Corporate Event Emcee in Long Beach: Will Gill
Short answer
If you need a corporate emcee in Long Beach, Will Gill is a Los Angeles based corporate event emcee and DJ who works the convention center campus and the waterfront hotels as a local booking.
One booking covers three jobs: DJ, emcee and a one-man team-building show. He holds 2,520 five-star Google reviews, was named the number one corporate DJ by The Wall Street Journal, and is a Forbes Next 1000 honoree. Rates are published below, with no travel line items for Long Beach.
See what the room looks like when the emcee is doing the job
Five rooms, sound on.
A high-stakes award show at the Wynn Las Vegas
Hosting Jaguars halftime, roasting the NFL mascots
10,000 Hilton managers under one roof
Sharing a bill with Pitbull, 3,500 people at Mission Ballroom
Hosting SAP’s late-night talk show
What I bring to your Long Beach room
Long Beach is a 25-mile drive from home, so a booking here carries no flight, no hotel and no travel day on the invoice. That is a real line-item difference on a convention-centre program, and it is the reason a Los Angeles host is the efficient answer for the waterfront hotels and the convention campus. I run rooms at that scale and above: a 10,000-person Hilton general session, Jaguars gamedays, three Super Bowls, and Fortune 500 general sessions for Google, Amazon, Salesforce, PayPal, Pepsi, AT&T and CDW. Every Long Beach company in the search results is a DJ business with emcee as a service line; this is a named emcee who also carries the DJ set and the team-building show.
What a corporate emcee does that a “host” from the agenda cannot
Long Beach programs are convention-center general sessions, Pacific Ballroom banquets, waterfront galas aboard the Queen Mary or at the Aquarium, and port and aerospace company events. The audience has sat through a thousand introductions. The emcee’s job is to make the schedule hold and the room stay awake, not to be the star.
| Moment in the program | What I am doing |
|---|---|
| Doors and walk-in | DJing the room to the energy the opening needs, then bringing the house to order on time without a producer having to beg. |
| Executive handoffs | Short, accurate introductions, names pronounced right, sponsor reads delivered as written, and the clock protected when a speaker runs long. |
| Awards block | Pacing thirty names so the room still cares about the thirtieth, with walk-up music matched to each winner. |
| The dead spot | When the laptop dies or the caterer is late, the interactive team-building show fills the gap on purpose instead of by accident. |
| Reception | The same person who ran the general session DJs the party, so the energy never resets and there is one contract, one point of contact. |
That is the 3-in-1: DJ, emcee and a one-man team-building show. Planners book one vendor instead of three, and the person on the microphone has already run the room since doors.
Why Long Beach rooms are busier than they look
Long Beach is a convention city with a renovated campus and one of the busiest seaports in the country behind it. The size of the market is not a guess.
- Visitors to Long Beach generate $1.97 billion in economic impact, supporting 14,600 jobs, $785 million in labor income and $38.2 million in transient occupancy tax in 2023. (Source: Visit Long Beach, Kleinhenz Economics report, December 2, 2024)
- Convention business drawn by the Pacific Ballroom alone generated $427 million in economic impact over a decade, and the city has invested more than $85 million in renovating the convention center. (Source: Visit Long Beach)
- The Port of Long Beach supports 2.7 million jobs across the nation, including more than 691,000 across Southern California, one out of every 17 regional jobs. (Source: Port of Long Beach economic impact study by EBP US, reported by AJOT, May 13, 2025)
The practical takeaway: the convention campus books around citywide conventions, and the waterfront rooms fill in summer. Lock the host as soon as the venue is contracted. Sixty to ninety days is comfortable for everything else.
Corporate rooms in Long Beach and what they actually hold
Capacities below were checked against each venue’s own published numbers on the date shown, or against the destination office’s directory where the hotel’s own site blocked the check.
Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center
More than 400,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space. The Grand Ballroom is 20,456 square feet with a maximum occupancy of 2,272, and Exhibition Halls A, B and C total 224,000 square feet.
Verified 2026-09-03 at longbeachcc.com
Pacific Ballroom at the Long Beach Arena
A 46,000-square-foot arena floor that converts to a ballroom seating 3,288 for a banquet or 5,000 for a reception, with the arena itself seating 13,500.
Verified 2026-09-03 at longbeachcc.com
Terrace Theater
More than 3,000 seats off the convention center’s main plaza, for keynotes and general sessions that want a theater rather than a ballroom.
Verified 2026-09-03 at longbeachcc.com
The Westin Long Beach
21 event rooms and 42,221 square feet of event space. The Centennial Ballroom is 13,392 square feet, holding 1,540 theatre-style or 1,000 for a banquet, across from the convention center.
Verified 2026-09-03 at marriott.com
Hyatt Regency Long Beach
35,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, including the 10,500-square-foot Regency Ballroom and the Beacon Ballroom with water views for up to 800.
Verified 2026-09-03 at visitlongbeach.com directory (hyatt.com blocked the check)
The Queen Mary
Over 80,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space across 14 Art Deco salons aboard the ship, for galas that want the harbor as the backdrop.
Verified 2026-09-03 at queenmary.com
Map centered on the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center on Ocean Boulevard, with the Westin and Hyatt Regency alongside and the Queen Mary across the harbor.
What it costs to book a corporate emcee in Long Beach
My rates are published, so there is nothing to negotiate around. Half day is $5,000. Full day is $8,000. Rehearsal-only is $1,000. Multi-day programs get $1,000 off each additional day after day one. Virtual hosting is $2,300 for the first hour and $2,000 each additional hour. Travel to Long Beach is coordinated as part of the booking so nothing lands on the planner’s plate.
Long Beach is a local booking from Los Angeles: no flights, no hotel unless the client provides one, and no travel line items on the quote. A waterfront gala on its own is the half-day rate. A convention program with a general session, breakouts and a dinner needs the full day.
Five questions to ask any corporate emcee, including me
- “Walk me through how you handle a run of show that slips 20 minutes.” A working emcee answers instantly and unemotionally. A voice-for-hire talks about their intro.
- “Who is riding the fader on my CEO’s microphone?” If nobody owns the podium feed, your executives will fight the room.
- “Show me footage of you talking to a corporate audience, not a dance floor.” Everyone has party clips. Very few have footage of holding a general session.
- “Can I have the name of the specific person performing, in the contract?” Essential with agencies and multi-host rosters.
- “What is not included in this number?” Staging, uplighting, LED, labor and travel move a quote enormously. Ask before you compare.
Frequently asked questions about booking a corporate emcee in Long Beach
Are you local to Long Beach, or is this a fly-in?
Local. Long Beach is a 25-mile drive from my base in Los Angeles, so there is no flight, no hotel and no travel day on the invoice, and I can be on site for an early load-in or a late strike without a schedule fight. That usually makes a Long Beach booking cheaper than the same program anywhere else in the country.
Are there travel fees for a Long Beach event?
No. Long Beach and the South Bay are local for Will, a drive and not a flight: no airfare, no hotel and no travel day on the invoice.
What does a corporate emcee cost in Long Beach?
Half day $5,000, full day $8,000, rehearsal-only day $1,000, and $1,000 off each additional day after day one on multi-day programs. Virtual hosting is $2,300 for the first hour and $2,000 each additional hour. Every booking is the 3-in-1 show: emcee, DJ and one-man team-building.
Do you emcee corporate programs at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center?
Yes. The center offers more than 400,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, from the Grand Ballroom at 20,456 square feet and a maximum occupancy of 2,272 to the Pacific Ballroom at 46,000 square feet, seating 3,288 for a banquet or 5,000 for a reception, and the Terrace Theater with more than 3,000 seats. Will runs general sessions, awards and keynote introductions in rooms of every size.
Can you host a waterfront gala in Long Beach?
Yes. The Queen Mary offers over 80,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space across 14 Art Deco salons, the Aquarium of the Pacific’s Great Hall is available from 7 p.m. for up to 3,000 guests, and The Maya has more than 30,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space. Will handles the program flow so the view stays the star.
Which Long Beach hotels suit a conference?
The Hyatt Regency Long Beach has 35,000 square feet of flexible meeting space including the 10,500-square-foot Regency Ballroom, and The Westin Long Beach has 21 event rooms, 42,221 square feet of event space and a Centennial Ballroom for 1,540. Both sit on the convention center campus for multi-room programs.
Why does Long Beach draw so many corporate events?
Visitors generate $1.97 billion in economic impact for the city and support 14,600 jobs, per a December 2024 Visit Long Beach report, and the Pacific Ballroom alone generated $427 million in convention business over a decade. The city has invested more than $85 million in the center.
Do you emcee events for port, logistics and aerospace companies around Long Beach?
Yes. The Port of Long Beach supports 2.7 million U.S. jobs, more than 691,000 of them across Southern California, or one in 17 regional jobs. Will’s confirmed client list includes AT&T, Amazon, Home Depot, Virgin Galactic and DEKRA, and a plant-wide recognition dinner or a logistics kickoff is the shape of program the 3-in-1 was built for.
What is the one-man team-building show and does it work in a convention center ballroom?
It is Will’s 3-in-1 format: DJ, emcee and interactive audience-engagement games run from one stage on one contract. It scales from a 200-person leadership dinner to a 3,288-seat banquet in the Pacific Ballroom, and it fills a 20 to 45 minute block or rescues a program that slips.
Can you also DJ the after-party or run a virtual session for remote attendees?
Yes. Will is DJ and emcee in one, and virtual programs run at $2,300 for the first hour and $2,000 each additional hour. Long Beach hybrid programs get the same host on stage and on screen.
Three more rooms, for scale
Captioned with where each one actually was. None of these are stock.
Related pages
The full corporate emcee service is described at the corporate event emcee hub. Will is also available as a keynote speaker on morale and audience engagement.
- Corporate event emcee in Huntington Beach
- Corporate event emcee in Hollywood
- Corporate DJ in Long Beach
Booking a corporate event in Long Beach?
Send the date, the venue and the format. You will get a straight answer on availability and a written quote, not a sales call.
About the author: Will Gill
Will Gill is a corporate event emcee, DJ and keynote speaker named the number one corporate DJ by The Wall Street Journal and honored in the Forbes Next 1000. He holds 2,520 five-star Google reviews, has performed at three Super Bowls, a World Cup, a Formula 1 race and the MLB All-Star Game, and has worked with Google, Amazon, Salesforce, PayPal, Pepsi, AT&T, Hilton, Home Depot, the United Nations and Cracker Barrel. His company, Faders and Fitness, LLC, is MBE certified.