Building the vendor team

Order of booking, how to find good vendors in the GTA, references, and the directory filters that save hours.

Read the transcript

Building the vendor team.

Order of booking, how to find good vendors in the GTA, references, and the directory filters that save hours.

The order matters.

Vendors depend on each other, so the order you book them in decides how much rework you do.

The venue sets the date, the room and the rules.

Finding good vendors.

Four sources, in order of reliability.

First, your own past events: anyone who was good last time.

Vetting: three checks.

References from events like yours. Ask for two clients from the last year whose event matches yours in size and type, and call them.

Ask for a certificate of insurance before the contract, not after. A professional vendor has one ready.

Using the directory filters.

Filters save hours when they match your brief.

Start with category and region.

Worked example: the Harbour Gala.

With the hotel signed in May for a November Thursday, the order looked like this.

Catering was in-house, so step two was a tasting date, not a search.

That is the lesson. The worksheet and the quiz are just below this video.

What you will be able to do

• Book vendors in the right order
• Vet vendors with three checks
• Use the Directory filters

The order matters

Vendors depend on each other, so the order you book them in decides how much rework you do. The venue sets the date, the room and the rules. Everything else is chosen to fit it. Book out of order and the band does not fit the stage, the caterer cannot use the kitchen and the photographer is not allowed in the room without a fee.

Lead times above are what we see in practice, not rules. A weekday gala in November is easier on every line than a Saturday in June.

Finding good vendors

Four sources, in order of reliability. First, your own past events: anyone who was good last time. Second, other planners, who will tell you the truth about who shows up late. Third, the venue’s preferred list, which is reliable but not always independent; some lists are paid placements. Fourth, directories and search, filtered hard. The EventPlans directory is built for the fourth source: filter by category, region, audience and budget band, and read the full profile rather than the thumbnail. Listings owned by the site founder carry a visible disclosure and get no ranking preference. That disclosure is there so you can weigh it.

What you are looking for in a profile is evidence: real event photographs rather than studio shots, a repertoire described in specifics, a stated price band, a tech rider you can download, and a list of recent venues. A vendor who has played the room you booked is worth a call.

Vetting: three checks

1. References from events like yours. Ask for two clients from the last year whose event matches yours in size and type, and call them. Ask one question that matters: “What went wrong and how did they handle it?” Every event has something; the answer tells you about the vendor.
2. Insurance and paperwork. Ask for a certificate of insurance before the contract, not after. A professional vendor has one ready. Ask for a business registration or HST number if the quote carries HST; a vendor charging HST should be registered. (Registration becomes mandatory once revenue passes $30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters.)
3. The product itself. See it. Attend a public show, watch unedited video, taste the food, hear the band at a showcase. A reel is a highlight; you are buying the whole evening.

A fourth check for acts and bands: the rider. Request it with the quote. A clear rider means a vendor who has done this before and knows what they need from your venue.

Using the directory filters

Filters save hours when they match your brief. Start with category and region. Then audience: corporate, wedding, family, cultural; an act that is brilliant at a stag is not the act for a hospital foundation. Then budget band, set to the range from your budget sheet. Then venue type, because some acts need a stage and a ceiling and some need a tabletop. Finally availability, where the vendor has shared a calendar. The result is a page of candidates you can shortlist to three per category. The entertainment finder is the same idea tuned for acts, and the vendor contact sheet is where the shortlist lives once it becomes a team.

Worked example: the Harbour Gala

With the hotel signed in May for a November Thursday, the order looked like this. Catering was in-house, so step two was a tasting date, not a search. Step three, headline entertainment, was the first real hunt. The brief: a 30-minute act for a seated room of 200 donors, placed right before the ask, that leaves the room attentive rather than rowdy. The directory filtered to stage acts, corporate and fundraiser audience, $1,500–$5,000 band, stage required, Toronto. Nine candidates. Three had video of a full set in a ballroom. We called two references each and booked a mentalist whose last reference said “the auction went 20 percent over target after his set, and he was early”.

AV was in-house, so step four was a quote request with the mentalist’s rider attached. Photographer in July from the directory, filtered to corporate and fundraiser work, two references, COI received before the contract. Two strolling magicians in September for the 25-minute gap before the first plate, 1 performer per 40–60 guests being the guide, which for a seated room that only needs partial coverage made two enough. Rentals were the hotel’s. Security was not required by the hotel for a seated dinner of this size. Insurance was the foundation’s own policy, with the hotel named.

Common mistakes

• Booking the band before the venue and discovering the stage is 3 m wide.
• Taking the preferred list as a vetted list.
• Calling references the vendor chose without asking what went wrong.
• Accepting “insurance on request” and never requesting it.
• Filtering the directory by price alone and ending up with the cheapest act for the wrong audience.

Worksheet

Download the worksheet, complete it for your own event (or the running gala example), and keep it in your course binder. It takes about 10 minutes.

Download the worksheet (PDF)