men and one woman!" "The actors were (too old) (too young)!" and on and on.

• Check talent photos. Attend casting auditions. Visit rehearsals. Let your boss know what's happening.

4.  Do you like the lyrics?

If you're commissioning original songs, read lyrics before it's written. Instruments and voices won't change the words if you're not happy with them.

• Get contract clarification on who controls residual rights to original music; before you pay for it.
   
• Many producers have stock music tracks. If new lyrics will fit, great! You'll save a lot of time and money.
   
• You've probably heard it before: If using music that's not original, make sure it's been cleared! ASCAP and BMI have lawyers on standby who never met a lawsuit they didn't love.

5. Have you got backup talent?

Your producer should identify standby talent in case first choices succumb to the lure of a TV commercial or film job.

6. Does your script unify or fragment?

Building an exciting theatrical experience, over two or three hours, is tough enough on the legitimate stage where they don't stop for marketing speeches, product intros or sales awards.

Giving your audience the feeling that every element – cast or corporate – is an essential part of a larger story...ahhh, therein lies the magic of great business theater. I haven't known many writers who could pull it off. (My former partner, Shep Kerman, was one of them.)

7. Ordering sets and scenery?

Business theater often uses special scenery shipped to your meeting location. Unless you've got a professional site survey that really locks up details – from loading dock to lighting bridge – it's not unusual for this to become a logistical and technical nightmare.

• That scenery sketch you approved? It looked marvelous. Right? Now that it's been built and shipped to your meeting location it still looks marvelous – even though it's too big for your stage and now the hotel insists you hire union electricians and stagehands.

8. Videotaping your show?

(Assuming an Equity cast) you can tape your show as an archival record without special charges. Additional union fees may apply if you send edited segments to field offices, clients or your website. You can learn more about industrials and business theater from the Actors' Equity website.
Actors' Equity Association
165 West 46^th Street
New York, New York 10036
(212) 869-8530

9. Some talent uses

• Show open and close:
  Kicking things off with a song and dance number wakes people up and suggests something special is going to happen. Ending with a song and dance number suggests something special has happened (even if it hasn't).
• Speaker intros:
  I never knew a speaker who didn't enjoy a 10 second talent intro on the way to the lectern.
• Transitions:
  Need a bridge between agenda changes? Your cast can often give it to you.
• Audience advocacy:
  Talent can raise, and buffer, controversial areas you'd like to avoid if you could.
• Sales awards:
  Live talent can take the edge off predictable (boring?) format repetition.

A closing note: Your resident impresario
I don't have any good answers about what to do with the executive who loves and lives to write parodies of old songs or direct skits using your lunch-hour repertory company. If he or she is really good at it (it happens) then thumbs up and break a leg.