Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver in the morning, Oklahoma City at Night.
As consultant for the Pacific National Exhibition’s Street Stars Program I’ve had the opportunity to look at a lot of performer promotional materials. People send me stuff hoping that the Fair will be interested in hiring them and the address that the information gets sent to is mine. The picture above is just one of several filing boxes I have that are full with performer promo. It’s a really interesting exercise to see how much of a variety of materials are out there and how wide the gap between the stuff that I consider to be really good, and the stuff that just doesn’t quite make the grade.
For what ever reason, be it earned or not, I seem to have developed the reputation for putting out quite decent promo. But how did I get my start with all of this? Well it sort of went like this… I didn’t really know what the ‘norm’ was when it came to producing materials for promoting myself, but I was lucky enough to have a festival producer show me what a couple of other performers had sent in. By looking at what others had done I could attempt to make my materials (at the very least) as good as the stuff I’d seen, and ideally better so that my material would stand out against the rest of the crowd.
These days it’s much easier to do comparative research on the web and see what various performers deem to be acceptable as far as on-line promotional materials are concerned. Better yet though is to find a local festival producer or talent booker who would be willing to let you come in and have a look at some of the materials that have been sent in to them. Offer to buy said person lunch perhaps and ask for their input as to what they like to see when a promotional kit crosses their desk.
I guarantee the investment in lunch will be well rewarded as you get the chance to compare the materials that you’re currently sending out with the best (and worst) of the stuff that a typical talent booker has collected over their years in the business. Knowing what’s out there means you can avoid some of the mistakes that others have made as well as find ways to make sure that your materials do in fact rise to the top. Making a positive first impression is the key that unlocks the door and allows you to develop what will hopefully become long term business relationships, so taking the time to make sure the first impression you deliver is the best it can possible be is well worth the time and effort.
