A New Way to Get Bookings
Virtual Entertainment bookings are here! Great news for all our members – you can now take bookings for online performances, so you can still bring smiles to people’s faces, even during this strange time of social distancing.
We want as many of our entertainers to get involved and offer this service as possible, so that we have a huge range of virtual services on offer, and you have another channel to help you keep working during a time when the industry has been on hold.
The good things that have come out of this time have primarily been about finding new ways to stay connected, and the way we use technology has certainly changed for good – so even when we can all get back to live, in-the-flesh bookings, virtual entertainment will be here to stay.
So what is it, what can you offer and how do you get started?
What are Virtual Bookings & what can I offer? | How do I get started? | What about the tech? | How much should I charge?
What are Virtual Entertainment Bookings?
Virtual Entertainment Bookings are simply any sort of performance or skills lesson that you can provide online. This can be absolutely anything you can think up, from a full hour’s performance with agreed content, to a pre-recorded 10 minute performance that can be sent as a file attachment. Whatever you choose to do, your bookers will need to be able to view it on their device (phone, TV, laptop).
Virtual Christmas Party Entertainment
Since the November/December 2020 second round of social restrictions was announced we have seen a growth of enquiries from visitors that want to hire virtual christmas performers for their online gatherings and christmas party entertainment. So many of our acts are offering virtual christmas entertainment and we recommend early booking to secure virtual acts to join your online Christmas party.
What can I offer?
The sky’s the limit and we hope that some of you will think really creatively about what you can offer, but here are some ideas to get you started...
A Performance Postcard
This can either be live or a recording of a brief, personalized performance that the recipient can view on their phone or TV . It can be a personalized Happy Birthday song, for example, or a couple of magic tricks where you produce something that has special importance to the receiver…or even some amazing circus skills, ending in a personal message. One way o promote this service is to add your profile to the Singagrams for hire category, where you can take booking for virtual singagrams.
A Full Performance
This is ideal for Bands, Singers, Musicians and Children’s Entertainers. You can offer to provide entertainment for family gatherings or Zoom parties – a full performance that you can share with them virtually to create an unforgettable celebration or special occasion.
A Virtual Skills Class
Are you good at explaining things and sharing your talent? Then why not expand your repertoire by offering virtual skills sessions? You don’t have to be a teacher or have specific qualifications for this, just a real passion for your skill and a clear, positive and encouraging style of communication. You can offer one-off skills sessions for celebrations, such as basic magic tricks for kids or beginners belly dance. Or you can offer on-going lessons, such as singing or guitar lessons.
How do I get started?
Just watch our video below to find out how to add this new service to your profile.
The best bit is that if you already have an active account, it’s completely free to add this additional service! You can add as many Virtual Services as you like - but remember the better the description, the more bookings you’ll get so make sure you really take time to consider what you would like to offer.
What about the Tech?
There are so many options here, so it depends what you are most comfortable with and what you think will work best for your bookers. Here are the main options:
Facebook Messenger
Facebook messenger have recently created ‘Rooms’, which you can set up in advance and invite up to 50 people. This service is completely free and great if your booker wants to hold an online party with your act as the entertainment. Your client and their guests, will all need a messenger account, but once they have this they can join the performance on any internet-connected device.
Zoom
Zoom is great for larger groups too and the big advantage with this one is that the booker doesn’t need an account, you can just send them a link and log-in. The only issue with Zoom is that if you use a free account, the maximum ‘meeting’ time is only 30 minutes. If you are happy to pay for the upgrade, your calls can be as long as you like.
Whatsapp video calls can now include up to eight people, and this is a super-popular app so a really good one for one-to-one or smaller performances. The quality of the call can sometimes cause issues though, so you may want to test your performance on the app with a friend before taking bookings.
House Party
This app has become an overnight success story since lockdown and is really popular with kids and families. This is a great option that you might want to suggest for a remote kids party, for example, or a remote family celebration. Participants can play games on the app, but you can also see each other so they can include your performance in their House Party.
There are other options out there, but these are the most commonly used apps and services - you may want to consider offering all them.
Your Camera and Equipment
Whatever type of performance or skills class you’re offering, it is advisable to get a tripod for your phone, so that you get a nice smooth recording or live appearance, with no shaky camera. You can buy these online, they are very inexpensive and a good investment if you’re planning to offer professional virtual performances.
They also often come with a selfie-light which is great for close up filming/performances. Depending on the quality of your phone mic, you may also want to invest in a microphone, particularly if you’re a singer or a band.
With all the tech aspects of virtual performance, it is a really good idea to test the quality of your feed – including connectivity, image and sound quality, before your booking.
How much should I charge?
This is entirely up to you, and what you charge will no doubt reflect your normal booking rates. Just a couple of things that you should keep in mind for pricing:
- For virtual performance postcards, you are more likely to get bookings if you charge between £15- £35 or $15 -$35.
- For all virtual services you are more likely to get bookings if you are quite transparent about costs. So, consider creating a pricing structure for your services and adding it to your profile.
That’s all the key information you need to get started on launching your virtual entertainment business! Remember, you need an active account in order to receive booking requests – if you don’t have one yet, just log-in to your account, make sure your profile is looking perfect and click activate to choose your membership plan.