Every host knows the feeling.
The room is booked, the drinks are poured, and for the first forty-five minutes, your guests stand in the small groups they arrived in, glancing at the door, waiting for the party to start.
And, of course, it does start – usually around the time people sit down to eat, or after the second drink. But that first hour, whilst latecomers are arriving, and people are just breaking the ice, is the part hosts worry about, and it is the part nobody plans for.
That hour is what I do.
I move through the room while people are still holding their coats. Small groups of four or five, close-up, with nothing on stage and no announcement. Strangers who were standing apart end up shoulder to shoulder watching the same thing, and by the time I have crossed the room the party has already begun.
Most of what I do is mind reading, which is where forty years as a performance psychologist tends to show. I work with what people give away without knowing they have given it. And then… I get the guests to read each other’s minds – which is a personal highlight at these events!
You don’t have to take my word for any of this…
Watch the faces instead. I film at real events, with real guests, and the reactions are not staged. That is the fairest way to judge whether something like this belongs at your party.
There is a finding in psychology called the peak-end rule, if you’ve read my emails or blogs before you will be familiar with why this is important at events. We do not remember an experience by its average. We remember its most intense moment, and how it ended.
A few minutes carry the whole memory of an event. Your guests will not recall the canapés (unless they are really very good!) They will recall the moment something happened that they still cannot explain, and they will still be talking about it a year later.
Sixtieths, fortieths, silver and golden anniversaries, engagement parties, family dinners at home. Rooms of two hundred or rooms of twelve. I cater my entertainment for every event, based on what you want, and what is going to work best with your event, and your audience.
If you have a date in mind, tell me about it. Dates for the rest of this year are going quickly, and December especially.
Check availability and enquire →
Roberto