Finding DJ Employees – Where Not To

I’ve spent the past few weeks highlighting some careers that I think are good to recruit from. I’ve enumerated the benefits of looking at waiters, bartenders and teachers just to name a few.Here’s one though that I avoid at all costs: Civil Servants.

Specifically firemen, policemen and anyone in the military.

At first blush this might seem odd. In fact I know personally some very successful DJs who are Civil Servants, most notably Paul Beardmore who is not only a prominent name in our industry but who has been a heroic firefighters for years (and was one of the first on the scene at the Pentagon that fateful morning of September 11th)

So let me explain why I feel these are not good careers to recruit from.

Civil Servants do not have much flexibility in their schedules. They can often be forced to work odd hours or to stay late and do overtime. After all, emergencies happen whenever and wherever, and a firefighter, police officer or EMT has a priority that is far more important than the wedding or Sweet 16 you’ve got them booked on. So before you put yourself in the situation where you have to make a last minute re-assignment, my suggestion is: don’t do it.

In fact before I hire anyone, we have the discussion of schedule and how important it is that they not become unavailable at the last second. If they have a day job that could possibly force them to work weekends, and that could happen without notice, then they’ve got two strikes against them. Don’t get me wrong, I respect that someone’s day job will take priority over their weekend job. I just have to ensure that the chance of a conflict is rare.

It’s similar with someone who is active in the military. If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that military people have NO SAY over their schedules. They can get “shipped out” whenever and they have no control over that fact. Even the National Guard, which for years people assumed just meant you could serve a couple of weekends in and not have to worry about, has been called up to full-active duty in the last few years. So again, I look at someone with a military commitment as off limits for me and my staff. In good conscience, I can’t book someone 6-18 months in advance (which is when most of our weddings are booking) when I know deep down that there is a good chance they may not be here.

Having to re-assign events from one entertainer to another, especially at the last minute, is one of the surefire ways to undermine your reputation in your area. Word will spread quickly not just among clients but among professionals as well. One banquet manager may tell three others. The photographer who was shooting the wedding that you had to flip may tell his photographer friends about it. We all know, bad news travels faster than good. And it often gets twisted and turned in the retelling. So my advice to any Multi-Op owner is to make every effort to have the minimum number of reassignments possible. It’s impossible to eliminate them totally . . . DJs get sick or hurt . . .wives give birth on Saturday afternoons . . . stuff happens. Which is why we all need to do our best to cut down the other situations that may cause reassignments. And hiring someone who’s fulltime job has an unpredictable schedule is one of the ways we put ourselves in precarious situations. So when it comes to Civil Servants, as much I respect their commitment to society, I error on the side of caution when it comes to recruiting.

Till next week.

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.

Face-To-Face

Back after a coupla weeks off. These busy seasons always seem manageable till you get into them and then all of a sudden you are over your head. Anyway, I’ve righted the ship here at Elite and am back to being able to contribute to this fine website. My thanks to the readers who reached out and asked if everything was ok and told me they missed reading my columns. And to Tony, my editor, who very professionally yet effectively let me know I was missed. It’s nice to be appreciated.A few weeks ago I talked about when to invite a music mixer into emcee training. I mentioned how they need to be ready talent-wise and also experience-wise but that even then there has to be another ingredient: Their desire.

I’m big on desire. I’m big on pro-activity. I’m big on employees who get in my face and say: I’m ready for the next step – give it to me.

Maybe it’s the New Yorker in me but I don’t handle hints well. I don’t read tea leaves. If someone in my organization wants something, they should tell me. If they feel they are worthy of a raise, or of increased work or whatever, I want them to knock on my office door and sit down and tell me so. I don’t want to hear through the grapevine that so and so is disgruntled. I ignore those rumors anyway.

I despise the telephone game. I want things delivered first-hand and I want reasons and proof because if you ask for something, you better be ready handle why I may not agree. You better bring your thick skin that day because I may open the books and say, here are the things you aren’t doing that you need to start doing to get to where you want to go. Whenever I worked for someone in my life that’s all I ever expected. Just draw the line for me, the line between where I am now and where I want to go. But then if I walk that line I better get what’s coming to me.

I mention this because you, as a Multi-Op owner or manager, are going to be faced with these types of meetings. Your staff gets told they are “great” all the time. As they are leaving their events people pat them on the back and tell them they are the best they have ever seen and sometimes (God we hate this but it happens) they tell your staff: you should be doing this on your own. So naturally, your DJs have big heads. They can get full of themselves. They can start to believe the hype. And you want them to . . . to an extent. I love confidence in my staff, in fact I think it’s essential for what we do. But then confidence can cross the line into cockiness and you can have a problem. So meetings whose soul purpose is to get you to pay them more, give them more and respect them more can become a regular thing.

And that’s okay. Because at least they are talking to you. At least they know you want to hear from them and they aren’t going behind your back. And that’s a good thing.

Handling the meetings themselves, without giving up the ranch, that’s an art form in itself. But inviting the meetings to happen and being open to your staff’s point of view on things, is essential when it comes to running a successful Multi-Op.

Till next week . . .

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.

Did A DJ Just Serve You Lunch? Finding Great Talent in Unexpected Places

Years ago I was doing a wedding at a local banquet hall where the Maitre D is gay. This is actually pretty common in our area. Many gay men seem to have the right talents and personalities and in many cases they make the best Maitre Ds. More on that in a bit.

Well, this one in particular Maitre D, Larry, was very outspoken about his sexual preference and openly joked about it. He was cool and since I grew up with a homosexual older brother I’ve always been very comfortable around gay men. So during this one wedding that we were doing, Larry came over to the DJ table while the dance floor was packed and very subtly pointed to a guy on the dance floor and said, “He’s a member of the ‘family.’” Knowing that was code for, “that guy’s gay.” I turned incredulously towards Larry and said “how could you possibly know that?” I mean the guy was dancing with a gorgeous woman in his arms. How could he be gay? And more importantly, how could someone know just from looking at him.

Larry smiled and said, “I have gay-dar.”

Well, I never did discover whether that guy on the dance floor was straight or gay but that one statement stuck with me. Not for the purposes of discovering people’s sexual preferences but the fact that if you have your eyes wide open, you just might see things that are right in front of you. You just might look at the way someone presents themselves, you might listen to their voice and watch them dance and you might realize: that person has great DJ potential!

Instead of just leaving a tip for your next great waiter, you might leave a tip and a business card. Instead of just saying ‘hello’ to that smiling person at the front counter at your gym every morning, you might ask them if they have their weekends free and if they ever thought about DJing.

I have a theory (I have lots of theories actually) that you are in the presence of a great potential DJ at least once a month. Maybe it’s a guest at one of your parties or a bartender who serves you a drink or your kid’s third grade teacher. Or perhaps it’s the salesmen who sold you your last vehicle or your wife’s personal trainer. Trust me, they’re there. And if you are interested in expanding your business and if finding the right talent to do so is your biggest stumbling block, then my first advice to you is to open your eyes and see the people who are all around you. Audition them in your head and then when you think you’ve spotted one, don’t be afraid to approach them, tell them a little bit about the DJ profession and offer them a business card.

In the next few weeks I’ll be running through some specific areas that are better to recruit from then others. As I mentioned, many gay men make great Maitre Ds. And there is nothing wrong with generalizing that way. In the same vein, many bartenders or salesmen make great DJs. In my upcoming articles, I explain why.

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.

Taking Responsibility

Last week I discussed how using an assistant (or “back-up” or “Music Mixer” or whatever title you’re comfortable with) will help make you a better entertainer. Two weeks ago I also detailed how important it is to have such an “entry-level” position in your company in order to ease new people into your roster and allow them to start earning some money right away.So by now the point should be made, right?

Well, at the risk of piling on, I’ve got one more very important reason to have a “music mixer” type position that you can start new people out in:

Responsibility and Professionalism can only be proven over the course of time.

You as an owner or manager of a Multi-Op know that having DJs who show up when and where they are supposed to show up is vital to your success. So when you interview you ask these people if they are responsible and they say, “Yes.” Then if you’re thorough you call their references and ask them if this candidate is responsible and they say “Yes.” So you’re golden, right?

Wrong.

Of course a candidate looking for a new job is going to tell his hoping-to-be-future employee that he is responsible. And of course he is also going to provide references who will say the same. That manager of the Pizza Hut I walked out on? I think I’ll leave that one off the application.

So the only true way to test someone’s responsibility and professionalism is to put him out in the field and see. See if they show up, week after week, on-time and ready to work. That is the main reason I ask my music mixers to assist for 3-6 months before inviting them into emcee training. Sure the experience they gain during that time is valuable but I could train someone without it if I had to. To me the mixing they do while they are in training is far more important anyway.

My main goal is to weed out the candidates that came on strong in the interview and said all the right things and then start showing up late or phoning out when the weather gets nice. Those are people I might keep around on my mixing roster but I’m NEVER going to waste my time training to mix. I can handle when my assistants phone out (we always have at least one on call anyway) but if one of my emcees can’t make an event, look out! So by the time they get to that phase, heck by the time they start training to get to that phase, they have already passed the test of being responsible.

One of my favorite quotes ever is from Woody Allen who said, “80% of success is just showing up.” My goal in the first 3 months of someone’s employment here at Elite Entertainment is to find out if you possess the ability to be successful. And “Showing Up” is a major factor.

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.

Using An Open House for Recruitment Part 2

Open House Part Two

Last week I talked about the set up and beginning of an Open House. Now that you’ve got the room filled with potential candidates, it’s your time to shine. Go sell them on why the Mobile Disc Jockey business is such a great opportunity for the right person.

I start out by showing our demo video. It’s a four-minute montage of fun upbeat party footage featuring the DJs on staff and happy clients. The shots are all edited MTV style, quick and set to a cool club song. It’s an impressive introduction to our company both for clients and potential recruits.

When the demo is over, I take the microphone and I run through the job details. I use a Power Point presentation to hammer home the important points. What does the job entail, what are the opportunities here at Elite and what will they have to do to make it big in the company. I’m not big on false promises so I let these people know that it will take some time to reach their full potential with my company. But I do dangle the carrot enough to get them exciting. After all, this can be the best part-time job in the world for certain people.

After I’ve gone through my presentation I field any questions that people may have and then I invite anyone to leave if they’d like to. Every once in a while someone will but it’s rare. They usually like what they hear.

At this point, I will ask them all to approach the gear and I give them a simple, preliminary training on the sound system. I run through the basics of how to cue a CD, how to raise the volume on the right channel and how to start the song (we’re talking easier than 101 stuff here.) The main reason I do this is that some people are just “technically ignorant.” They can’t handle all the buttons and sliders that are involved in DJing. And I like to find this out right away because that’s a person I’m probably not going to hire.

When the training is over, I tell them all that I am going to dismiss them one by one just in case anyone had a question they wanted to ask me individually. What I do is call out the names of the people that I don’t think I am going to hire. Separate from the rest, I thank them for coming and let them know that they’ll hear from me if I am interested in hiring them. Once I’ve cleared the room of the dead wood, I address the rest. I tell them that I think they all have a lot of potential and that if they are interested I would hire them right on the spot. I have found that this immediate gratification gets them very excited and often this announcement is met with out-and-out applause and cheering. That’s the kind of enthusiasm I love and it will often carry over to the next training and then onto their first few gigs.

If you set it up correctly and do your part to “sell the job” an Open House or two can bring a lot of exciting new talent into your company. They’ve worked for me for years and I know they’ll work for you too.

Till next week.

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.

Is Your DJ Calling You During Dinner?

Everyone loves telemarketers right? Especially when they call you at dinner time or just at the climax of the movie you’re watching (and you can’t find the remote to hit “pause”) As annoying as they can be, ever think about it from this point of view: “that caller must have some thick skin!”I mean how many times an hour must that person get hung up on? Or worse, spoken to nastily? And yet here they are, on your phone line, sounding chipper and inquisitive asking for your time and attention.

Think that would make a great trait for a Mobile DJ?

I do.

People aren’t dancing? No problem, I’ll keep a smile on my face and keep trying.

Some drunk dude talks to you like you’re an idiot? No problem, I’ll smile at the next person, they’re bound to be nicer.

I happen to think a thick skin and an ability to stay positive in some adverse conditions are important qualities in a Mobile DJ. And one of the places you’ll find people with those traits are in sales. Successful salespeople anyway.

I recruited a car salesmen once. Didn’t even buy the car from him. But we got to talking on the lot and he had great communication skills (another trait you’ll find in a successful salesperson) and an upbeat personality and when I mentioned that I needed an SUV to transport all my DJ gear he said “cool!” so I gave him a business card and told him to call me. I told him he’d love the business and that he’d fit right in with my staff. He did. He worked for me for four years before he got such a big promotion at the car dealership that he couldn’t continue to give up his weekends. I’ve since bought my last two cars from him.

I guess it was a win-win.

And though I’ve never had any other success with salespeople (I’ve tried a few more times when the stars seemed to have aligned) I’ve always felt that there are numerous similarities between what makes a great sales person and what makes a great DJ. Besides the qualities I’ve already listed, sales people are normally money-motivated and they understand that there is a direct correlation between how much they work and how much they make. I like to have people on staff like that. I like my DJs to be eager for work (and eager for money) and to understand that when they do a great job and make the phones ring that they’ll get more work.

Good salespeople are also flexible. They have to be. One day they are selling widgets and the next day their company switches to gadgets. So they learn a new product line and continue selling. They also get hit with tons of objections and if they are successful they can talk their way through most of them. Again, that’s the kind of “thinking-on-the-fly” attitude that I like in my DJs. I’ve always said: “you can’t train your staff for every single scenario that they are going to meet out in the field.” I like my staff to be flexible and to be open to new things and new ideas.

So the next time the phone rings in the middle of dinner and it’s some guy trying to sell you something, why not turn the table and ask him a few questions. You just might find your next great DJ.

Till next week . . .

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.

Using An Open House for Recruitment

Open HouseWhen you start an active recruitment push, placing ads in papers and sticking flyers up at the local colleges, your phones are going to start ringing off the hook. You are going to attract a lot of people and you are going to have to meet with most of them (some you can actually eliminate over the phone.)

For years I set up interviews and met with people one-on-one. I realized though that this was an inefficient way of doing things and so for the last five to six years, I have instead hosted a few “Open Houses” to coordinate with my recruitment.

The advantage of this is that I can meet anywhere from 10-20 people in one evening and I only have to explain the job once (as opposed to 10-20 times.) But that’s not all. I believe, if you host an Open House correctly, you can get your recruits even more excited about joining your team than they would have been from a one on one interview.

I hold my Open Houses in my warehouse space. We have 2700 square feet of mostly open area (some storage.) If you do not have the luxury of such a space, I suggest you use a banquet hall or conference room at one of your house accounts. You’d be surprised how inexpensive space like this can be mid-week. If you have a good enough relationship with a banquet manager you may even get a freebie (as long as you don’t abuse the privilege and have an Open House every other week)

At my Open House, I have a sound system pumping out some new hits with one of my younger staff members spinning. I will usually have some lighting set up and also a video screen. Am I looking to impress with all this equipment? You betcha. Most people who are applying for the job are going to be more interested in the “mad lighting effects” than they are in teaching the Electric Slide. That’s cool with me. Down the road I’ll get them pumped about the Slide. For now, I’m just happy to get them pumped.

As the recruits file in they are given a two-sided application. Side one asks the basics (name address, job history, reference etc) and Side Two is a fun little musical survey that I like them to take. Silly questions like: When was the last time you went to a club? What radio stations do you listen to? Who sang the “YMCA”? I let them know this isn’t a test but truth be told their answers could decide whether they get the job or not. I think an interest in music is fairly important in our industry so if someone’s answers show they have no interest (they don’t go to clubs, they don’t own any CDs or download music, they can’t remember their prom song etc) and I was on the fence about hiring them, that could be the deciding factor.

Another thing I look for during this time is rhythm. My DJ has been instructed to play stuff with a beat. And in my opinion, people who have rhythm and love music, CAN’T hear a beat without doing something, even if it’s just tapping their feet. If I see someone singing along, grooving to the music, that person gets a little gold star on their application.

Till next week.

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.

Entry Level Positions

Recently a thread started on one of the DJ chat boards about whether to use a two-DJ package or not. I am a strong proponent of working with an assistant so I followed the thread closely until it took a few tangents and had lost its focus. Of the responders who actually answered the basic question (do you use a two-DJ package or just one DJ?) 60% said they used a second person at least some of the time.

To me there are so many reasons to use an assistant that I don’t even know where to start. But since I am in the “recruitment” phase of my weekly article, I’ll start there.

Having an “entry level position” available within your company is essential to bringing in new talent.

When I meet someone, a new recruit, no matter how perfect they might be for my company and no matter how strong they come on in our initial discussions, I still know nothing about this person and he or she knows nothing about the DJ business. How could I ever entrust an event to this person so soon? (that’s a rhetorical question)

The position we have here at Elite Entertainment is called “music mixer.” The job entails going out on events along with my veteran emcee/entertainers to help out at the events. They will be doing some of the basic mixing (any in depth beat for beat mixing will be handled by the veteran emcee) and most importantly hitting “play” on the key songs like the Bride and Groom’s first dance so that my emcee’s can introduce those songs from the dance floor. Next week I’ll discuss how this can make you a more polished emcee and provide a smoother presentation for your events, but for now I want to focus on the benefits to the new recruit.

This new person, who I may have just hired a week or so ago, is now able to make some money (not great money like my emcees make but anywhere from $8 – $15 per hour) in the DJ business right off the bat, instead of waiting till their emcee training ends which will be MONTHS from now. Plus, they get to start witnessing successful parties. This experience will only enhance their training. The more parties they mix at, the easier they will pick up the things we work on in the classroom because they won’t be esoteric “theories” but rather practical concepts to get a party going. As the months go by and they gain more and more knowledge from these experiences, they’ll become better music mixers, offering song suggestions to the emcees or maybe even getting on the dance floor and leading some of the audience participation stuff. When they’ve reached this level, their journey to emcee/entertainer status here is almost complete.

I train my new recruits to music mix in one or two nights. They receive hands on training in our warehouse facility on one of our standard DJ systems. I teach them the basics of mixing: cueing CDs and segueing two songs together. They learn the difference between mixing out of a song that ends cold versus a fade. They also learn how to follow the different hand signals they may receive from their emcees: the fade, the point and the ever popular “raise the volume.” Once they seem fairly capable, we get them out in the field with one of our veteran emcees and the growing process begins.

Till next week.

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.

When Can DJs Become MCs?

There is a moment, usually about two to four months after a new music mixer starts with us and has been assisting on weddings, when the time seems perfect to begin emcee training. I’ll try to be as exact in this article as possible but it is probably like trying to describe the moment when you fall in love. It’s not quite something you can be precise about . . .but you know it when it happens.The first step in the process is that we encourage our emcees to give us feedback on our new music mixers. The first thing we are looking for is quite simply which mixers are cutting it or even excelling and which ones aren’t and should be phased out. Professionalism and responsibility are key here. Have they been on time for every event? Do they call into the office every Monday like we ask them to? Are they available for any last minute events that come up? A “Yes” for all these questions puts you in the “stick around” column. A coupla “No’s” and your DJ career with Elite will be brief.

Besides professionalism and responsibility, we also want to know how this new mixer is “performing” at the events. After all, showing up is just the start of things, we want a great personality on the jobs too!

The “performance” feedback that we want to hear from our emcees is that not only is this person solid technically, hitting all their cues perfectly, paying attention behind the board etc, but also that they are enthusiastic at the event. Hopefully they are joining the emcee on the dance floor during the line dances and other appropriate times of the night. We also want to see them handing out our giveaways (hats, leis, etc) with a certain pizzazz rather than just passing them out like flyers on the street. Hand clapping, smiling, singing along, these are all good traits as well and something that shows me the person has emcee potential.

Another thing we look for in a new recruit is the eagerness to get more involved in the ancillary events at Elite. Do they attend our monthly meetings? Are they at some Bridal Shows to help hand out props? As an emcee they will have to do all these things to be successful so it’s a good sign when they get involved before it’s a requirement.

When we hear this feedback and see this behavior consistently we start “fast tracking” the mixer. This means he starts working more jobs (picking up those coveted Friday and Sunday events) and most of the events they work are with our veteran emcees. We encourage them to be a sponge at these gigs – soak in all the good stuff!

So what is the impetus to start training? What is that driving force, the stimulation or encouragement resulting in increased activity? Well, this is the secret that I learned years ago and I share it with you with the promise that you never tell any of my new recruits:

They have to ask for it.

I will start talking about emcee training and how cool it is and even how they are demonstrating all the right traits. I will literally dangle the carrot. But it is up to them, at some point, to say, “So how can I get into emcee training?”

The point is: I want them to want it.

Till next week . . .

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.

Students As Employees – A Great Solution

Last week I told you how ideal I think students are (High School Seniors to College aged) as new additions to your staff. This week I give you the good news: There’s no easier demographic to find and recruit!Let’s talk about finding them first. There are easy avenues to take to get your message out to a student body that you are a DJ company looking for new recruits. First, most schools have newspapers. These are typically inexpensive publications to advertise in. Also, many schools (colleges specifically) have bulletin boards where you can post “Help Wanted” flyers for free. Add to that the fact that if you are DJing a High School Dance, you’ve already got them in front of you and there’s nothing wrong with approaching some of the more outgoing students and telling them they’d make a great DJ. So if it’s a coupla good young recruits you are seeking, hitting up some local schools should be at the top of your “To Do” list.

Once you find them, what’s going to make them want to DJ?

Here’s the catch: what we do is cool. Or at least it looks that way from the outside looking in. For a High School or College kid who needs to get a part-time job anyway, what could be better than playing music and going to parties every weekend? If you’ve been doing this for long enough you’ve probably lost that feeling (after all it’s your career and it forces you to miss a lot of stuff on the weekends right?) I know I have, but try to remember the first coupla gigs you did and how awesome you felt being the DJ. That’s the same emotion this young person is going to feel. It’s the same excitement they are going to have, even in the training part. I’ve had trainees who, after a ninety-minute session asked me if they can stick around and mix some more music on the gear. You think if they were training at Pizza Hut they’d ask the manager if they could stick around a little longer and empty more trash cans ‘cause it’s that much fun? No, me either.

Now, I don’t want to mislead you and make you think that Students are the perfect recruits. One of the things I’ve found with teenagers is they are very fickle. They can have an overwhelming passion for something one day, and then be bored with it the next. So you may notice a little more turnover in your staff when dealing with people in their late teens or early twenties. But that’s okay to me because my training program is long enough that it weeds out the ones that will eventually grow bored. But when it works out, it works out well. You’ve got someone young enough that they may just give you the next five or even ten years of their lives working part-time for you. That kind of longevity rarely happens if you are recruiting a thirty-year old (who the heck wants a 40-year DJ on their staff anyway.)

Till next week

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.

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