| The Top 13 Myths About Disc Jockeys and Parties |
| 13 |
"I Don’t Need a DJ;
my party will be during the day, and I don’t anticipate anyone dancing." Maybe
so, but a professional entertainer looks beyond the dancing and realizes that you are
hiring them to ENTERTAIN, not just play music to dance to afterward. As professionals,
they are there to make sure that your guests have a great time during the program, that
everything runs smoothly and on time, and that you don’t have to worry about
anything. |
| 12 |
"I Don’t Need a DJ;
I’m not going to have a lot of young guests, so that means no one will dance."
You would be surprised who gets up to dance if the right music is played. A big reason why
many people feel this way about DJs is because of the many other DJ companies that insist
on playing rap or club music all night without considering other guests’ musical
tastes. A good entertainer will play a good mix of music, everything from oldies but
goodies for your older guests all the way to today’s music, with a bit of 60s, 70s,
and 80s music thrown in. If the right music is played, everyone, from the oldest guest to
the youngest, will have a great time! |
| 11 |
 "I want or
have a band playing at my reception; I don’t need a DJ." Live music is
certainly a treat to have at a reception, but is it really necessary to the success of
your reception? The cost for a live band in Hawaii ranges from a few hundred dollars to
over $1000. But if you think about it, they really only are responsible for that one hour
of cocktail music & dinner, and maybe dancing afterward. Are they responsible for
making sure that the Grand Entrance is announced correctly? Are they responsible for
making sure that your guests are having a great time during the bouquet toss & garter
throw? If the maid of honor is in the bathroom when it’s time to make her speech,
will the band keep the guests involved until she returns? When it’s time to dance and
your older guests want to do the Twist and the Electric Slide, can the band deliver?
Having a DJ at your reception along with a band certainly has its advantages and is worth
the investment, especially if you and your guests have a great time. |
| 10 |
"My party’s going to
be really small; I don’t need a DJ or entertainment." Parties, even the
smallest ones, by definition are an entertainment function. It’s the entertainment
that determines the success of every function, from the most intimate cocktail party to
the Academy Awards. If parties weren’t an entertainment function, your guests would
go home right after dinner. Do you want your guests to leave after dinner and not stay for
the rest of the program? |
| 9 |
 "To Be A DJ All
You Need Is A Few CD’s and Some Stereo Equipment." Maybe so, but to be an
ENTERTAINER, you need more than a few CD’s. An extensive music library and knowledge
of over 70 years of popular music is just a starting point, not the end. You cannot begin
to imagine the number of requests an entertainer handles during the course of any event.
Professional equipment is very costly. A basic professional sound system with quality
components can easily cost over $5,000. |
| 8 |
"Set Up Is Easy and Only
Takes 15 Minutes." The average set up time for a professional entertainer is
about 1-2 hours. Some venues can take over twice that time where access is hindered by
loading docks crowded with other vendors, a lack of elevators or ramps, and venue rules
and regulations. This is in addition to the amount of time required to load the van with
the equipment before your event and then drive to your facility. |
| 7 |
"I Know What All My Guests
Like." No matter how much you would like to believe in your psychic abilities,
the reality is that you can never tell. There is no substitute for experience and you
would be amazed at what your guests would really like to hear and ask us to play the
moment you walk away. |
| 6 |
 "It Takes No
Training; Anybody Can Make Announcements and MC my party." The number one fear in
this country is public speaking. Yet week in and week out we are asked to stand in front
of a room full of strangers and do just that. How do you react when someone places a
microphone in front of you and asks you to say a few words? Would you ask a relative who
did not have a professional speaking presence on the microphone to announce your first
dance or Grand Entrance? Since your cousin will bring his camera to your reception, why
didn’t you ask him to be your photographer? There is no formal training program for
professional entertainers. If we make it look easy, it is because we have lots of
experience. If it was that easy, wouldn’t everyone be doing it for a living? |
| 5 |
"Good Parties Just
Happen." No they don’t. Good parties happen because the entertainers know
their business. The only people at your party who have control of the crowd are the
entertainers because they start and stop the party with their music and the microphone. It
is their job to control the crowd and provoke a great response. |
| 4 |
"You Only Work 4-5
Hours." The length of your party is only a small part of the amount of time
invested by a professional entertainer to ensure the success of your event. Did you meet
with him before deciding to hire him? Did you meet once again a month before your
reception to finalize your plans? How many e-mails and phone calls did he handle answering
your questions? Add the time he must personally invest to prepare for your
reception—reviewing names and announcements, pulling out music for special requests.
etc. Finally on your reception day, he loads the van, drives to the hall, arrives an hour
or two before your event begins, sets up, changes into appropriate attire, double checks
his notes, performs for you and your guests, maybe gets asked to stay overtime, breaks
down all the equipment he needed to bring to work your reception, re-loads the van, drives
home and finally unloads. When it is all said and done, a professional entertainer has
easily invested 24-72 hours of his time to ensure the success of your event. |
| 3 |
"DJs Get Paid to
Party." DJs are not guests at parties! They are not there to hang out and get
drunk, they are being paid to perform a very important service and are under a great deal
of pressure to be perfect. People will often rank their wedding as being the most
important day of their lives after their children being born. Yet they will give this
enormous responsibility to a family member as their MC and the lowest bidder DJ, citing
cost as a factor. After all the planning and expenses are invested, the ultimate outcome
of your reception is placed solely in the hands of your entertainer. If no one dances,
what will your photographer and videographer have to shoot? If the kitchen is a bit behind
and they need to buy time, they’re not going to ask the florist to get the party
going or the baker to provide a cooking demonstration. It is your entertainer that will
largely determine the success of your event. |
2 |
 "What Else
Do You Do?" We love this question. We work during the week, probably harder and
longer than the average person. This is a business just like any other and incurs all the
costs and expenses of being a business. Taxes, payroll, advertising, insurance,
accounting, legal fees, postage, printing, telephone, computers, Internet, rent,
equipment, labor and promotion are just a few of the expenses that we incur on a daily
basis. Consider how much you pay for 1-2 CD’s of new music each month. Multiply that
by the number of new CD’s and songs that we are required to carry to keep our
libraries up to date and you have only scratched the surface. And if the owner of a DJ
company is charging you $300 for the entire night and then passing the work on to one of
his employees, how much do you think that employee is getting paid? If he earns more by
flipping burgers at his day job, do you think he’s going to really care about your
once-in-a-lifetime moment? Sure, we could cut costs and corners, but then we would have to
sacrifice the quality of our service and professional standards. |
| And the #1 Myth About DJs & Parties... |
|
"DJs Are All Pretty Much
The Same." To say that all entertainers are alike is to say that all people are
alike. Are all caterers the same? Never assume that having recorded music levels the
playing field. All singers don’t sound the same and all disc jockeys do not have the
same personality or experience. You have friends that own pots and pans, so why
didn’t you hire them to cater your reception? They don’t have the experience or
ability. It takes more than an advertisement in the Yellow Pages and a cheap price to be a
good entertainer. |
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