Hejven.se

This week, Hejven.se is indeed joined by greatness; the king of VIP, Lars Bjarke, gives a brief account of what constitutes a perfect guest list. With 25 years of experience in the field, his authority can hardly be overstated when it comes to the art of making any clubbing experience memorable and exclusive – with a capital E.

When asked to write an article about the nightlife VIPs & Celebrity Guest Lists etc. it became clear to me that little has changed for the last 25 years of me working in this field.

When it comes to the selection for the Red Carpet Events,
you often hear the word THE! VIP List or THE A list, as if it was a premade list that had ALL the right people for any kind of party, and that is absolutely not the case in the 21st century.

A VIP/A list has to be tailor made for every single event and by people who understands your brand or know your clients and the exact status of various celebrities, because all events are all about exactly this: brands and clients and that’s why the guest list is a short cast on who is sending the right signals, or so called “co branding”.
So one who’s perfectly suitable for one event might not be at all for the next, even though he/she is a so called ‘celled’. Only few fit in most events, like Royalty. And that comes from our historical inheritance where everything was measured out from the wealth and status thousands of years back till now.

Sayings like “having a ball”, “queen of the ball” “King of Pop” “red carpet event” “drama queen” and when its the opposite “the mob” “wanna be”. All comes from this, and it is only events that appeal to anti-royalists where a show of royalty would not give the event the highest brand. And then yet not really since that would create attention witch equals PR and awareness, and that is the best you can get.

Todays celebrity is a fine mix of royalty, sport icons, rockstars, models, actors and businessmen; even gangsters and reality stars.

First of all, you may invite as many VIPs as you like. If you don’t have a brand (event) with the right appeal, they wont show. And that is very embarrassing.

But you usually create a list for the door, made by promoters who are payed for their success on getting the most VIP guests in.

VIPs are great for PR, and as a show of your status. But VIPs don’t wanna pay, so you have to give them special treatment with free bar etc. If only VIPs are invited its gonna be VERY expensive for you.

Another thing is that a room filled with VIPs is more like a reception since everybody will be too obsessed with their appearance, and by the way leave early. Some times the A list parties tend to get a little boring when nobody wants to step out and “open the party”.

So you need to have a fair share of B. C. D. list celebrities & wannabes to pimp up your party, and they are the ones that dress up in the very sexy and wild outfits and do crazy things that the tabloids want to write about, which often can be a good thing for the club/event . A perfect balance between these persons is essential for the success of the party.

A big and often made mistake is that you ask a redneck ignorant bouncer to administrate the door, and then you are NOT in for success. If the doorman is not sharp enough you won’t get the right people in who is not on the list, and that is just as fatal.

The real hard thing is really to be able to select the right people at the door. Some use a nice young girl, with a nice name too, to rule at the door and that often just create a power struggle at the door between her and the redneck, which stresses the guests.

Rule number 1 for a party is make the experience in AND out the of door as pleasant as possible. No queue for the door (for the VIPs) or at the wardrobe, and a friendly easy helpful goodbye is essential.

The first impression makes the party, and the last rounds it up.