Entertainment packages
A charity auctioneer who is also the entertainment
Full TV-style game shows, comedy quizzes, table-side rounds and whole-room games, run with a television presenter’s timing. Family Fortunes, The Generation Game and Play Your Cards Right, rebuilt for your room and written about your people. Very few charity auctioneers bring the whole show.
In short
- A full entertainment package on top of the auction and pledge, from one person.
- TV-style game shows: Family Fortunes, The Generation Game and Play Your Cards Right, with graphics on your big screen.
- Comedy quizzes, table-side rounds and whole-room games, placed where your programme dips.
- Comedy and warmth from a real television and live-entertainment background.
- Entertainment that lifts the energy, so your guests enjoy the night and give more.
Why does entertainment belong at a fundraising event?
Entertainment belongs at a fundraising event because a room that is enjoying itself gives more. When guests are engaged, laughing and involved, they stay present for the auction and the pledge instead of drifting to the bar. The entertainment is not a distraction from the fundraising, it is what makes the fundraising work.
Most charity auctioneers can call bids. Very few can also run the room as a genuine entertainer. My background in television and comedy means the whole evening feels like a show your guests chose to attend, not an obligation they are sitting through.
What is included in an entertainment package?
An entertainment package is a set of interactive, inclusive moments woven through your programme and chosen to suit your audience. It typically includes:
- Whole-room games such as heads or tails, with a single winner
- Quizzes and table-to-stage competitions that get everyone involved
- Crowd-wide challenges and audience participation
- Light comedy and warmth to keep the energy up between the big moments
- Hosting and MC duties across the whole night, if you want one person to carry it all
“His energy, enthusiasm and natural charisma lit up the room.” — Nolan Hough
The rare part: an auctioneer who is also an entertainer
I started in television, presenting for Fox, Warner and Universal and interviewing the likes of Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon, before moving into comedy film work and then charity auctioneering. That is an unusual route, and it is exactly why the entertainment lands.
It means you are not booking an auctioneer, an entertainer and a host separately and hoping they gel. You are booking one person who does all three, so the night flows as a single, well-paced show, and the fundraising moments arrive with the room warm and ready.
The formats
What I actually bring to the room
These are the formats I have built and run properly, not a list of things I could have a go at. Most nights use two or three of them, placed where the programme needs lifting.
Family Fortunes
We surveyed one hundred people. Two teams from your tables come up to play, the board is on your big screen, and the wrong answers are always funnier than the right ones. The survey questions are written about your organisation.
The Generation Game
The conveyor belt, the demonstrations, and guests attempting something difficult in front of their colleagues. Deliberately silly, and the one that gets photographed most.
Play Your Cards Right
Higher or lower, table against table, with the cards up on screen. Nobody needs the rules explaining twice, and the whole room ends up shouting at one person holding a card.
Table-side rounds
Fast games played from the tables with no one leaving their seat, including Heads Up. Ideal for the gap between courses when a room would otherwise go quiet.
Comedy quizzes
Table-based competition with a digital scoreboard, written for your crowd. Not a pub quiz, and built so the table in last place is still enjoying it.
Icebreakers and whole-room games
Heads or tails and the other quick openers that get every guest standing inside a few minutes. These double as money-raisers, and there is more on them under fundraising games.
See it in action
Real clips, real rooms
Entertainment clients
What the room said afterwards
Kevin was absolutely brilliant to work with. The Generation Game show was fantastic and served as the perfect entertainment for our staff Christmas party. The feedback from the team has been excellent across the board, and we can certainly see ourselves doing this again.
Kevin was our MC for our Christmas party awards night, and the energy in the room was amazing, everyone was clapping and laughing. To avoid the usual slump of a long awards ceremony, Kevin helped us structure the night by mixing the awards with rounds of Family Fortunes.
Where the entertainment goes, and why it matters
The energy in a room dips at predictable points: once the speeches finish, while plates are being cleared, and in the long middle of a long awards list. Left alone, those gaps are where guests check their phones or go to the bar, and a room that has drifted is much harder to bring back for the ask.
So I place the entertainment against those dips rather than scattering it. A short table-side round while the main course is cleared. A full game show slot dropped between award categories to break up a long run of them. The whole-room icebreaker early, before anyone has been asked for money.
The point of all of it is what happens afterwards. A room that has laughed together and competed together bids differently from a room that has sat politely through dinner, and that shows up in the auction and especially in the pledge.
What you need to provide
Very little. A microphone, a screen for the graphics and a few minutes with your AV team beforehand. I bring the formats, the questions, the props and the running order, and I write the rounds around your organisation in advance so it feels like your night rather than a hired format.
Corporate entertainment too
Awards, conferences and product launches
I host and entertain at corporate events as well as charity galas. See the full range, with more reviews and examples, on my dedicated event host site.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Do you offer entertainment as well as auctioneering?
Yes. I am one of very few charity auctioneers who also provides a full entertainment package of TV-style game shows, quizzes, table-to-stage competitions and comedy, hosted with a television presenter’s timing. You get the auction, the pledge and the entertainment from one person.
What kind of entertainment works at a charity gala?
Interactive, inclusive entertainment works best: whole-room games like heads or tails, quizzes, table-to-stage challenges and light comedy that keeps guests involved. It should lift the energy without slowing the programme, and set the room up to give generously.
Is the entertainment suitable for corporate events too?
Yes. I host and entertain at corporate awards, conferences and product launches as well as charity events. You can see more of that work at eventhost.info.
Can the entertainment be tailored to our audience?
Always. I choose and pace the games, quizzes and comedy to suit your crowd, your cause and the tone of the night, so it feels right for your guests rather than off the shelf.
Which game show formats do you run?
Family Fortunes, The Generation Game and Play Your Cards Right, all rebuilt for a live room with graphics on your big screen. I also run comedy quizzes, table-side rounds including Heads Up, and whole-room icebreakers like heads or tails.
Do the questions get written for our organisation?
Yes, and it is the part that makes the difference. The survey answers and quiz rounds are built around your people, your industry and the in-jokes your team will recognise. That is what stops it feeling like a format you could have booked from anyone.
What do you need from the venue?
A microphone, a screen for the graphics and a short conversation with your AV team. I bring everything else, including the props and the running order.
How long does a game show slot take?
A full game show round runs about fifteen to twenty minutes. Table-side rounds and icebreakers are much shorter, usually four or five minutes, so they can be dropped into gaps without moving your schedule.
Is this different from your fundraising games?
Yes. Fundraising games are short money-raising moments with a buy-in and a prize. Entertainment is the show itself, the formats that fill a slot in your programme and carry the energy of the evening. Plenty of clients book both.
Let’s talk
Add entertainment to your night
Tell me about your event and I’ll put together an auction, pledge and entertainment package that fits.