The State of California requires every employer to have liability insurance to cover the medical cost involved with an employee getting injured at work. All of the California workers comp information can be very complicated to understand. For this reason each employer generally consults experts in the part of California workers comp information that most directly concerns their employment type.
The state has compiled a huge set of books that lists every kind of company and has listed a code number that corresponds with the historical risk of employee injury. For example, someone working in construction is at higher risk of being injured than someone working at an office job. The code number for a company establishes the level of liability insurance that a company is required to have.
There are a wide variety of insurance providers that specialize in the risks inherent to the various industries. There are also companies that work with many of the major providers so that when a company comes to them to get the required insurance, these companies are able to compare the rates of available providers in order to get a company the lowest possible insurance rate.
California workers comp information also requires periodic re-evaluation of the amount of insurance individual companies are required to maintain, based to the number of injury claims filed. This re-evaluation takes into consideration the possible state wide increase in workers comp claims, as well as the number of claims that particular company has filed.
Another consideration of the amount of insurance a company will be required may be based on more than one policy of insurance, due to the variety of job types that a company has. This is also where a good agency company comes in handy. They can not only shop around for a single policy for a company, but also for packages of policy types combined to help a company comply with the California workers comp insurance requirements.
Every company in California, whether a new start-up company or a multi-national company operating within California must comply with the California workers comp information listed by code. The required liability insurance must be maintained for every worker working within California’s borders.
The most important question is, what needs do you want the entertainment to fill? Will it be the main event of the evening, one of several highlights, or will it simply be background to everything else?
If the entertainment will be the main event of the evening, you may want to have some sort of feature performer such as a variety act of some kind; a magician, a comedian, a juggler, a singer, a show band, etc., and you will probably want the entertainment to last somewhere between thirty minutes to an hour or so.
If the entertainment is simply one part of a longer program or of several featured activities, the same type of performer might still be appropriate, but you may want the length of the performance to be shorter, somewhere between twelve and twenty-five minutes.
And if the entertainment is to be simply background to the party, you may want some sort of ongoing, low key entertainment, such as dance music, strolling close up magic, strolling musicians, or a small orchestra, depending on your budget.
And of course depending on the schedule and time frame, you may decide to use a combination of more than one of the above choices.
Whatever the case, make sure you’re clear about the specific needs you hope to fill with the entertainment, and simply choose accordingly.
Finding the Right Entertainers…
Once you’ve determined the specific needs of your event, it will help you in choosing the right type of entertainment. You want to look for entertainers who can tell you specifically what benefits they can offer for your event, and how those benefits fill your unique needs. If an entertainer is unable to communicate clearly and directly how he or she can fill those needs, they may not have your needs in mind at all. Make sure you’re completely clear about the specifics of what the entertainer will be providing, and that it’s spelled out in a written agreement.
You can find a variety of entertainers in the yellow pages or on the Internet. Don’t assume that the one with the biggest ad will be the best. As with any other service professional, make sure they have experience and good references. Any quality entertainer should be able to provide you with background credits, testimonials, and reference letters from past clients.
And don’t make the mistake of letting price be the only deciding factor. It’s important that the entertainment not only provides a fun filled, lively experience, but also that none of your guests are put off or offended in any way. If your audience is conservative, or a family group, make sure that the entertainer’s material is appropriate. Comedians and other performers who are used to working in adult nightclubs can sometimes have a very different idea of what’s “clean” than what you may have. So make sure you’re clear and specific about your needs.
Some Important Tips
Whoever you end up hiring, you want to be certain you’re getting the best value for the money you spend on entertainment. Here are a few useful tips to help you determine whether an entertainer can come through for you in bringing the best experience to your guests.
Be sure to ask these important questions…
“Are you a FULL TIME professional entertainer?” While there are exceptions, in many cases if an entertainer isn’t full time, it may mean he’s either not experienced enough, doesn’t have a good enough show, or is simply not professional and dependable enough to support a full time career.
“Can you provide references from past clients?” As I mentioned, any performer worth his salt should be glad to furnish you with letters and testimonials from his happy, satisfied customers. If he can’t, you may want to proceed with caution!
“Do you offer a money back guarantee?” If an entertainer doesn’t guarantee his work, there may be a reason he’s not prepared to do so! Even paying a much lower price is still a waste of money if your guests aren’t thrilled, or worse, are somehow offended or put off by the performance. You need to be certain the entertainment can deliver for your event.
“Can you tell me CLEARLY AND SPECIFICALLY what benefits you provide for my event?” Many performers are more interested in looking good than in meeting your unique needs. As I mentioned previously, make sure the entertainer is clear about how they can help meet your specific needs.
Use Your Creativity
As with every other aspect of planning your event, don’t be afraid to be creative and to think “outside the box”. Don’t assume that certain types of entertainment are “just for kids”. (That’s one of the biggest misconceptions I encounter regarding magic, here in the Midwestern United States.) Or that they won’t work in certain situations. Quite often the least obvious types of entertainment can be just the unique twist that will bring a touch of freshness and appeal to your event.
The main thing is, don’t automatically rule something out because you think it “wouldn’t work”. Look into a variety of options and ask for input from other creative or knowledgeable individuals. Above all, have fun planning your holiday party entertainment, and you’re sure to make the party fun and memorable for you and all your guests.
Photo Calendars are 12-month, wall-hanging calendars that you can create using your own digital photos and captions. As you customize your own photo calendar, you can start the calendar on whatever month and year you wish. Most photo calendars are printed on white heavy-weight glossy card stock that you can write on, and they are spiral-bound in the middle.
Creating Personalized Photo Calendars:
Most online digital photo printing services, such as Shutterfly (my favorite), Snapfish and Kodak EasyShare Gallery, offer custom photo calendars. The process of creating personalized photo calendars usually involves:
1. Picking a starting month and year for your calendar
2. Selecting a page design from a variety of templates
3. Choosing your photos from those you have uploaded to the photo service’s website and selecting which photo you want for a specific month
4. Writing brief photo captions to accompany each page of your photo calendar (usually optional)
5. Adding a cover photo for your personalized photo calendar
6. Placing your photo calendar order with the web site
Templates for Personalized Photo Calendars:
Most photo printing services like Shutterfly and Snapfish offer a selection of photo calendar templates to choose from. There are also several software programs that include free photo calendar templates. FotoFinish offers several photo calendar templates with its FotoFinish Suite software version, and you can download a variety of additional free photo calendar templates from its website. Adobe Photoshop Album and Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album 5 Deluxe also feature photo calendar templates.
Printing Photo Calendars:
If you design your custom photo calendar using an online photo service, to print it simply add your photo calendar to your online shopping account and check out. You’ll have your printed photo calendar in a few days. The average cost is about $ 20 per calendar. If you are using your own software to create your photo calendar, you can print your calendar pages using your own color printer and have your pages spiral bound into a calendar at a local copy store.
Customized Photo Calendars Make Great Gifts:
Custom photo calendars make terrific gifts, whether for birthdays, Mother’s Day, etc. Got an avid golfer in the family? What about custom golf photo calendars featuring photos of your golfer teeing off? Sometimes it is hard to come up with a good gift idea for elderly parents or grandparents. A photo calendar with pictures of your children makes a great gift that grandma and grandpa will enjoy anew each time they turn over a new month. Don’t have kids? What about 12 months of your favorite pet photos? The ideas are endless.
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!