Everything is in place. Permits. Vendors. Location. Spectacular pre-buzz canvassing. The branded vehicle is anchored in a high visibility area, turning more heads than a Brangelina sighting. At this moment, anyone within a mile radius wants to engage with your client’s brand. That feeling of hard fought accomplishment falls over your agency.

Then it happens.

Your onsite staff starts chewing gum. They then begin texting and spouting some kind of unscripted psychobabble. In one devastating motion, your talent has managed to send the wrong message to every consumer at the event. They’ve also inadvertently sabotaged your award-winning brand experience, your team’s collective expertise and the client’s trust in your agency.

Call them what you want: Brand ambassadors, spokesmodels, field reps, program talent, etc. Their title is not important, but their presence is CRUCIAL to your program’s success. Don’t underestimate the “people-part” of your experience. They’re the connectors responsible for the friendly nudging and poignant messaging between your brand and its future consumers.

Don’t wait until the 13th hour to focus on the human element of your program. All of the preparation and TLC you’ve poured into the tactics and logistical placeholders of your program shouldn’t be gambled on a staffing company with no track record, little experience and zero insurance. But it happens. Often. We see it all the time: an agency methodical in its ways when creating a complex experiential program, only to lighten its standards and practices with hiring event staff. They have a direction and contingency for every facet of their program, but seem to have forgotten a strategic partner suited to control the variables of placing and maintaining discriminating talent. Omitting what I call, the “Science of Staffing.”

Your experienced account managers prepare you to deal with the intricacies of your program, but a discouraging trend I see more and more these days is the lack of accountability ad and PR agencies place in their staffing partners. It’s easy to overlook, but more important than ever these days to embrace your partnership with a strategic talent agency. They help control the variables of staffing to create and close out those seamless events you intend to build for your client.

And because I hate seeing bad talent happen to good people, I’ve compiled a list of important variables your staffing partner should always be considering.

Talent’s look and personality MUST match those core characteristics of the brand in order for a consumer to reciprocate with the experience. Ask your staffing partner about the criteria they use for both registering and placing talent. Do they require information as it relates to a candidate’s relevant brand experience? How current are the photos they have on file? What software is being used to assist in their booking of talent? Ask about all of the steps used in their process and see how they’re matching up the best talent to your unique event. Remember, anyone can fill up virtual shoeboxes of Craigslist photos/resumes and check names off a list. Your precious dollars and brand’s interaction are on the line here, so don’t be afraid to take a look under the hood.

Experience is Everything

With the exception of a few types of tradeshows (cut me some slack, you know exactly what I’m saying), a talent’s past brand experience will always be useful. If they already know who the target is and are familiar with a brand’s culture, use this to your advantage. By the time a seasoned field rep is on site, they should be able to answer, with confidence, basic brand-related inquiries and speak comfortably to your consumer. Accomplished staff should speak from a place of true experience, instead of spewing rehearsed lines from a sheet they read hours (or sometimes, minutes) ago. Training your talent is imperative, but having the experience occur naturally is important, too.

Give Training, Get Loyalty

Most talent will not make the necessary effort to familiarize themselves with the brand they’re preparing to promote. Insist that your staffing agency make brand training mandatory. Go beyond speaking points, apparel, and program play-by-play. We’ve found client-assisted “brand-bootcamps” benefit a talent’s connection to the event and its success. The best talent has experience representing a bevy of brands. Your talent must have the right amount of brand exposition to intelligently interact with consumers and bring the utmost loyalty into the event with them.

Back That Staff Up!

You’re dealing with people here—“life moments” are going happen. Murphy and his destined Law will emerge sooner or later, so have a staffing partner with a solid contingency plan in place for late-and no-showing talent. A good rule of thumb is to have one talent backup (aka “Pocket Shift”) for every four staff booked. No exceptions. We implement showing, and on-call, talent for every event. All trained, prepped and ready to flawlessly step in whenever needed.

Event talent should never be a DIY project—find someone committed to controlling the variables. Advertising and marketing agencies provide expert service through creativity, brand experience and tie-ins with strategic alliances. If you hold the same standards with your staff, you’ll be dealing with a winning situation every time.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times and was written by The Associated Press.

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