Celebrity Guests Enhance Events, Challenge Organizers

One way to immediately take an event to the next level is by having celebrities present. And it may be easier than you think.

“If we are disorganized and kind of leave them hanging or in uncomfortable situations, that puts someone like that in a very difficult position. Just do your job and cover all the bases,” said Courtney Pledger, the executive director for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.

Each year, Pledger helps the film festival to host multiple celebrity attendees — in the past, famed Beatles secretary Freda Kelly, actor Ted Harper, the stars of the Wimpy Kid movie series, controversial baseball player Jose Conseco, activist and Star Trek actor George Takei and more have attended. This year MTV personality Andrew Jenks and Lance Mackey, four-time winner of the Alaskan Iditarod, are two of the big names who will be at the festival.

From the Clinton School lecture series to film festivals to the annual Wal-Mart shareholders meeting in Fayetteville, celebrity guests lend their clout, fame and experience to enhance gatherings.

If you’ve landed a big-name guest for your event, you may find yourself dealing with some special needs and logistical issues as a result. But the experts stress that common sense goes a long way toward meeting those needs.

Pledger emphasized the importance of communicating with the all-star guests and making sure they feel at home.

“I have worked with a lot of actors and actresses and I would say just use your emotional intelligence and put yourself in their place,” Pledger said. “Try to anticipate their needs and their concerns and their worries so that they don’t have to voice them.

“Make the experience as stress free as possible and plan ahead. Know exactly how the pickup at the airport is happening. Get a cell phone contact of the person before like you do with everyone. Use your instincts to tell what is comfortable with somebody once you’ve gotten to know them.”

Pledger said that the little things make a difference. At the 2014 documentary film festival, when Takei was in attendance, he didn’t want to watch his own biographical documentary since “he’s see it a zillion times.” Instead, he wanted to walk in the room just as it was ending.

“We had it all timed out exactly and we went up to get them, and we entered the screening room just as the lights were coming up,” Pledger said. “George turned to me and said ‘No one’s been able to do that. It was literally perfect.’ ”

In terms of security, Pledger said the festival typically has volunteers working crowd control. Often, the celebs are sociable and want to stop and talk with fans, but Pledger said she makes sure they don’t get overwhelmed.

“We have not really had one single celebrity come that had any sort of a real ‘Keep everybody away from me’ policy,” Pledger said. “They expect to talk to people.”

Rebecca Buerkle, director of communications for the American Heart Association, helped to host Star Jones at the 2015 Go Red for Women Luncheon. Jones was one of the original hosts of the weekday morning talk show The View.

In order to help avoid Jones being bombarded by fans, they hosted a special VIP meet and greet with Jones, who had an AHA employee with her the entire time to deal with any issues.

“Just make sure all communication is crystal clear,” Buerkle said. “Typically you’ll be working with someone who’s not from the area, so help to answer any of their questions. We are the experts of our community, of the people who live here and of what’s going on. They’re our guests.”

Buerkle said having a detailed schedule for them with time built in for interviews or promotions can be helpful.

Sometimes, the celebrity guest will need to leave early, but things like this can be easily dealt with as long as they are noted ahead of time. It also helps to have an event coordinator or assistant present to help make that transition smooth.

Buerkle also tries to utilize the celebrities’ clout in the social media world.

“These celebrities are typically traveling quite a bit, so if you can, provide them details or some prefabricated posts or tweets because you’re wanting to make sure that information gets across,” Buerkle said.

Although it may take a little extra work, having a celebrity in attendance can really boost an event to the next level.