Disc Jockey News OCTOBER 2018 • Issue #150
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PAGE 2 • Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018
What Is Interactive These Days? By Mike Walter
Joe Bunn and I had a pretty lively debate recently on our PhDJ Podcast. If you’re not a regular listener or viewer, I invite you to seek us out. You can watch us on the Disc Jockey News Youtube channel or listen where ever you find your podcasts these days. The topic was interaction and whether or not it is a dying form of entertainment. The discussion was inspired by something Nick Spinelli said at DJ Expo in August (that interaction is dying), and Joe and I kicked it around in Episode 88 on our podcast, then brought Nick on to offer his side of the story in Episode 89. By the end of the second episode it was clear we were all pretty set in our ways, and no one’s mind was going to be changed. Here’s my argument about it. Interacting with an audience (which I consider to cover everything from prompting the crowd to hand clap at a break in
the song to leading a line dance) is a tool in our shed. Just like beat mixing. And the extensive music libraries we all use. And upgrades like lighting or TVs. Do we use them at every event? Doesn’t matter. We have them available to us when we need them. A few years ago when I put out my Keys to a Great DJ and MC Performance (how many plugs can I fit into one article?) I did an extensive section on beat mixing and specifically not just matching beats but mixing at the right part of songs which means understanding phrasing. I had a number of DJs tell me (both privately and publicly) that I was over-emphasizing the importance of beat mixing. A few even admitted to not knowing how to do it and not trying to learn because it wasn’t a part of their show. I was pretty blown away by that. Beat mixing (in my opinion) is a core talent we should all have that makes our transitions smoother and even if you don’t aspire to become a club mixer you should at least have a rudimentary understanding of it and practice the craft. Why wouldn’t you? I make the same argument about interaction. Even if only 5% of your clients ask for a line dance at their events, I still think you should know how to lead them. They’re easy! I am an average
When NOT To Trust A Wedding Vendor By Tamara Sims
We all strive to work together with our fellow wedding vendors; photographers, officiates, videographers, wedding planners, etc. But what do you do when a fellow wedding professional just isn’t professional? Do we allow the non-professional to create potential issues on the wedding day? Do we address potential problems with the bride and groom? Or, do we simply go about doing our job? We recently had a situation with a “Wedding Planner” (and I use this term loosely), who did nothing during the planning stages and decided the week of the wedding she needed to show her worth. She did this by making changes, questioning the timeline that had already been approved by the bride and groom and venue, and sending e-mails to us with said changes without copying the bride and groom. Before I continue, I want to clarify that I am in no way bashing wedding planners. Our team loves working with experienced wedding planners who plan weddings for a living. In fact, when our clients ask us if they should consider hiring a wedding planner my answer is always a resounding yes. A great planner will take stress off of the couple, will take care of all of the small details before and during the wedding, and will allow the bride and groom to relax and enjoy their wedding celebration. This particular planner had a website that had not been updated since 2015. She had only done one wedding... in 2015! There were typographical errors
throughout her site and under the tab “Package Information” it stated “coming soon,” and you guessed it, that web page was dated 2015. She asked our DJ to end cocktail hour 20 minutes early so dinner could start precisely at 7 PM. The original timeline our DJ created which was approved by the venue and bride and groom had a 7:20 dinner start time which allowed 15-20 minutes for introductions, toasts, blessing and cake cutting, so the guests can enjoy the full cocktail hour (yes it is called “hour” for a reason). There was no reason for ending the cocktail hour early. The planner also decided the week of the wedding to move the First Dance after the parent dances without any explanation why. We are always open to non-traditional ideas, but we had to question this change. What is
dancer (at best), but whenever a new line dance comes out, I make an effort to learn it and master it enough that I can show the steps at a party. In fact, the day after the last podcast launched a post came up in my Facebook memories from six years ago. One of my DJs had written “I’d like to give a big shout out to Mike Walter for making us all learn the Gangnam Style dance last night. Haha.” I had to laugh at the timing of that because it proves I practice what I teach. I remember that staff meeting. We were getting more and more requests for “Gangnam Style” and since there is an organized dance that went along with it I wanted to make sure my whole staff knew how to teach it. At our next meeting, we cleared the chairs and broke it down and made sure we were all up to speed. And it was a good thing because, if you remember, Gangnam Style was a huge song for the rest of that year and even into the next year. And to this day I still get a random request for it. And when I do, I don’t just hit play, but I can confidently lead everyone in the dance. It’s a tool. That’s all it is. If you’re a professional in any field why would you go to work without every tool imaginable? That’s the part I don’t understand and the question I kept asking both Nick and Joe (who are adamantly opposed to teaching line dances). While I might look for opportunities to use line dances and they might only do them when it’s
requested by the guest of honor (which is true and just shows our different styles), I don’t know why you’d miss the opportunity to be the instructor in those moments. But of course, it all comes down to style. That’s the one thing we all could agree on. I was raised in this industry at Star DJs in the late eighties, and we were extremely interactive. I used to go out with a sequined jacket, and at one point in every party I’d put it on and jump up on one of my speakers and lead a dance like “YMCA” or get everyone singing along to “Shout.” My days of wearing sequins and jumping on speakers are long over, but the concept is still in my DJ DNA that I should interact with the crowd from time to time throughout a party to raise the energy. Some disagree with that. And the great thing about our industry is that there’s room for all of us. I know DJs who are wildly successful and never get on the floor at a party. I know others who are just as in demand, and they spend the whole night working the crowd like a hype man. Most of all fall somewhere between those two extremes. It’s a matter of style and where we’re comfortable. Mike Walter is the owner of Elite Entertainment of New Jersey and a nationally recognized expert in the area of multisystem company development and staff training. You can contact Mike at mikewalter@discjockeynews.com.
the goal? What outcome are you expecting by moving the first dance? Our DJ asked my advice, and I told him to call the bride directly since the First Dance is such a significant moment and focal point at any wedding. Sure enough, the bride was not ok with moving the first dance around. Interestingly enough, as I was completing this article, Knot.com published an article on scams for couples to watch out for which included the following: “A lessthan-stellar wedding planner can easily ruin your wedding day by not following through on promises or providing low-quality services.” Don’t be afraid to question. Go with
your gut. The “not my job” or “not my problem” mentality has no place in the wedding industry. Our end goal is to provide our expertise and assist our couples in creating the best wedding celebration ever. Please feel free to share your comments with me at: tamarasims@discjockeynews. com or tamara@something2dance2.com Tamara is the Director of Sales and Marketing for Something 2 Dance 2 DJ Entertainment in Schaumburg, IL, which she proudly owns along with her husband Jay Sims. She has over 20 years experience in the wedding industry and loves creating wonderful wedding memories for her brides and grooms.
OCTOBER 2018 In This Issue:
Page 2: Mike Walter Page 2: Tamara Sims Page 4: Mitch Taylor Page 5: Brian S Redd Page 5: Brian Kelm Page 6: Ron Ruth www.discjockeynews.com www.djntv.com 29442 120th St. Grey Eagle, MN 56336 Phone: 320-285-2323 Published by The Disc Jockey News
Editor/Educational Production Manager/ Sales For DJNews and DJNTV John Young john@discjockeynews.com 320-285-2323 office 612-597-4499 cell
Page 7: Harvey Mackay Page 8: Alan Berg Page 9: Jeffrey Gitomer Page 10: Rob Ferre Page 11: Mike Lenstra Page 12: Joe Bunn
Deadlines: Advertisement deadlines are the 20th of the month. The publication is distributed on the 1st of every month. Subscriptions: Subscriptions to the Disc Jockey News are $30.00/year for US addresses. Subscribe online at: http://www.discjockeynews.com/subscribe Advertising: Our ad takers have no authority to bind this newspaper and only publication of an advertisement shall constitute final acceptance of the advertiser’s order.
Page 13: Jeremy Brech Page 14: Dean Carlson Page 15: Top 50 Charts Page 15: Different Spin
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Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018 • Page 3
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PAGE 4 • Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018
It Starts With Us By Mitch Taylor
I recently had the pleasure of being the keynote speaker for the DJAA Conference in Adelaide, South Australia. What an AMAZING, awe-inspiring experience it was. The DJAA is a smaller conference that has grown in recent years and has worked hard to improve the level of professionalism in their area. What they lacked in numbers was made up in content and camaraderie with great takeaways. I kicked off the conference with my next level version of “From Price To Meeting – How To Handle The How Much Bride?” and that was followed up by 2018 ABIA Award Winner for Best DJ in Queensland, Ryan Hancock speaking to us about creating monograms with data projectors. Following Ryan, we led into morning tea and then breakout sessions on day one where different people led different topics, which provided a great way to get in the mind of fellow attendees with a question or challenge that you had in your business. We broke for lunch, and in the afternoon we heard from Julian, a survivor of the Bali bombings. His story of perseverance in the face of adversity was inspiring. The content throughout the conference kept getting better throughout the event. Some highlights included Roy Maloy, a circus performer, and busker who taught
us about creating great partnerships. A breakout session, a Q & A panel with different members of the DJAA. Serge Olivieri, a founding member of the DJAA, speaking on preparation with tips that were absolute GOLD. And a presenter from Beyond Blue of Australia to assist with those struggling from or dealing with a loved one who struggles with anxiety or mental disorders. DJAA Chairperson Steve Bowen ended our conference with a great breakout session on music programming, delivering a proven tactic to help stop the guessing game of how to know what to play when. Finally, I must give props to Ben Shipway from G & M Events out of Brisbane for being our conference DJ, and the Master of Ceremonies for the show was none other than the ABIA Award Winner for Best MC in ALL of Australia, Glenn Mackay from G & M Events of Brisbane as well. What amazed me most about the conference was the heart of the attendees and their dedication to their craft and customer service. They lived their tagline for this conference throughout the experience. What was their tagline? Their tagline is the title of this article. It Starts With Us. Now their tagline didn’t just start at
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the start of the conference. Each and every attendee I came in contact with both before and after the conference LIVED that tagline. They were dedicated to customer service. My wife and I were treated like royalty. We were given a different experience from the norm. There was never a moment where I wanted anything that it
wasn’t delivered ASAP. In order for anything to change, it starts with us. It starts with you. I challenged attendees at the end of my semi-
nar that the word “us” was actually an acronym. It stood for “U Serve.” If you have that serving mindset, of always putting others’ needs ahead of your own, you will come out ahead way more often than not. They embodied their tagline, and I encourage you to do the same for extraordinary results in your business. For more information on the DJAA conference, go to DJAA.com. au Mitch Taylor is an 18 year veteran of the mobile disc jockey industry, starting out on the cruise ships of Carnival Cruise Lines. He is a member of the American Disc Jockey Association. Mitch owns and operates Taylored Entertainment in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and can be reached at 906.786.6967 or via email at mitchtaylor@discjockeynews.com.
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The Middle Of A Gig Dead Zone By Brian S. Redd
Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a totally dead DJ season? That was me this summer. I only had three dates on my event calendar from June thru September. I did manage to turn it around, though, and ended up with a pretty busy season. The reason I had a lite load in the first place was actually by choice. I’ll explain: Like many of you, my wedding gigs are mostly on Fridays and Saturdays. However, last year, I was so busy with just doing wedding prep all week that I didn’t have much of a summer at all. Now, that’s just the nature of the DJ business today, and I’m cool with that. This summer was different, though. I decided to go ahead and take some time off for my Dad. For years, we’ve had a few projects we wanted to do together. With a lite gig load, I’d finally have the time to get on some of this stuff with him. To make a long story short, we lost Dad a week after Father’s Day. He died early Saturday morning, and by chance, one of my three gigs this summer just happened to land on that day. This gig was in Chicago, so more time had to be allowed just to get there on time. There was no substitute available, and if you knew my Dad, he would have been pret-
ty upset if I were to have missed work because of him. The gig went into overtime, and I got a healthy tip. They had no idea what had happened earlier that day and truth be told; I’m not really remembering many details about the event either. Apparently, I managed to pull it off. Most of July was family business stuff. There were lots of unexpected expenses as well, so by the middle of July, I found myself with less savings that I had counted on and no way to make it up with events. There are a lot of us who don’t like to admit that we need work or even help getting it. However, I swallowed my pride and put it all out there. I made a Facebook post letting everyone in my network know that I was available for any overflow or last-minute work. I let all of my close DJ pals know what the situation was in more detail as well. I think a lot of people just assume I’m always busy, so they don’t really think about me when something comes up. Now, everyone knew, and it didn’t take long for last minute work to start coming in. DJs were getting calls for last minute events, and subcontracting gigs started coming in as well. Within four days of my Facebook post, I went from 1 gig in September to something booked every weekend. Then, I started getting Emergency DJ work. You know, where the DJ cancels less than 24 hours before show time? A lot of DJs might be intimidated going into a wedding last minute like this, but here’s the cool part: They already love you for “saving the day.” Not only that, but all of that time you’d typically spend preparing for an event never happened,
Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018 • Page 5 so it’s a lot less labor intensive. So, this season, I’ve become the overflow DJ everyone is thinking about and also, Milwaukee’s Emergency Wedding DJ. My gig truck is always loaded with essentials, just in case something happens to pop up. All I need is a name, place, start time, and an hour to get cleaned up, dressed, grab my computers and I’m ready to go.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you, for whatever reason, are in need of work, apparently all you need is a good reputation, a great local DJ network & the ability to ask for help when you need it. Practice & Enjoy! Brian S Redd is a Mobile/Club DJ in Milwaukee WI, You can reach Brian at: brianredd@discjockeynews.com/
Always Do YOU! By Brian Kelm
The most authentic thing you can do in your life is to be the best version of yourself. You were given this short opportunity to live, experience, contribute, and make a difference – DO NOT waste it settling for a partial version of who you are. “BE THE STANDARD” in all you do! As a friend, son, daughter, wife, mother, and father, there is always more you can do to impact those near and dear to you – go for it and do not be held back! Initiate and lead sharing, engagement among interactions you have with people; be known as a person that makes things happen, gets things done, and does it with the utmost love, humility, and appreciation in your heart! Life is way too short to be somebody you are not! This is fake, inauthentic, and can be seen by people very far away, especially if they know you as a person. Bring forward your difference, unique-
ness, and stop trying to fit in and be like everybody else! This does no good to move our industry and world forward in a progressive way. Find your tribe; this is a group of people that you can be yourself completely and vulnerable. It doesn’t get any more authentic than a group of people that you like, trust, can be genuine with, have integrity with and would do anything for! These are the people you need to be with at all times who will inspire, support, and challenge you to create the life and talent you never knew you could have! Remember, your path is YOUR own. You call the shots and what happens when and where. Nobody else is living your life, so you have no obligation to be influenced by them and what your life should look like. Find and be your true self. Be different. Be unique. Unleash your absolute potential into all you do and never look back! Brian Kelm, CWEP, CGWP, WED Guild is a 25+ year wedding entertainment and planning professional that has been all over the United States. Based in Wisconsin. Serving Anywhere. He can be reached at briankelm@discjockeynews.com
PAGE 6 • Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018
5-Rules Of Improv To Improve Your Business (Part 2) By Ron Ruth
“The potential of improv as it relates to business should not be undervalued. Some people misunderstand improv… it seems that improv is all about being funny. But it is not. Improv is about being spontaneous. It is about being imaginative. It is about taking the unexpected and then doing something unexpected with it. The key is to be open to crazy ideas and building on them. And funnily enough, this is exactly what is needed if we are going to make our enterprises more creative and agile.” Paul Sloane, Author of “The Leaders Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills” We l c o m e back to Part 2 of “5-Rules Of Improv To Improve Your Business.” Here are the 3, remaining basic rules of improvisation and how you can apply them to “perform” excellence in your business. Rule #3: Listen Up “In business, people tend to listen just to respond, as opposed to really listening to understand someone. When you don’t have a script to drive the action, you have to pick up every shred of information you can, because it might be the thing that unlocks an idea for you.” Tom Yorton, CEO of Second City Works, The B-to-B Arm of Second City For improvisers and business owners alike, saying “yes” is also a commitment to listen... really listen intently to what the person right in front of you has
to say because amazing opportunities can present themselves in what is being said. The reality is, none of us have any idea what anyone is going to say until they say it. If you are engaged as an active listener---fully present and in the moment with your customers, you’re more likely to find those opportunities to do amazing things that will also exceed their expectations. That’s important to any business that wants to be known for delivering extraordinary customer experiences. The challenge for many of us, though, is not recognizing how bad our listening skills are… causing us to miss out on more opportunities to do amazing things than we know, mainly because we can’t get out of our own heads and we’re easily distracted by stuff that keeps us from being fully present in any given moment with others. Imagine, as an example, that my improv scene partner and I are playing husband and wife characters and I say, “It’s a beautiful day for a picnic,” and my scene partner follows that line with “I just hope those alligators don’t turn us into a picnic.” Instead of allowing my character to react to the impact of that statement, I might have said: “I’m so glad we finally have this time alone.” That would have completely ignored the possibilities that could have come from a husband who only chooses the most dangerous places to picnic with his wife (alligator pits, the ledge outside the 14th floor of a building, the rim of a volcano, etc.). But that’s what happens if an improviser is not fully present in the moment, listening only for the opportunity to respond rather than listening for opportunities to react to what was said. In business, lost opportunities to re-
act to your customer’s needs can also mean lost sales and lost referrals. That’s why it is so important to get out of your head---not just shutting down outside distractions, but also shutting down any preconceived agenda you have. How much are those distractions costing you in ideas and opportunities that can lead to additional income for your business? If you work from a standard, and most likely overused, memorized script of what you’re going to say in a sales consultation, BURN IT! Adopt an improviser’s skill set of conversing as an active listener. You’ll find that your conversations are far more engaging if you’re reacting emotionally to the information a customer provides rather than half-listening while sorting through your “mental file cabinet” of bland, pre-scripted responses. Customers don’t care nearly as much about the stuff you provide as they do about how you make them feel. As humans, we gravitate towards other humans who believe what we believe, who genuinely listen to us with an empathetic ear and who care about us and our wellbeing. These are the individuals we trust, we open up to and who we want to hang out with. These are also your potential customers in search of a business that will not only listen and care for them but will make them feel valued, special, trusting and confident that they have made---or are about to make---the right choice in choosing you. Rule #4: Make Bold Choices “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” Peter Drucker, Author, and Father Of Modern Day Business Philosophy
Improvisers are taught to make bold choices onstage and to stick with them. That confidence allows a scene to go forward instead of stalling out with the players constantly questioning what they should do next. Imagine how painful it would be to watch a 20-minute improv scene with two people questioning where to go for dinner. Player #1: “Where do you want to go?” Player #2: “I don’t care. Where do you want to go?” Player #1: “I can’t decide. What do you feel like eating?” Player #2: “Maybe pizza? What do you think?” This rule applies to business owners, as well. You can’t get your business to where you want to be if you constantly question the decisions you make about how you’re going to get there---instead of making a bold choice, sticking with it, moving forward and doing something spectacular. Whether you’re questioning the need for improvement in some area of your business or questioning your next move in a time of crisis: questioning places an unnecessary delay to doing the inevitable---solving the problem---meeting the challenge---achieving greatness. What stalls so much of our forward progress is the all too human feeling of uncertainty---a fear as to whether you’re making the right or wrong choice. But you can overcome a great deal of that apprehension if your choices are first made in the best interest of your customers and if those choices somehow make a positive difference in their lives. That customer first commitment is vital to any business that prides itself on delivering extraordinary customer experiences. Ron Ruth Continued On Page 7
Turn Your Sales Force On By Harvey Mackay
A small business owner was in trouble with her sales. She decided to call in an expert sales consultant to give her an outsider’s viewpoint. After she had gone over her plans and problems, the business owner took the consultant to a map on the wall where she had stuck brightly colored pins where she had a salesperson. “Now,” she asked, “for a starter, what is the first thing we should do?” “Well,” replied the consultant, “the first thing is to take those pins out of the map and stick them in the salespeople.” Ouch! This business owner never learned the basic lesson: It’s not how many salespeople you have, it’s how many sales your people make. At MackayMitchell Envelope Company, we have a formal sales force, but I live by the motto that every employee we have is in sales. They all represent our company and impact our customers. Sales is the lifeblood of all business. There are no companies unless someone brings in the business. So, short of sticking pins in them, how do you fire up your salespeople? One of the most effective incentives I’ve used over the years is crisp, crunchy, crackly, cold, hard cash. Money remains a prime motivator, but there are many others. Recognition promotes results. At MackayMitchell Envelope Company
we recognize our employees with tickets for sporting events, theatre, orchestra, and dinners. We like to celebrate our employees’ accomplishments. I make a point of recognizing people in front of their peers. Why not give others something to strive for and show them how you value good performance? Ever meet a person who didn’t like recognition? No way. The child who says, “Mother, let’s play darts,” expresses it brilliantly. “I’ll throw the darts, and you say ‘wonderful.’” Promote successes. We have a large bell at our company, and any time we get a big order, our sales reps can’t wait to ring it loud and proud. People come out of their offices and want to know about the sale and get excited to match or better it. Another key ingredient in motivating a sales force is learning how people want to be managed. No two people are alike. You need to get in the face of some people and give a lot of slack to others. Some like to be challenged; others are self-starters. Get in the trenches and learn more about your team’s skills. Continue to train and educate your sales team. You don’t learn everything in school. You learn all your life. I’m a big believer in continuous education. If one of our people learns a new sales technique, we ask them to share it with the team so we can all benefit. We’re always brainstorming and experimenting. Sometimes things don’t work out, and sometimes they do. You can’t punish people for making mistakes, as long as they don’t make the same mistake three times. Finally, you have to allow your sales force to focus on selling. Let them do what they do best and help them in any way possible with great
Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018 • Page 7 marketing materials. Lighten their the president. The following morning load by requiring them to fill out fewer both letters were posted on the bulreports or work flexible schedules to letin board with the following memo from the president: meet their customers’ needs. “To All Salespeople: We ben Columnist Ben Holden tells the story of a newly hired traveling sales- spending two much time trying to spel man named Gooch who wrote his first instead of trying to sel. Let’s watch report to the home office. It stunned those sails. I want everybody shud the brass in the sales department be- reed these leters from Gooch, who is cause it was obvious the new man was on the rode doin a grate job for us, and you shud go out and do like he done.” illiterate. He wrote: Mackay’s Moral: Do a sales job Dear Bos: I have seen this outfit which ain’t never bot a dimes worth on your sales force to promote stellar of nothing from us, and I sole them sales. Reprinted with permission from a couple hunerd thousand dollars of guds. I am now going to Chicawgo.” nationally syndicated columnist HarBefore the illiterate could be given vey Mackay, author of the New York the heave-ho by the sales manager, Times #1 bestseller “Swim With The this letter came from Chicago: “I cum Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive,” “We Got Fired!...And It’s the Best hear and sole them haff a millyon.” Fearful what would happen if he Thing That Ever Happened to Us,” did or did not fire the illiterate, the and “The Mackay MBA of Selling in sales manager dumped the problem on the Real World. Ron Ruth Continued From Page 6 Whatever you do, don’t get stalled out on analysis paralysis. Businesses grow and thrive when they have momentum on their side. Rule #5: Make Your Partner Look Good “I think in its simplest form, taking care of your (improv scene) partner, or making your partner look good, really means taking care of the scene. Are you willing to do what is necessary to make the scene work? The hardest part of making your partner look good is not focusing on how you are coming off to the audience, but only thinking about the scene at hand. If you’re focusing on the scene instead of yourself, you’re automatically making your partner look good.” Jimmy Carrane, Corporate Improv Trainer The greatest sinners in an improv performance are players who are only concerned about making themselves look good. They strive to be the “star” of the show. These could be the individuals who step onstage and immediately kill off the other characters in the scene. Or, it could be the individual who is constantly going for a punch line. Either situation is detrimental to the collaborative work of an ensemble and will end a scene before it even gets started. No improviser likes to “play” with people who are always out to make everyone (except themselves) look bad. As a matter of fact, it becomes next to impossible for those selfish individuals to find players who will share a stage with them. When it comes to business, the quickest way to end a relationship with a customer is to be more concerned with your well-being than theirs. Do you spend more time touting your talents than investing the necessary time to build up your customer’s confidence and to make the customer experience you deliver easy-to-use and enjoyable? Do you respect your customer’s time and make them feel valued, special and important, and like they’re central to your success and the success of your business? More importantly, do they feel confident that
they made the right decision in choosing you and do they trust that you will, not only do as you’ve promised but will go the extra mile to make certain they look really, really smart to their friends for having selected your business? Are you doing everything you can to make your customers look good and eager to jump “onstage” with you and your business? Improvising, like business, is inherently collaborative. This means that if you work hard to make your customer and your team look great, the end result will not only look great---it will be great. Following the 5, simple rules of improvisation in your business life will do far more than make notable improvements in the way you interact with clients, think creatively and make decisions; you’ll find that they will also have a positive impact in the way you live your personal life. Don’t just take my word for it. Make a bold choice. Sign up for an improv class. With improv, you not only have permission, but you are also encouraged to explore new ideas, try things out without judgment and genuinely fail without fear. Go ahead. Dive in, head first, into some of the creative processes that lend to overall success in work and life. Exercising your improv muscles is a powerful force that can benefit you greatly. Plus, you’ll have more fun than you ever imagined honing some very valuable skills that will add to the success of your business in a very big way. Ron Ruth has been on the front lines of weddings celebrations for over 25 years as a Disc Jockey and certified, Wedding Entertainment Director®. He’s a well-known speaker and workshop facilitator in the DJ and wedding industries, a client experience designer and coach and a self-described Disney “Geek.” Get Ron’s FREE e-book, “The Client Experience Demystified” at RonRuth.com. You can reach Ron at 816-224-4487 or RonRuth@DiscJockeyNews.com
PAGE 8 • Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018
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I’m often asked where I get the inspiration for my books, and the simple answer is that it’s from you! I practice what I teach you, and listen to my customers and their needs. The conversations we have at conferences, on consulting calls, and on social platforms lead to my presentations and ultimately to my books. Which leads me to my latest book, and from what you tell me, my much-anticipated book, Why Don’t They Call Me? 8 Tips for converting wedding and event inquiries into sales. This topic has hit a nerve with wedding and event pros around the world. What happened to calling and making inquiries? Like many of you, I’m a digital immigrant. When I started in sales, much of today’s technology wasn’t around yet. Don’t get me wrong – I love today’s technology – it’s just that I know what it’s like to do business without it. I used to have to go back to my office to work on my computer, not carry it around in my pocket. That said, I also realize that about every 5 years, or so, the way our customers communicate with us changes. Some were subtle, some profound; either way, we have to adapt to the way our customers prefer to communicate – not the other way around. So, why don’t they call you? There are many reasons, but the root of it is that people are communicating, every day, without using their phone (or at least not using it as a phone). Digital natives – such as millennials – have grown up communicating digitally; so, whether it’s text, email, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, a digital conversation is a real conversation, not a precursor to one. They’re injecting emotion, tone, and energy into their digital conversations; the same as they might on a phone call. You can “hear” it, if you’re listening. Another obvious reason why they don’t call you is that they’re unable to (planning their wedding or event from work) or are reaching out at non-traditional business hours (late at night). It’s much easier to fill out your contact form, send you an email, or live-chat with you while they’re at work. No one will hear their conversation. Their boss won’t get mad at them. And, they can initiate a conversation with you while doing other things (i.e. working!). Continue the conversation they’ve already started One of the concepts that I outline
By Alan Berg
in the book is when you get an inquiry – the conversation has already been started. You’re not trying to start a conversation, you’re trying to continue the one that the prospect has started with their message. What you don’t want to do is give them a reason to tune out. After all, there have been many buying signals in their journey to making an inquiry, and they’ve put you on a very short list of companies they’re still considering. Don’t try to change the technology too soon Something else I wrote about is not trying to change the method of communication too soon. If they’re chosen to email you, they want an email reply. If they text you, text them back. If they send a Facebook Message or inquire through WeddingWire, use that to continue the conversation. By using that to reach out to you, they’re signaling that they prefer that platform. So, unless their message says, “Please call me,” reciprocate their chosen format. Yes, I know it would be so much easier if you can get them on the phone; but had they wanted to talk on the phone, they would have called you! That said, I dedicate an entire chapter to whether you should try to call them. 8 Tips, 5 Steps Some of you have heard me speak about the 8 tips for better conversations and conversion. Each of them is outlined in a chapter in the book, giving you the background and actionable steps. Speaking of steps, I also want you to try at least 5 times to get in touch with someone who has made an inquiry. When my assistant and I do secret shopping, we track to see how many times you try to follow up, and most companies give up after 1 or 2 attempts… and that’s if you even reply at all! Yes, that’s something we never thought we’d have to track, but many wedding and event pros don’t reply to our inquiries at all. Crazy! It’s time to get uncomfortable When I teach these principles, it’s not uncommon for me to get resistance. Of course, it’s something new, and it goes against what you’ve been doing, and with which you’re having some success. My favorite comments are when you trust it, and give it a try, and you see even more success, faster responses, and better conversion. I spoke about this the other day, and got this email the next day: “It nearly killed me, BUT I didn’t send attachments to either bride inquires today, AND I ended with questions each time, and I set two appointments. Ha! I guess you know what you are talking about!!” Alan Berg has been called “North America’s Leading Expert and Speaker on the Business of Weddings and Events”. Find out more about his speaking, website reviews, consulting, books, DVDs and audio presentations at http://www.AlanBerg.com - email or call Alan, 732.422.6362
Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018 • Page 9
The Photobooth Section On Choosing Happiness. What’s Your Choice? By Jeffrey Gitomer
After is a self-defeating word. It robs you of the present, and resigns you to wait without taking any action. You convince yourself that life will be better after something: After you get a new job, after you get a better job, after you get more money, after you get out of debt, after the economy rebounds, after your stocks go back up, after you get that big order. You convince yourself that life will be better after an event: After you get married, after you have a baby, after you get a new house, after you take a vacation, after you come back from vacation, after summer is over, or some other actionprocrastinating “after.” Are you frustrated that the kids aren’t old enough, and believe you’ll be more content after they’re in high school or out of high school? Are you frustrated that you have teenagers to deal with? You will certainly be happy after they’re out of that stage. Certainly you’ll be happier after they’re in college, or is it out of college? You tell yourself that your life will be more complete when your spouse gets his or her act together, when you get a nicer car, a new house, a raise in pay, a new boss, or worse, after you retire. The truth is, the fact is, the reality is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? After the economy gets better? You may not be able to wait that long. Your life will always be filled with challenges, barriers, and disappointments. It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. Alfred Souza said, “For a long, long time it had seemed to me that I was about to begin real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished busi-
ness, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it
dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.” There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. There is no after to happiness Happiness is now. Here’s the answer: It’s inside your head FIRST and everyplace else second. Happiness is a treasure. Your (missed) opportunity is to treasure every moment that you have. Stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until after you quit smoking, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get your new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until the first or the fifteenth, until your song comes on, until
you’ve had a drink, until you’ve sobered up, until you win the lottery, or until the cows come home to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy. And treasure the happiness of now more because you share it with someone special enough to invest your time in... Happiness is: Not a sale or a commission. Not an economy or a budget. Not a yes or a no. Not a game winning hit or a last second touchdown. Happiness is a way of life that is inside you at all times. It helps you get over the tough times, and helps you celebrate the special times. Seems pretty simple to define on paper, but real difficult to manifest when the chips are down. My experience has taught me the difference between resign and resolve. You can resign yourself to what is, and hope or wait for a better day. Or you can resolve that you are a positive person who finds the good, the positive, the happiness, the smile, and especially the opportunity in everything. Happiness is now, not a goal or a
destination. It’s not an after, it’s a before. And it’s up to you. All you have to do is: decide. If you want a few more ideas about internal, personal happiness, go to www.git o m e r. c o m , register if you a first time visitor, and enter the word HAPPY in the GitBit box. Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of twelve best-selling books including The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Gold Book of Yes! Attitude, and 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling. His real-world ideas and content are also available as online courses at www.GitomerVT.com. For information about training and seminars visit www.Gitomer.com or www.GitomerCertifiedAdvisors.com, or email Jeffrey personally at salesman@gitomer.com.
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PAGE 10 • Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018
My Favorite Month Of The Year! By Rob Ferre
October is my favorite month of the year. It’s the month we celebrate my favorite holiday--Halloween--and my birthday. But what also makes October a great month is the variety of events you can do. In my market, we are winding down the wedding season as we move gracefully into fall with the cooler weather and changing leaves. I want to focus on the variety of events you could be doing and how to enhance them for your clients. School and community events, I do a slew of Halloween themed parties for elementary schools. If you are doing these events, you know how fun they can be, and it is great weekday work leading up to Halloween. If you structure your events like a show, you will be asked back time and time again. I often do about a 2-hour dance party which is has a show flow that will engage the entire family. I will start with a hula hoop contest as guests start filtering in. I have a slew of hula hoops, but if you don’t, you can ask the school if they have any you can use. Nine times out of 10 I have supplemented my own stash of hula hoops with the ones the school can supply. Shortly after the hula hoop contest, I do a conga line around the room to get people standing on the sidelines to join
in. Then I lead the conga line into a circle proceeding to my monster dance-off. This is fun because I can now feature a variety of kids in different costumes. “If you are a monster come to the center of the room and dance!” “If you a superhero… a princess… a parent…” You get the idea. Then I lead a bevy of Halloween dances from the Monster Mash (which I do the hand jive to) to Thriller. In the middle of the party, I do an actual Halloween costume parade down the center of the room. I encourage parents to line up on both sides of the room as the kids parade down the center and take photos and videos of their kids. I also bring Halloween candy as prizes for dancing, participating and winning a contest. I also make sure to dress up! How awkward would it be that you are the only person in the room not in a costume? I do have a variety of fun themed suits that I wear also. Private and Corporate Parties, I love doing Halloween parties. One thing that makes my parties quite distinct is the experience I create not only with the music but lighting and projection. I highly sug-
gest you invest in the Halloween music video collections from Promo Only. I project music videos on the walls while people dance to the images of the Halloween groove. Thriller can be quite entertaining to project as your crowd tries to imitate the zombie dance. For those of
you who have great light shows this is always a great opportunity to showcase your stuff. Vendor Parties is another excellent opportunity to show off your skills as a DJ, entertainer and lighting artist. I DJ an annual Halloween event for fellow wedding vendors in my market. This event is co-hosted by a popular wedding venue and wedding association (WIPA). If you can throw your own party or help
out fellow event professional, this is an opportunity to be in front of your peers showcasing what you do best. I donate my services for the night, but I am in front of professionals who could possibly refer me for their event. This also is great if you are a part of a chamber or a networking group. Build relationships, credibility and a following if you can be a part of an event like this. Last year at this event I was able to show off our new Silent Disco headsets to fellow wedding vendors, and it was a huge hit. Take advantage of a party like this to be in the front and center of your peers. As we usher in the month of October I hope the spirit of Halloween brings you to events that thrill your audiences, frighten your competition and where you can make scary money. You can connect with him at RobFerre@discjockeynews.com.
The Way I See It: Is Pop Music Dead?
Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018 • Page 11
By Michael J. Lenstra
It’s a subject that I’ve heard discussed in the halls at some of the Mobile DJ gatherings I’ve been to in the last couple of years. It’s one I’ve seen brought up on the social media sites repeatedly. It’s been a subject of frustration and conversation among many of my colleagues. That subject? Is pop music dead? I can only address this from the perspective of a weddingfocused Mobile DJ–and in the case of a radio or club DJ it may be different–but for those of us who specialize in matrimony celebrations and are dealing with a demographic that ranges from 2 to 82 week in and week out, finding something that has a mass appeal to such a wide variety of people has been a challenge the past couple of years. Is this a trend that signifies the end of pop music as many of us have always known it? That’s a conversation that I had with my good friend and author of The Billboard Book of Number 2 Singles, Chris Feldman. “I don’t think anything in music is ever ‘dead,’” Chris suggested. “It just recycles and comes back in a slightly different form. Take rock music. The rock of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis isn’t the same as the rock of the Beatles and Rolling Stones, which differs from the rock of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, which differs from the rock of Journey and Styx. Then you have Van Halen and Def Leppard, which evolved into Poison and Warrant, which got replaced by Nirvana and
Pearl Jam, which gave way to Green Day and Blink 182. Then it evolved to Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit, then Creed and Nickelback, and then Shinedown, Hinder, Papa Roach, and Halestorm. It’s all ‘rock,’ but it’s all different as time goes on. “Pop has been the same way. The 50s and 60s had your Bobby Darin and Fabian and Frankie Avalon. The 60s had the Beatles and the Monkees. The 70s had the Bee Gees, Shaun Cassidy, Andy Gibb, Donny Osmond, the Jackson 5, and the Partridge Family. The 80s had New Edition, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and New Kids on the Block. The 90s had the Spice Girls, Hanson, N Sync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera, and it hasn’t been that long ago radio stations played the latest by Katy Perry and Kesha and One Direction and Miley Cyrus and ‘Call Me Maybe’ and ‘All About That Bass’ and ‘Happy.’ It might be taking a back seat right now to Drake and Cardi B, but that could just be cyclical. People get tired of hearing the same things for too long. “In late September Billboard noted that the Maroon 5/Cardi B song ‘Girls Like You’ hit #1, ending a streak of 34 straight weeks at #1 for rap on the Hot 100. Drake alone has been at #1 for 27 weeks this year. This seems to be a hip-hop phase of popular music. I recall a year or so ago reading an article wondering whether hip-hop was fading out because the chart-topping songs weren’t hip-hop anymore.” The fact that Cardi B was featured on the song that broke the #1 rap streak might also be an indication of the future. Chris recalled, “When disco was the big musical trend, rock acts like Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones, and KISS all recorded disco songs, which helped keep them relevant to radio. Maybe there’s a hip-hop/pop fusion coming up down the line. Or maybe what people consider ‘pop’ will evolve. Roll-
ing Stone magazine recently had an article titled ‘Pop’s Biggest Block Party Lights Up,’ which featured stories on The Weeknd and Post Malone. “And if you look at music history as a whole, has anything ever ‘died’? Swing music was considered dead after the 1950s until Jive Bunny came along, and then the Brian Setzer Orchestra and Cherry Poppin’ Daddies in the 1990s. Easy listening standards supposedly died out with Frank Sinatra in the 1960s, until Linda Ronstadt came back in the 80s with her What’s New albums and Natalie Cole hit with ‘Unforgettable,’ and now Tony Bennett has a duets album of standards with Lady Gaga, not to mention the work of Harry Connick, Jr. and Michael Buble. Even disco got reborn as the dance acts of the 90s like C+C Music Factory and Black Box and Real McCoy and La Bouche. Are they really that different from Chic? Daft Punk even featured Nile Rodgers from Chic to their song ‘Get Lucky’ to give it more of a disco feel. “Basically, to everything there is a season. The 1940s had Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, which gave way to Bill Haley and Elvis and Buddy Holly, which gave way to Motown acts like the Supremes and Temptations, which gave way to the Beatles and Rolling Stones, which gave way to experimental bands like early Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears, which gave way to the singer/songwriter like Carole King, John Denver, Simon & Garfunkel, and James Taylor, which gave way to a brief ‘God music’ phase, which turned into rock bands like Bad Company and BTO, which turned into novelty songs like ‘The Streak’ and ‘Convoy,’ then pop acts like Debby Boone and Andy Gibb, which turned into disco acts like Donna Summer, the Village People, and the Bee Gees, which turned into country/pop like the Oak Ridge Boys, Juice Newton, and Kenny
Rogers, which turned into new wave music like the Human League, Culture Club, and Duran Duran, which turned into the superstar pop era of music video stars like Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, Huey Lewis, and Bruce Springsteen, which turned to pop music like Tiffany and Debbie Gibson, which turned into hair bands like Bon Jovi and Winger, which turned into dance music like Paula Abdul, Snap, and C+C Music Factory, which turned into grunge like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, which turned into Grunge-Lite like the Spin Doctors, Gin Blossoms, and Counting Crows, which turned into the hip-hop acts like 2Pac, Notorious BIG, and Puff Daddy, which turned into pop acts like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, which turned into the female singer/songwriter ‘Lilith Fair’ years, to the Latin and swing revivals of Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias and the Brian Setzer Orchestra and Mighty Mighty Bosstones, And that’s just getting to 2000. But even during those eras, other acts in different styles charted—Mariah Carey was probably the biggest act of the 1990s, and rose to success during the ‘grunge’ era, and both Elton John and Billy Joel seemed to transcend whatever the current music trends were in the 1970s and 1980s.” True enough, I’m sure the lovers of Big Band and the swing music of the 40s were aghast when the likes of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis took over the music scene in the 50s, and the doo-wop fans of the 1950s and 1960s must have thought the music had truly died when the music of the late 60s became politically charged. Even the Beatles had joined the fray by vacating their “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” sound for “Revolution” and “Come Together.” Likewise, those politically charged music fans must have been pulling their Mike Lenstra Continued On Page 12
PAGE 12 • Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018
Loaded Up By Joe Bunn
I recently made an “MTV Cribs” style video showing how I load my van and what’s in it. In this article, I want to dig into this subject a little more. If you didn’t see the video, go back to my Facebook page and try to find it. http:// w w w. F a c e book.com/ joebunn. My van is a 2015 Mercedes Benz Metris, and I honestly love it. I really wish I had made the purchase years ago (although I don’t think the Metris has been around that long). Having the van as my DJ gear transporter has provided so many advantages! One, it saved my house from getting torn up. How? My office is super small and doesn’t have much storage, so I kept most of my personal gear under the stairs in a huge closet in my home. Needless to say, loading that in and out every weekend was tearing up the door frame and other things there. I’m now allowed out of the proverbial dog house by my wife. Secondly, it probably has saved my back. It’s hard enough being a DJ and loading gear in and out of the show and standing all night. Now imagine having to move it in and out of the house each weekend. Now it just stays in the van. The van is the storage room or warehouse! It has definitely saved my Grand Cherokee. I love my personal driver, my Jeep. But I’ll be honest; the back bumper looks like I took a cheese grater to it! No matter how careful you are loading and unloading gear into an SUV, you are going to damage the exterior and eventually going to cut the door panels or rip the leather seats. It happens, and it sucks! Another advantage is the height. This van isn’t the size of the Benz sprinter; it’s more like the size of a minivan. This allows me to be able to enter and park in any of the parking garages downtown carefree. It is also the perfect height to be able to almost stand up in (yes, I’m short, I get that). The main reason I love the height is that I can leave my DJ booth (oh, it’s the one at http://www. Mike Lenstra Continued From Page 11 hair when the sounds of bubblegum and disco dominated the 1970s. And each decade since has had their own dominant sound, yet some of their favorite genres are still available today. The way I see it, it was just a few years ago (2015) when we were reveling in the pop dance floor fillers like ‘Shake It Off,’ ‘Uptown Funk,’ ‘Honey I’m Good,’ and ‘Shut Up and Dance.’ I don’t think pop music is dead. If history is any indication, we’re probably only another year or so away from another gold rush of pop music. Until next month. ~ Michael ~ Michael J. Lenstra is a self-described Wedding DJ and is celebrating over 25 years in the Mobile DJ industry. He is a full-time DJ/Entertainer, and is owner of Alexxus Entertainment in Dubuque, Iowa. He can be reached at mikelenstra@discjockeynews.com
visiondjdesigns.com) fully assembled. I literally roll my Rock N Roller cart up to the side door, open it, and lift the entire booth with the controller in it all wired up directly into the van and latch it down. It makes setup and strike so easy! A couple of tips for you when you get a van. First, google this “fleet upfitter (insert your city name here).” These guys are the masters of designing a cargo van interior. If you don’t do this, you’re wasting all the money you spent on the van. Your stuff is just going to be piled in there haphazardly, sliding around, getting destroyed. Make an appointment with the upfitter, take all of your gear, and they will show you the way to the promised land!
Lock it down! One of the best things I bought for the van is called Slick Locks. They are made specifically for your van type, and they are some seriously killer locks that go on the back and side doors. You would have to take a torch and cut the entire door off to get in there. Lastly, now that you have a van, you might feel the need to fill it up. Don’t do that, but do plan for emergency situations. The extra room will allow you to load up on stuff like extra XLR cables and extra extension cords. Go ahead and throw a backup controller in there in a road case. Pack an extra set of speakers, another set of tripods too. What if the planner forgets to rent you a table. Have a FastSet table or 6’ folding one loaded up along with a skirt for it. What if you need to run a remote speaker? Pack an extra lav mic that you can reverse rig to run a wireless speaker. Of course, I
keep all of my normal essentials packed in there as well including my DJ booth, EV Evolve 50s, basic dance floor lighting, ceremony rig and so forth. The only thing that doesn’t reside there are the uplights due to the fact that they are on chargers in the office during the week. When they are booked, I load them into soft cases (4 per bag) and toss them in the side door. I don’t advocate buying a lot of things just so you have the latest and greatest, but the van purchase is one that I’m pretty passionate about. Reach out if you have any questions for me! Happy driving. Joe Bunn is the co-founder of The PhDJ Workshop (www.pdhdjworkshop. com) and also the creator of the videos “Selling the Music” and “Marketing the Music” which can be found at djjoebunn.com.
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Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018 • Page 13
Trust Me
By Jeremy Brech
When planning a wedding, it takes a lot of time and energy from a couple to plan the perfect wedding. Well, I think we as entertainers know that not every wedding is or will be perfect. There is always something that is bound to go wrong. But our job is to eliminate the possibilities of failure or make sure that everyone at the wedding doesn’t notice any mishaps. Giving peace of mind is extremely important for your client and by showing them right away that you will do anything in your power to make sure that they have an incredible experience is the key. Building that trust has to happen even before they book your services. In the past two years we have worked on some really high-end weddings. Now, as you may know, people who have big budgets have worked hard for their money and with success comes detail. They didn’t make their income or build their businesses by not caring about details. So why do I bring this up? People with larger budgets are no different in their wants and needs for their weddings or their events than they are or were in how they viewed their business. They also don’t want the same wedding that you have created in the past. Your job is to think outside of the box and with the world of Pinterest it can either make your job more difficult or you can em-
brace the fact that they have provided you inspiration. Now you have probably received those requests of a picture of the $500,000 wedding setup but with a $10,000 budget. Yes, this can make things difficult for sure but the at least you have something to work with. If you have built the trust with your client then telling them, professionally and not laughing in their faces, they might be a little more open to one or two things. Scaling back a bit or raising their budget. The best things you can do
is provide professional feedback to help them make that adjustment. When meeting with the client through the planning or design process, you need to provide feedback that will make the event or vision successful, possible, and give your client piece of mind. When we get the crazy requests of work, we have never done before we find ourselves saying, “Trust Me.” You are taking on a project that has never been done so how do you prove yourself. We are fortunate to have worked with great cli-
ents in the past and create some over the top weddings in my market. When we can show off before and after pictures of past events, then people know they can put their event in our hands. They have seen that we can take a dream and create reality and that is building trust. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Make sure that you can handle the workload, have the creativity, and have the patience. Sometimes it is making baby steps and not trying to take on the biggest event you can. Sometimes you need to bring on other partners who have been able to pull off the impossible. Either way, you have to be ready for everything because you insisted that your client should trust you to make their vision a reality. Jeremy Brech is Owner/Entertainer/ Lighting Designer of DJ Jer Events and Lighting Design. Jeremy can be reached at: jeremybrech@discjockeynews.com.
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PAGE 14 • Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018
Naked and Afraid By Dean C. Carlson
Over the last couple of years, I have almost had a theme among my article: growing old as a DJ. I start my 30th year in the business by the end of this month, and a lot has changed for me. My last couple of articles talked a b o u t how my m u s i c palette has changed and what I have had to do about this. This month I want to talk a bit about being stuck in “your show.” What do I mean by “your show?” Well just as we grow as performers, and make no mistake about it, that is what we are. We find things, some people might call them bits or shtick that work for us, and we rely heavily on them because they work almost every time. This can be a double-edged sword. First the good news. I have preached this very thing before: know your stuff so well that the actual thing you are doing will not hinder what’s happening all around you. This will allow you to react to the moment at hand because you are not worried about the mechanics of said piece. From the book “Top Performer” this is called mining
the mess. And if you get good at it, it can exponentially catapult your performance from average to a viral youtube video in a heartbeat. A few years ago, Mobile Beat had Penn Jillette speak. There was a bit of an uproar initially on how he could speak to DJs; after all, he’s not one. I was not in that boat mind you, and it turned out to be one of the best presentations that year. Penn and Teller’s Vegas show is the longest headline show at one hotel in Las Vegas history. The thing that strikes me about them and his presentation is that they do magic, and a lot of the magic has the same basic principle, just shaken and stirred. Penn said that they practice routines so vigorously before a show that it becomes second nature and thus they can mine the mess naturally, Now the bad. As I rely heavily on referral business, repeating the same act can possibly make clients feel cheated on the personalized event idea. Not to mention the possibility of several guests already knowing what’s is basically happening. And on a much more personal level, there might come the point where performing “Africa” one more time might make you want to die a little on the inside, and just mail it in. (Weezer was said to have been a bit concerned knowing they would probably have to play that song for the rest of their performing lives) One of my favorite bands Rush re-
cently ended their career of touring and possibly making music. They have said on numerous occasions that if they became a nostalgia band, they would have hung it up years earlier. They didn’t want to become Kiss who relies solely on its past glories in order to be somewhat relevant today. And I have had to
ask myself this very question. Am I still relevant? A few weeks ago I performed a show that was abnormal for me. People tend to hire me because I am creative, and I try to come up with unique ideas for all my weddings somehow. Not this show. They nixed everything. To put it mildly, I had become Naked, and I was Afraid, very afraid. I had not felt so exposed in many years. I came to realize everything I had been doing had become a type of mental crutch for my shows. I thought the show was going to be the worst I had ever done. I, I, I….. The truth was far from my percep-
tion. The show turned out great and most importantly my clients were very happy. And I got a dose of reality that I had needed for a while. That being “just” a great DJ can be enough. Well, that and the few announcements I performed. For years now, I have been working on all my other needed skills, that is until this year when the music had to come front and center once again and thank the lord that happened. The other lesson I learned was that I might be forcing my agenda on people a little more than I thought. After all, I know what works. Yet, even knowing what I am good at, I also need to realize which tools for the job are needed the most. I also learned that maybe its time to do what Penn and Teller do and make some muchneeded adjustments to my shows, after all, I don’t want to become a nostalgia DJ just relying on shtick I have used for years and years. Finally, I want to encourage all of you, our loyal reader to take a deep breath and possible get naked and become very afraid about your shows. (not really naked, lol) What is it that you have grown to rely on each and every show? Are you forcing that on your clients? Is there a way to take what’s old and make it new? Or can you possibly create something entirely different? Good Luck and Great Shows.! Dean Carlson can be reached at deancarlson@discjockeynews.com.
Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018 • Page 15
Top 50 Charts for October 2018
The Weekly Printable Charts (Top 50, Recurrent and Billboard Singles) are available at http://www.DJNTV.com/charts Sponsored by iDJPool.com Pop 1 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER Youngblood 2 KHALID X NORMANI Love Lies 3 POST MALONE Better Now 4 MAROON 5 Girls Like You f/Cardi B 5 SELENA GOMEZ Back To You 6 ARIANA GRANDE God Is A Woman 7 DJ KHALED/BIEBER/CHANCE/QUAVO No Brainer 8 CARDI B I Like It f/Bad Bunny/J Balvin 9 JUICE WRLD Lucid Dreams 10 BEBE REXHA I’m A Mess 11 DRAKE In My Feelings 12 IMAGINE DRAGONS Natural 13 NF Lie 14 MARSHMELLO Happier f/Bastille 15 BENNY BLANCO, HALSEY & KHALID Eastside 16 TIESTO & DZEKO Jackie Chan f/Preme/PostMalone 17 CHARLIE PUTH The Way I Am 18 BRYCE VINE Drew Barrymore 19 BAZZI Beautiful f/Camila Cabello 20 LOVELYTHEBAND Broken 21 SABRINA CARPENTER Almost Love 22 KYGO Remind Me To Forget f/Miguel 23 CALVIN HARRIS & SAM SMITH Promises 24 ARIANA GRANDE Breathin 25 JASON DERULO X DAVID GUETTA Goodbye f/N. Minaj & W.William 26 THE CHAINSMOKERS Side Effects f/Emily Warren 27 TYGA Taste f/Offset 28 WEEZER Africa 29 PANIC! AT THE DISCO High Hopes 30 ANNE-MARIE 2002 31 ELLA MAI Boo’d Up 32 LOGIC One Day f/Ryan Tedder 33 LSD (LABRINTH/SIA/DIPLO) Thunderclouds 34 SILK CITY F/DIPLO/MARK RONSON Electricity f/Dua Lipa 35 TRAVIS SCOTT Sicko Mode 36 MIKE POSNER Song About You 37 SHAWN MENDES Lost In Japan f/Zedd 38 LOUD LUXURY Body f/Brando 39 CHEAT CODES & LITTLE MIX Only You 40 ZEDD & ELLEY DUHE Happy Now 41 KIM PETRAS Heart To Break 42 MARTIN GARRIX Ocean f/Khalid 43 DAVID GUETTA Don’t Leave Me Alone 44 DAN + SHAY Tequila 45 THE CHAINSMOKERS F/K BALLERINI This Feeling 46 BTS IDOL f/Nicki Minaj 47 KANYE WEST & LIL PUMP I Love It 48 DEAN LEWIS Be Alright 49 AJ MITCHELL Girls 50 NINA NESBITT Loyal To Me Urban 1 LIL DUVAL Smile B*tch f/Snoop & B.Greezy 2 DRAKE Nonstop 3 LIL BABY Yes Indeed f/Drake 4 YG F/2 CHAINZ, BIG SEAN, NICKI Big Bank 5 YELLA BEEZY That’s On Me 6 ELLA MAI Trip 7 TRAVIS SCOTT Sicko Mode 8 TYGA Taste f/Offset 9 QUEEN NAIJA Medicine 10 6IX9INE FeFe f/Nicki Minaj 11 CARDI B Ring 12 JUICE WRLD Lucid Dreams 13 MEEK MILL Dangerous f/Jeremih, PnB Rock 14 CARDI B I Like It f/Bad Bunny/J Balvin 15 TORY LANEZ & RICH THE KID Talk To Me 16 THE CARTERS Apes**t
17 DRAKE In My Feelings 18 NICKI MINAJ Barbie Dreams 19 QUAVO WORKINME 20 GUCCI MANE/BRUNO/KODAK Wake Up In The Sky 21 DJ KHALED/BIEBER/CHANCE/QUAVO No Brainer 22 TEYANA TAYLOR Gonna Love Me 23 BRI STEVES Jealousy 24 G HERBO (AKA LIL HERB) Swervo f/Southside 25 DANIEL CAESAR & H.E.R. Best Part 26 J. COLE ATM 27 SHECK WES Mo Bamba 28 SHY GLIZZY Do You Understand f/T.Lz/Gunna 29 KANYE WEST & LIL PUMP I Love It 30 GOLDLINK Got Friends f/Miguel 31 DJ HOLIDAY 2 Seater f/Quavo & 21 Savage 32 LIL YACHTY Who Want The .. f/Cardi/Offset 33 YOUNG THUG Chanel (Go Get It) f/Gunna... 34 WIZ KHALIFA Hopeless Romantic f/Swae Lee 35 YUNG BLEU Ice On My Baby 36 CITY GIRLS Where The Bag At? 37 MIGOS Narcos 38 FAT JOE, CHRIS BROWN & DRE Attention 39 FLIPP DINERO Leave Me Alone 40 JACQUEES You 41 JANELLE MONAE I Like That 42 MADEINTYO Ned Flanders f/A$AP Ferg 43 DANILEIGH Lil BeBe 44 SAWEETIE X LONDON Up Now f/G-Eazy & Rich The Kid 45 VIC MENSA Reverse f/G-Eazy 46 COCA VANGO Sauce All On Me 47 JAY ROCK Tap Out f/Jeremih 48 POST MALONE Better Now 49 JHENE AIKO Never Call Me f/YG 50 H.E.R. Could’ve Been f/Bryson Tiller Adult Contempory 1 TAYLOR SWIFT Delicate 2 ZEDD/MAREN MORRIS/GREY The Middle 3 ED SHEERAN Perfect 4 MAX Lights Down Low f/Gnash 5 BEBE REXHA Meant To Be f/F.G.L. 6 MAROON 5 Girls Like You f/Cardi B 7 CAMILA CABELLO Never Be The Same 8 CAMILA CABELLO Havana f/Young Thug 9 BACKSTREET BOYS Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 10 SHAWN MENDES In My Blood 11 PAUL MCCARTNEY Come On To Me 12 ROD STEWART Didn’t I 13 JOSH GROBAN Granted 14 LAUV I Like Me Better 15 TRAIN Call Me Sir f/Cam/Travie McCoy 16 JOHN SPLITHOFF Sing To You 17 JASON MRAZ Have It All 18 ARIANA GRANDE No Tears Left To Cry 19 WEEZER Africa 20 STEVE PERRY No Erasin’ 21 GREGORY DARLING Send Me A Message 22 MICHAEL W. SMITH A Million Lights 23 SELENA GOMEZ Back To You 24 JORDAN SMITH Only Love 25 LOVELYTHEBAND Broken 26 KAZ BIELINSKI You’ll Believe 27 LOUIS YORK Slow Motion 28 FOR KING & COUNTRY Joy 29 WALK THE MOON One Foot 30 WILLIAM PRINCE Breathless 31 DAN + SHAY Tequila 32 ANDRA DAY Rise Up 33 CHEAT CODES No Promises f/Demi Lovato
34 U2 Love Is Bigger Than Anything.. 35 RIHANNA Sledgehammer 36 STEVE PERRY No More Cryin’ 37 JULIA MICHAELS Worst In Me 38 HAILEE STEINFELD & GREY Starving f/Zedd 39 ARIANA GRANDE Dangerous Woman 40 LAUREN DAIGLE You Say 41 IMAGINE DRAGONS Natural 42 SIA The Greatest f/Kendrick Lamar 43 LADY ANTEBELLUM Bartender 44 CHARLIE PUTH The Way I Am 45 P!NK Whatever You Want 46 KEALA SETTLE This Is Me 47 TRISHA YEARWOOD Broken 48 CHARLIE PUTH Done For Me f/Kehlani 49 JANELLE MONAE Make Me Feel 50 ALESSIA CARA How Far I’ll Go Country 1 OLD DOMINION Hotel Key 2 RUSSELL DICKERSON Blue Tacoma 3 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Simple 4 LUKE BRYAN Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset 5 COLE SWINDELL Break Up In The End 6 LUKE COMBS She Got The Best Of Me 7 CHRIS YOUNG Hangin’ On 8 CHRIS JANSON Drunk Girl 9 MAREN MORRIS Rich 10 DYLAN SCOTT Hooked 11 KANE BROWN Lose It 12 GARTH BROOKS All Day Long 13 MITCHELL TENPENNY Drunk Me 14 CARLY PEARCE Hide The Wine 15 ERIC CHURCH Desperate Man 16 JIMMIE ALLEN Best Shot 17 LANCO Born To Love You 18 SUGARLAND Babe f/Taylor Swift 19 KIP MOORE Last Shot 20 BLAKE SHELTON Turnin’ Me On 21 DIERKS BENTLEY Burning Man f/Brothers Osborne 22 MIDLAND Burn Out 23 CHRIS STAPLETON Millionaire 24 DAN + SHAY Speechless 25 JORDAN DAVIS Take It From Me 26 RILEY GREEN There Was This Girl 27 DUSTIN LYNCH Good Girl 28 SCOTTY MCCREERY This Is It 29 JAKE OWEN Down To The Honkytonk 30 KELSEA BALLERINI I Hate Love Songs 31 TYLER RICH The Difference 32 MICHAEL RAY One That Got Away 33 TRAVIS DENNING David Ashley Parker From... 34 KENNY CHESNEY Better Boat f/Mindy Smith 35 JASON ALDEAN Girl Like You 36 CODY JOHNSON On My Way To You 37 KEITH URBAN Never Comin Down 38 CRAIG CAMPBELL See You Try 39 GRANGER SMITH You’re In It 40 JON PARDI Night Shift 41 RASCAL FLATTS Back To Life 42 ELI YOUNG BAND Love Ain’t 43 RODNEY ATKINS Caught Up In The Country 44 BRETT ELDREDGE Love Someone 45 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Love Wins 46 DANIELLE BRADBERY Goodbye Summer w/Thomas Rhett 47 AARON WATSON Run Wild Horses 48 RANDY HOUSER What Whiskey Does f/H. Lindsey 49 CHASE RICE Eyes On You 50 CARLTON ANDERSON Drop Everything
PAGE 16 • Disc Jockey News • OCTOBER 2018