Experienced hosts
People who have read thousands of rooms and know how to keep a crowd with them from the first welcome to the last song.
About Advanced Entertainment
The Edmonton team behind your best event
We started on the mic in Edmonton in 1993. Since then we have grown into a full event company, but the job has never changed: take the stress off your plate and give your guests a day or evening they talk about for years.
The story
33 years, one focus
Advanced Entertainment is owned by Tarcy Schindelka, who has been behind a microphone since 1993.
Before this was a company with tables, lights and a full crew, it was one person learning what makes a room work. Tarcy spent years in radio from 1997 to 2010, reading a live audience every single day and figuring out how to keep people tuned in. That is a rare kind of training. You learn to feel the energy of a crowd, read when to lift it and when to let it breathe, and never talk over the moment people came for.
That radio background is why an Advanced Entertainment event feels different. Your host is not pressing play and checking a phone. They are watching your guests, reading the floor, and adjusting in real time so the day flows the way you pictured it. Over three decades that instinct has carried us through weddings, conferences, galas, staff parties and community events across Edmonton and far beyond.
Today the company is a genuine one-stop shop. Corporate AV and lighting, fun-money casino, DJ and emcee work, our own Music Poker game, trivia, karaoke, comedians, hypnotists and photo booths all come from the same team. One booking, one point of contact, one crew that knows how the pieces fit together.
We, not I
You are hiring a team, not a solo act
Tarcy is the fearless leader, but no event runs on one person. When you book us, you get the whole crew.
That matters more than it sounds. A single DJ can only be in one place, read one room, cover one date. A team means the right person for your specific event, backup if life happens, and enough hands to run a casino floor, an AV setup and a dance floor at the same time. It is the difference between hoping one performer clicks with your crowd and knowing a group of experienced entertainers has your back.
Everyone here is picked for the same reason: they genuinely like people and they know how to work a room without making it about themselves. Some lead the conga line. Some run the lighting board from the back and you never notice they were there, which is exactly the point. Together they cover whatever your day or evening needs.
AV and lighting crew
The people who make a conference sound clear and a ballroom look right, working quietly in the background so you never think about it.
Dealers and game hosts
Friendly pros who run the casino tables and our Music Poker game, and walk every guest through it so nobody feels left out.
What we believe
We work for smiles
Reducing the stress of planning is our commitment to you. That is not a slogan. It is how we run every booking.
You have enough to think about. The venue, the schedule, the family, the budget. Our job is to take the entertainment off your list entirely. We talk it through ahead of time, sort the music, the equipment and the timing, then show up early and handle it.
Our promise on the day is simple. Be professional, be lively, and never let the fun stop. We measure a good event by one thing, and it is not the gear list. It is the look on your guests' faces.
Give a room a genuinely good time and it stays with them. After 33 years, that is still the only thing we are trying to do.Advanced Entertainment
The proof
Recognized, reviewed, and still booking
You do not have to take our word for it. Here is what other people say.
5.0 across 76 Google reviews
A perfect rating from 76 reviews is not luck. It is what happens when a team shows up prepared and keeps guests happy, event after event.
AAME recognition
The Alberta Association of Mobile Entertainers named Tarcy a President's Award of Distinction winner and an Award of Excellence nominee. Recognition from the people who know this work best.
5 stars on WeddingWire
Couples across Alberta rate us five stars for their wedding day, one of the highest-pressure events there is to get right.
Trusted by Edmonton businesses
Companies like Stream-Flo have booked their casino, DJ and AV through us in a single booking, and Sherlock Holmes Hospitality runs our weekly trivia and karaoke across multiple venues.
8+ years of weekly Music Poker
Our own game has run weekly at O2's in Millwoods for more than eight years. A crowd does not come back that long unless the room is having fun.
Members and featured
Members of MPI, CPDJA and Wedding MBA, and featured by WeddingVibe and Mobile Beat in Las Vegas. We keep learning our craft.
Common questions
About Advanced Entertainment
Who owns Advanced Entertainment?
Tarcy Schindelka owns and leads the company. Tarcy has been on the mic since 1993 and spent years in radio from 1997 to 2010. You are never booking a faceless agency. You are working with an experienced Edmonton entertainer and the team built around them.
Are you based in Edmonton?
Yes. Advanced Entertainment is based in Edmonton and works throughout the city and area. We also travel well beyond it. We have run events from Golden and Dawson Creek in BC to Saskatoon and Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan. If your event is in Alberta, BC or Saskatchewan, ask us.
Do you only do evening events?
No. We cover day and evening events. Conferences, AGMs, awards days, staff appreciation lunches, weddings, galas and pub nights. Whatever the hour, we bring the right setup and the right host for it.
What can you handle at one event?
Most of it, from one booking. Corporate AV and lighting, fun-money casino, DJ and emcee work, our own Music Poker game, trivia, karaoke, comedians, hypnotists and photo booths. One team, one contact, one crew that knows how the pieces work together.
How experienced is the team?
Very. The company has been running events for 33 years, holds a 5.0 rating across 76 Google reviews, and carries AAME recognition. Beyond Tarcy, we are a full team of experienced entertainers, hosts, dealers and AV crew, so the right person is on your event.
Why do people book you again?
Because we take the stress off you and put the focus on your guests. We plan ahead, show up early, and read the room from start to finish. Businesses like Sherlock Holmes Hospitality and O2's have kept us running weekly events for years for exactly that reason.
Let us take it from here
Tell us about your event
Send us the date, the room and roughly how many guests, and we will tell you what we would do with it. No pressure, just a plan and a price.