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How to Cast the Perfect Event Staff

How to Cast the Perfect Event Staff

Staffing a product launch, event, or promotion is no less important than casting a television show or movie. The success of the event, like the success of a show, leans heavily on how engaging and likeable its people are.

Both staffing and casting are usually handled by dedicated professionals, and with good reason. It takes a great deal of focus, energy, and experience to discover, hire, and retain the right staff.

There is, however, a general theory behind casting the perfect event staff (at least here at PromoPeople). We’ve already covered the overarching qualities we look for in brand ambassadors, now we’ll delve deeper into how we match successful candidates with your event.

  1. Objectively, it’s all about personality.

All good actors aren’t right for a single part, yet they share common qualities that make them objectively good. The same goes for event staff. Before filling the roles of individual staff members, identify a range of potential candidates by referring to our blog post on the seven qualities of highly successful brand ambassadors.

All event staff should be authentic, committed to your message, likeable, friendly, persuasive, professional, and proactive when an interaction/event takes an unforeseen turn. No matter what your target audience is, everyone finds these seven qualities engaging in another person.

  1. Draw from a wide pool of candidates.

Versatility is an important quality for anyone, including event staff, but it isn’t essential to being a successful promoter. It’s normal for a person to connect more with one type of person than another. Cast a wide net to find those individuals that effortlessly fit in with the crowd your event attracts.

We don’t expect the same staff to charm event goers at, for example, the Australian Open (which we helped staff in 2015) as at the Brick Man Experience (which we staffed for its 2015 Melbourne debut).

Each event had totally different event objectives and, therefore, required a totally different staff. At the Australian Open aggressive, athletic staff caught the crowd’s attention as part of the spruiker welcome team. At the Brick Man Experience, creative staff worked with dads, moms, and kids to build lasting family memories.

 

  1. Build teams, not superstars.

Event staff are more successful when they work together. Don’t waste your time tracking down and retaining lone wolf event staff superstars. Instead, focus your energy on building a strong, efficient team with good communication and, ideally, amazing chemistry (that’s really what makes a television show successful, isn’t it?).

A team that distributes engagements equally ensures that every event goer gets the personal attention that he or she needs for a positive engagement. Likewise, a team that has rapport draws event goers into a positive group dynamic, leaving them with a sense of belonging with your brand people.

Promotional events are dynamic affairs. Not only are event goers themselves constantly coming and going, but unplanned incidents can put a spoke in the wheel of even the most meticulously organized event. A strong team, however, keeps your event running smoothly through the mishaps.