How to Hire Event Staff in Toronto: Do’s and Don’t’s

Hiring the wrong event staff for your Toronto event can turn into a disaster. There are, after all, horror stories of rude, incompetent, or late staff that ended up throwing an event into disarray. Such tales abound on Yelp and other online review sites.

Which, of course, raises the question: how do you successfully hire event staff in Toronto? How can you be confident that the event staff will be right there for you, freeing up your time to focus on other matters?

In answer to this question, we’ve compiled a list of do’s and don’t’s when it comes to hiring staff for your upcoming event.

Do’s

1. Read through the agency’s or company’s testimonials. Are the testimonials from respectable companies? Are there at least a few detailed testimonials, or are all the testimonials just one or two lines? It’s a good sign when an agency has several detailed testimonials from first-rate companies, as this shows that the company was so impressed with the agency that it went out of its way to leave a solid review.

1. Look at the event staffing agency’s culture. An agency with an energetic, vivacious, and forward-looking culture is an agency that has vision, purpose, and a mission. And that’s the kind of alchemy that produces strong results for you and makes your event a big hit. A creative staffing agency can help you out if there’s a hiccup; on the other hand, an event staffing agency that lacks a good company culture will ultimately be lacking in the quality of service.

1. Get an idea of the agency talent. Agencies with diverse, large rolodexes -- and that have a track-record of assembling bold, creative teams -- will be of greater benefit to you than an agency that’s lacking diversity and talent. How do you get an idea of the scope and depth of the talent under an agency’s wing?

Start by reviewing past events that were staffed by the agency. This kind of intelligence can be gathered by analyzing the agency’s social media pages and press releases.

Don’t’s

1. Don’t hire event staff in Toronto based solely on price. If you’re a marketing manager, a company director, or a CMO, you likely have a marketing budget you have to work with. However, it’s important to keep in mind that hiring event staff is an investment, so always opting for the lowest-possible-priced-staff can easily nip you in the bud. The old maxim that you get what you pay for is often true, so being a price shopper probably won’t serve you so well.

1. Don’t base your decision solely on the brand name of the agency. The brand name of an event staffing agency tells you the popularity of the company, but don’t base your decision only on this. While a big-brand name might seem important, it’s actually not as important as the individual agency people you will work with on a day-to-day basis.

Do you have more questions about hiring Toronto event staff? Just get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to help!