A growing number of countries have a version of Americas Got Talent. Of course the general premise of the show is for contestants to show off their talent and the judges decide if that talent is worth putting through to the next round. This repeats until there is a final live show with the pubic vote deciding the winner. Of course as much as the contestants, the judges behaviour and bad comments Indeed having the right judges is a big part of the show. The three of them work the audience just as much as the contestants. There is also the part of Jerry Springer who works the show for the TV audience and can bring everything together from the stage. The audience themselves are a big part of the TV spectacle and generate a lot of noise with their opinions of the acts.  The acts for the TV show must have some vetting but the show has many months to prepare and thin down the number of acts.

The set up is pretty basic. Have a theatre filled with an audience,  set up the central area for the judges and have a basic stage with the shows emblems all around it and of course the highly visible and noisy three buzzers to dismiss the acts. That need slighting, banners and a professional level of set up is required, not least for safety.

It seems to work as a format on many levels. Firstly the acts are trying their best to achieve something, some are very bad but fun, some are just awful, some are good and some are brilliant. In there will be lots of human stories and even some hard luck stories. There is a great deal of humor in the show and also the judges being villains at times.

You can hold your won Americas Got Talent backyard graduation party or in conjunction with the school you could have it as part of the graduation party. You can copy the format in terms of having theatre style seats,  lighting a stage, the judges chairs, some kind of buzzers and of course people in the audience, the acts, the judges, stage hands and Jerry Springer to MC it. The decorations are fairly wimple in that you can have the Americas Got Talents logos and emblems all around and also mix that in with the graduation banners. It is a party so have lots of balloons, streamers, blowouts and tinsel. Of course the lighting and electrics will need checked by a professional. The graduation part will also need tribute boards with photos and space for messages.
You can have flyers all around using the photos of your own judges and fake Jerry Springer.
The costume can be varied. There is road crew, fake Springers, Hasselhoffs, Morgans and Osbournes. There can be stage crew, and of course the acts.

Clearly the main part of the party is the acts performing and the judges giving their comments and then the audience voting for a winner. The MC must have a script and hold it all together with impromptu comments and of course the announcements. You need to pick the right people to be the MC and judges. The guests should get a few weeks to prepare their act and you should make sure the acts are different. One could even be a graduate impersonator. They all get their minute of fame and off the show goes. Of course you can’t play this all night so there needs to be the dancing and party music straight afterwards. Indeed in between acts there should be fun and games to keep people going, even with wandering magicians and caricaturists.

The music will need to be just like the shows music during the Americas Got Talent part and then into the best party music for the guests.

If you have the right crowd of guests and graduates this could be rather excellent. You need to be sure that a talent spot is really for them. If it is you are on a winning format just like the show.