PULTEVENT
How to start an event hosting business: 6 shows to sell first
My first paid night was a thirtieth birthday in a room above a pub. I had a borrowed speaker, a microphone with a cable that crackled if you turned left, and a folder of printed quiz questions that I dropped on the stairs on the way up. The birthday girl's dad paid me in cash at the end and asked if I did weddings. I said yes. I had never done a wedding.
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That was 2014. Since then I've hosted more than five hundred events, and most of what I know about running this as a business I learned the slow way: by overpromising, underpricing, carrying too much gear and saying yes to the wrong gigs. These notes are the short version, for anyone who has hosted a few nights for friends and is wondering whether strangers will pay for it.
They will. But they don't pay for a microphone and a personality. They pay for a night that runs to time, a room that stays full, and a client who doesn't have to worry about any of it. That's a product, and a product can be designed.
6 shows a new host can sell from the first month
1 The birthday party host
Two hours at a 30th, 40th or 50th: a welcome screen with the guest of honor, a quiz about them, a baby photo round, a toast, then music.
How to run it. Offer it to friends of friends first. A birthday is the most forgiving room you'll ever work.
Every birthday has thirty guests who will one day need a host for something else.
2 The office party package
A team quiz on the big screen, a live vote for the year's awards, a raffle by QR code and a podium at the end.
How to run it. Ask HR for five in-jokes and the names of three people who will definitely play along.
Corporate clients book every year if the first one goes well, and they talk to other companies.
3 The quiz night
A regular or one-off quiz for a pub, a school fundraiser or a club. Teams answer from phones, scores go on the TV.
How to run it. Write your own questions. The ready-made decks in the software are mostly Russian today, and your own questions are your brand anyway.
A weekly slot pays the rent in the months when nobody is getting married.
4 The wedding reception MC
Entrances, speeches, timing with the kitchen, a couple quiz between courses, the first dance cue and the handover to the DJ or band.
How to run it. Shadow an experienced MC at two or three weddings before you take one on alone, even if you do it for free.
The best-paid work in the trade, and every wedding has single friends who will marry next.
5 School and community events
End-of-year parties, summer fairs, family fun nights: a big-screen race steered from phones, a quiz, a raffle.
How to run it. Ask the organizer early what the school's rules are on photos and phones, and follow them exactly.
Parents at school events are the same people who throw birthdays and run offices.
6 The online party
A remote team's holiday party or a family gathering across time zones. You share the stage window in a video call, guests play from their phones.
How to run it. Run a ten-minute tech check with the organizer the day before, on the same call link.
No travel, no venue, and it opens you up to clients far from where you live.
Sell a show, not an hour
Clients understand a named package with a clear running order better than an hourly rate.
Start with one kind of room
Birthdays or office parties first. Weddings come once you have references.
Keep the kit small
A laptop, a screen connection, a mic and a speaker cover most first gigs.
Repeat and refine
Run the same structure ten times and it gets better every night.
Decide what you are selling
New hosts usually describe themselves by their qualities: energetic, funny, good with crowds. Clients can't buy qualities. They can buy "a two-hour birthday show with a quiz about your mum, a photo round and a toast, finishing when the DJ takes over." Write down two or three of those, each with a running order, and put them on your website exactly like that.
It also makes you better on the night. When the structure is fixed, your head is free to read the room.
The kit you actually need
Less than you think. A reliable laptop, an HDMI cable long enough to reach any TV in any function room, a couple of adapters, a wireless mic and a decent speaker if the venue has none. A clicker is nice. A second phone with your key music downloaded is essential.
What changed my work most was moving the whole show into one place. On PULTEVENT the console runs in the laptop browser, the TV or projector becomes the stage, and guests join from their own phones through a QR code, no app. Their phones need internet, so checking the Wi-Fi is now part of every site visit. It meant I stopped carrying boxes of props and started carrying one bag.
Buy good gear slowly, from what the gigs pay you. Nobody books a new host because of the speaker brand.
Finding the first ten clients
The first ten come from people who already know you. Host a friend's birthday properly, with a real running order and a proper ending, and ask for two things afterwards: a short written review and permission to use a minute of video.
After that, the most useful people are the ones who work at events every weekend. Venue coordinators, photographers, DJs, caterers. Turn up early, be easy to work with, finish on time, thank them by name on the mic. That last one costs nothing and gets remembered.
"Who was your host tonight?"
"No idea, but the venue recommended him."
That exchange is your marketing plan for the first year.
Contracts, deposits and the boring bits
Put every booking in writing: date, times, venue, what the show includes, what happens if either side cancels. Take a deposit to hold the date. Check your local rules on registering as self-employed and on liability insurance; in the UK many venues will ask to see public liability cover before you set foot inside.
On pricing, look at what established hosts in your area charge and don't undercut them by half. Cheap hosts get the clients who treat them cheaply.
Build a night you can repeat
The hosts who last are the ones with a system. A template for each type of event, saved and reused: the welcome screen, a quiz skeleton you fill with the client's facts, a set of rounds you know land, break screens, closing credits. The first birthday takes an evening to prepare. The twentieth takes an hour, because you're changing names and photos, not inventing a show.
Keep notes after every gig. What made the room loud, what fell flat, which round ran long. Read them before the next booking.
Testing the tools before you spend anything
PULTEVENT has a free 3-day demo, no card required. Build your first package in it, run it on your own TV with a few friends on their phones, and see if it fits how you work. If it does, it's a one-time license with no subscription, so it doesn't become another monthly bill while the bookings are still thin. Details are on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
First steps to a hosting business
- 1
Pick one type of event to start with and write two named packages with a running order.
- 2
Assemble the basic kit: laptop, long HDMI cable, adapters, wireless mic, backup phone.
- 3
Build a reusable template for your first package and rehearse it at home on a TV.
- 4
Host two or three nights for people you know and collect reviews and short video.
- 5
Introduce yourself to local venues, photographers and DJs, and be the easiest person on their team.
- 6
Put every booking in writing, take a deposit, and keep notes after each gig.
FAQ
Do I need a qualification to be an event host?
Should I start with weddings?
How much equipment should I buy at the start?
Do guests need an app to play the games?
Can I run online events with the same setup?
Is there a subscription?
See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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