Campus Programming and Relations attended the National Association for Campus Activities Northern Plains Regional Conference April 3 - 4 in Minneapolis, Minn., to scout for next year’s UW-Platteville campus entertainers.

The conference includes educational sessions on topics including promotion, publicity and running a successful meeting, David Nevins, Pioneer Involvement Center leadership development coordinator, said. The conference also showcases top entertainers on multiple main stages.

In January, NACA holds a selection process where over 600 performers apply to be included in the main stage performances, Nevins said. Only about 40 acts get picked and each performer gets 15 minutes on stage to show what he or she have to offer and book as many jobs as possible.

“You don’t get a good visual or the right experience when you watch clips of performers online,” Karl Constant, CPR graduate assistant, said. “Plus there is no editing when you see it live.”

“We get to see groups that are up-and-coming,” Nevins said. “We found Emerson Drive at this conference four years ago.”

Acts include comedians, musicians and lecturers, Nevins said.

“This is a special opportunity for our students that attend to see a wide variety of entertainers, from rap to hip-hop to spoken word performers,” Nevins said.

The budget for entertainers typically depends on the type of act CPR is trying to get, Hanah Diebold, CPR event manager, said. “We try not to go too much above $2,000 for comedians.”

Music groups can range from $800 to $15,000. It all depends on name recognition and what the act includes, Diebold said.

“The budget can really differ from act to act,” Diebold said. “We do try to get inexpensive, but quality acts.”

The conference helps to set up block booking, Nevins said. UW-P CPR works with schools within a five hour radius of Platteville to try and get each performer booked for up to five days in a row. The more bookings in a row means the price goes down for the entertainer to come to UW-P.

The rates are already lowered because CPR attends the conference, versus if CPR would go through the entertainer’s agency, Nevins said. The money saved on entertainers helps to cover the cost of attending the conference.

“When looking for performers to bring to campus, I think about if they are right for our campus. How can we promote them? Will people show up for the event?” Constant said.

“We are definitely looking for comedians. We want to continue our ‘Standup Saturday’ program,” Diebold said. “We are also looking for a band/performers for orientation and Family Weekend.”

There are mini-sessions planned for April. The exact dates have not been set, Nevins said.

For attending the conference, CPR has access to a Web site called sonicbids.com, where thousands of performers are listed and you can listen to their material, Nevins said. For the mini-sessions, CPR plans on having computers set up in stations, so you can listen to the list of performers CPR wants to bring to campus.