The Interactive Wedding DJ & MC Course

1. Welcome to Our Interactive DJ & MC Course: What's going on? I'm deejay Tommy Peroni, and I'm DJ Dominic Barone. You guessed it. We're brothers. And were the creators of this course together. Domino, I have over 20 years of experience in the entertainment and marketing industries. In this course, you're gonna learn how to take your deejaying to the next level, becoming not just another disc jockey, but a true wedding entertainer. Maybe you're a fairly new D J or club deejay who wants to break into the wedding industry, but you're not really sure what it's like, how the events go or what it takes to be successful. Or maybe you've done weddings for a year to, and you do a good job, but it's not a satisfying as you want it to be. Maybe you want to change things up, learn better ways to interact with your guests, separate yourself from all the other DJs and make the job exciting again. Maybe you're looking at expanding your business and need a tool to make training new DJs fast and more effective. We're gonna cover it all in this course with a focus on how to be outgoing and interactive 2. Pouring Excitement Into Everything: any time you're on the mic, you need to be radiating enthusiasm, fun, excitement, exhilaration, etcetera. I can't tell you how many deejays have listened to on their promo videos. Of all things that don't sound excited. When you do get on the mic to make your announcements, you need to have your energy pouring through it. Which of these sounds better to you? Okay, ladies and gentlemen, next we're going to be doing the first dance. Yes, that may sound professional and get the job done, but it's just not that exciting. Now, how about this? All right, ladies and gentlemen, get those cameras ready. Coming up. We're going to be doing the first dance. It's all in how you end your sentences, which speakers refer to as inflection. This is a grammatical term, referring to the change in the form of order, typically toward the end to express mood. The more happy and the better you're doing in life, the easier it is going to be for you to express yourself in a clear and energetic way. The more bored and the less well you're doing in life, the harder it is to communicate energetically about anything. One of the best things you can do at your next gig is to record yourself with an audio or video recording device. Something as simple as a smartphone or GoPro can do the trick. This is great for raising self awareness and is one of the best ways to improve as a speaker that I learned from attending Toastmasters meetings, which is a very popular network of clubs that meets toe work on public speaking skills. If you want to take your game to the next level speaking, definitely check out Toastmasters for sure. For now, record your announcements and body language at your next event. Are you stumbling a lot saying on um, not making enough eye contact, sounding board or mildly interested? Are you getting a reaction or smiles from the audience or nothing at all? Are you commanding people's attention? This will all let you know how you're doing. You can also show the recording to a friend or mentor who is a great public speaker and get their feedback. We've done this numerous times at our events and try to be brutally honest with each other . Try not to worry about it too much, while at your gig. Otherwise you'll just introvert yourself too much and not have your attention outward, which is where it should be. Always my brother has done this is a singer, a musician, dancer and entertainer and learn so much from the simple self awareness activity we still do it, not to mention get some great promo shots for marketing. I used to sound board of Mike and was surprised at times, but I just saw it for what it was practiced being more upbeat with announcements and group dance instructions, and it turned out to be an easy fix. You don't have to become a god of public speaking, but at most weddings you'll be the emcee, and this is a great 12 punch with your deejaying skills that people will remember. It also definitely allow you to ask for higher prices and land bigger and more high ticket gigs in the future. This is also invaluable skill in life. People with the best social skills tend to make the most money, so start working on it. Now we've posted a Ted talk in the links that you can watch, which is all about communication and how to get people to listen to you. By Julian Treasure. I hope you enjoy 3. Be a Professional From the Get Go: you've heard the expression that first impressions are everything. Well, this is very important for a D. J. If you are not a well known deejay getting paid $10,000 or more a gig, it's very likely no one will know who you are out of D. J gig. It is important to gain the trust of your audience from the very first sound that comes out of your equipment. This sets the foundation for being able to interact with guests later in the evening. They trust you are professional and know what you're doing. If you're providing sound for the wedding ceremony, this would start from the sound Check. If you turn on your equipment and allowed screeching feedback. Noise comes out of the speakers and last for more than a second. You've just told every guest at the wedding that you do not know what you are doing. They are a lot less likely to go along with your interactive deejay show later on because your first impression has told them you're new at this. You want to set the right impression from the very start so you don't have to regain their confidence. Later on, trust me. It's a lot less work on your part if you start with a professional image from the get go. This concept is popular in the workplace. When someone goes out for a job interview, they're looking to make a great first impression. Common sense should tell you not to show up in gym shorts, a T shirt and flip flops. I have seen this actually happen. At the restaurant I worked at a person was job hunting and was going from store to store. They walked in with a very poor appearance. And guess what? Everyone at the restaurant was talking about how they couldn't believe this person came in looking like that. Do you think our employer gave them a chance? No. They were interviewed for a short time and then politely excused. No follow up call. The point is, start looking like a professional. From the moment you pull into the venue, don't show up in some beat down car that's missing a headlight and spewing black exhaust. People look at how you treat your possessions and your self image. If you treat your possessions poorly, that can communicate to people that you also don't really care about your self image. And if you don't care about your self image, there's a good chance you don't care about the bride and groom's image, either. Another example is meeting your girlfriend or boyfriend's parents for the first time. I don't know about you, but I usually dress pretty sharp. I'm super polite. I don't curse up a storm and I smile a lot. This is because I want to assure them that their daughter is in good hands. I'm not fake about it. I just put in the effort to show them I care. The same goes for D. J. You need to care about each wedding you do. They have chosen you to handle one of the most meaningful nights of their lives, take on that responsibility with joy and bring your a game from the very start. 4. Start During the Cocktail Hour: the best time to establish yourself as not just another D. J is during the cocktail hour. Don't wait until after the bride and groom finished pictures to establish a connection with their guests. Once the ceremony has ended and people start to trickle in, have your cocktail music playlist ready to go said it's auto mix and get out from behind the deejay table. Go around to people and talk to them. Welcome them and tell them you are the deejay for the evening. Take dance requests for later. This is the best time to mingle because that's what everyone else is doing while they wait for the bride and groom to finish pictures. When I walk around, my general like to say Hi, my name is Dominic and on the deejay for tonight. Is there anything you guys would like to dance to later? Generally, people will tell you one or two of the hot top 40 songs and dance favorite, Or look at you like a deer in the headlights because their mind is totally blank. At this time, I'll throw out some suggestions to get their wheels turning. Do you guys like the newer dance hits like uptown phone can shut up and dance or more of the classic stuff like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Elvis, Love Shack, Earth, Wind, Fire, etcetera. What did I just do right there? I gave them song ideas from today's hits. An artist from eighties nineties, another one from the eighties and nineties Elvis from the fifties and sixties. Love Shack, which was in 89. Earth. Wind Fire, which was super popular in the seventies. And the disco era. Try to cover as many musical genres and eras as possible in a short amount of time. This will usually get a few more ideas out of them. Acknowledge the requests and let them know you'll do your best to fit it in. For the people that are still blank, let them know it's not a problem, and to please feel free to come up and talk to you if they think of something and state your name again for them. Not only do you get song requests out of this action, but you also get a feel for how outgoing or introverted the crowd is your finding out. Wayne advanced how hard or easy the crowd is going to be to get to dance. This is also a great time to be going over your timeline and make sure you have everything cued up and ready for the bridal party announcement. This may involve coordination with the wedding coordinator, photographers and videographers, etcetera. Getting in tight with these people is one thing I love to do is a wedding professional, because you have to understand you're part of a team to pull off this event, and we really have one of the easiest jobs compared to some of the others. At least in my opinion, I like to always make sure the photographer and videographer are on the same page with what's coming up, even if there is a coordinator around, because that gives them a heads up to take the perfect shots. Sometimes you can see that there clearly ready to shoot the next formal event, and sometimes it's good you double checked because they aren't always ready. They really appreciate this tight coordination and will refer people to you for being fun and professional and possibly even send you some awesome promo shots that they took 5. A Very Welcoming Cocktail Hour Announcement: you wanna have a very welcoming cocktail hour announcement? Once a good majority of guests have arrived into the reception hall, it's time to make your first impression on the microphone. Keep it short and sweet. You just wanna welcome them and give them any directions to make their time or enjoyable, such as where the bathrooms are located. The smoking area. If there is a photo booth available and where they can get a drink and appetizers, say with a smile. Good evening, everyone. Welcome as you make your way in police up yourselves to a drink. If you need to use the restroom, they're located at the back of the room through the double doors. Also, Rebecca and Jon would really appreciate it. If you sign their guest book at the front entrance, you can find it to the right of where you first walked in. If you need to step outside to smoke, you can do that to my right on the adjacent patio. The photo booth is set up and available at this time, so go see Jeff and take some great pictures. I hope you all ready to have a great time tonight. The bride and groom will be arriving after they finish their pictures. Always smile while announcing this. A smile really shows through your voice and people can tell the difference. You don't want to throw too much information at them at once because they won't remember it all. So try to space these announcements out so everyone understands them. 6. Make A Connection With the Bridal Party: Another great opportunity to establish a friendly connection is during the time you are the coordinator are lining up the bridal party to be announced into the reception hall. The tension of the ceremony has ended, so the bridal party is a lot more relaxed. Introduce yourself to the bridal party, talk to them, joke around with them. If you're the funny type and have a genuine interest in them, let them know that you are excited to be there. D J for the evening asked them if they have any dance requests. A few of them will usually blow out a few suggestions, sometimes jokingly, sometimes for real. Don't try to get into a long conversation. Just keep it light and fun. This is a great icebreaker, and they will consider you more approachable so they can make dance requests later on in the evening. Also, make sure you get their names just right, so no butchering occurs when you're reading it off your script, which will cover in the next video right down the way. Names sound phonetically if needed to make sure you get it so you don't stumble or hesitate when it comes time. This could also be a fun way of breaking the ice. When you either are able to pronounce their names right and they're impressed, or when you take a guess at what it should be and butcher it, then they correct you, and you can all have a nice laugh about it. 7. A Lively & Fun Bridal Party Announcement: a lively and fun bridal party announcement is one of the best ways to set the pace of the night and let people know they are in for a good time. Usually, clients pick awesome songs for the bridesmaids and groomsmen to be introduced to, as well as for their own entrance. As a couple tell the improve your introductions. We have attached a great script for you to look at and use when executed with a smile and with enthusiasm. This introduction could get everyone super amped up instead of just having a list of bridesmaids and groomsmen accompanying them. You really want to have a nice introduction and welcome everyone to the beautiful venue. You're going to let them know who you are and what company you're with. Then you do a bit of interaction to get them to respond to you and make sure they are ready to really cheer on and welcome the bridal party. We don't usually line up the parents of the bride and groom with the bridal party, but a great alternative to this is to acknowledge the parents at their tables, find out from the bride and groom ahead of time. If it is okay to do this. Some newlyweds have divorced parents and may not want you to do this to avoid any feelings being hurt. But if they're care with it, do it. This is a really nice gesture and will make the parents feel special for all the work and money they put into the wedding. We usually announced the parents right before the bridal party. All of this is covered in the script. In the attachments, Just plug in the venue the city state, bridal parties, names and the Mr and Mrs and you're good to go. All eyes will be on you for your introduction. So practice this part as much as possible before delivering it and try not to read that particular part. It's fairly straightforward to get it down, and you can, of course, glance at it if needed. After the intro, when you hit play to begin the bridal party announcement, all attention is then shifted from you to the bridal party. So feel free to love on that script. Look at it as much as needed to get those names right. We're going to do an example of the script for you now so you can see how we deliver it with music. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the beautiful Cold Creek Farms here in Dawsonville, Georgia. My name is D. J. Dominic Parole with Prone Entertainment. And I am so honored to celebrate with you tonight. Well, I'm just curious who traveled the furthest to be here today. Raise your hand if you think you've traveled the furthest to be here today. You right there. Where did you travel from, sir? Oh, wow. He says Texas. Can anyone be Texas who traveled further than Texas lady sitting right there? Oh, wow. New Jersey. Anyone travel further than New Jersey? All right, New Jersey has them beat. Well, thank you so much for joining us tonight. Are you guys ready to have a good time tonight? Let me hear you. Are you guys ready to have a good time tonight? Awesome. Well, before we announce the bridal party, I would like to take a minute to acknowledge the parents of the bride and groom. When I say your name, please stand first. Let's hear it for the bride's parents, Stephen and Christine Smith. Then wait for the applause to die down Thank you for all your support. Stephen and Christine Next put your hands together for the groom's parents, Brian and Kim Jones. Applause again, then wait. Thank you so much. Brian and Kim. Ladies and gentlemen, the broader party has arrived, so I'd like to introduce them to you at this time. First, I want you to make some noise for brides. Maid Kathryn Smith and groomsmen Luke Blackwater. Please give a warm welcome to bridesmaid Brittney Johnson, accompanied by her husband and groomsmen Derrick Johnson Give a big round of applause for brides Maid Lauren Taylor and groomsmen Billy Hughes Please show some love for brides Maid Amanda Jones and groomsmen Peter Smith Give it up for Brides Maid Aubrey Smith and groomsmen Gavin Waters Now welcome the beautiful Flower girls Caroline and Madison Smith along with the ring bearer Christian Brown. Please help me. Welcome Matron of Honor and Best man Taylor and Brett Brown. Ladies and gentlemen, appearing for the first time his husband and wife. It is my honor to introduce to you Mr and Mrs Jones on they will now share their first dance as husband and wife. So let's review what we did at the beginning is officially welcome everyone to the wedding reception and introduce ourselves. We're saying everything in a high emotional tone of voice enthusiasm but are also careful not to sound like a fake or some kind of corny boxing ring announcer. We then interact with the crowd by getting them out of their shells a bit by doing the contest of who has traveled the furthest. Next, we introduce the parents at the table and created a nice moment for them. After this, we get the crowd amped up and ready to energetically welcome the bridal party with just a simple intro. We've gotten crowds changing names as they enter, and it really gets the room electrified. As we go through the script, we make sure that we keep our level of excitement feeding off the crowd's energy all the while. Also, you want to make sure that you're reducing your music volume as you announce, so guests can clearly hear you when you introduce them. Once you dio pump the volume back up and give them some time to enter, do a little dance if they want and strut their stuff for the bride and groom. I like to fade all the way out to create some suspense and excitement, then blast their interest song if they have one or turn up the same song I've been playing , whatever they've requested. Keep in mind. I've already queued up all the songs I need, so there's no time spent getting all that done. You will need to take a second while the bride and groom are coming out to get their first dance song ready. So you have a smooth transition there after their first dance, which is normally very sweet. We like to say, Please give it up for Mr and Mrs Jones, that was beautiful. Back in our high emotional level of enthusiasm, keep in mind, enthusiasm is not just shouting. It's genuine interest and excitement of a very high degree. That feeling you get when you're on top of the world, you might get kind of loud, so make sure you're leaning back from your mic so you can shout a bit if you'd like, but not blasting everyone's ears. All these tips will create an exceptional intro. Give him a try 8. Icebreakers to Get the Party Started: Now let's talk about icebreakers to get the party started. Our first icebreaker category is group dances. If you are de jangle wedding and can tell the crowd is going to need some warming up, use icebreakers to help the crowd relax and get comfortable with one another. Icebreakers defined as a thing that serves to relieve inhibitions or tension between people or start a conversation. You should have already done a good amount of this during the cocktail hour and during introductions as you interacted with them. Now it's time to do some more. One of the easiest ways to relieve inhibitions or tension between people is to get them to participate in something they're familiar with. In our case. Ah, group dance that everyone knows is one of the easiest ways to get people moving. Make a very energetic and fun announcement along the lines of All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to turn this party up. My name is D. J. Tommy Barone. If you have any danceable requests, come up and talk to me right now. We're going to do a little cha cha slide. Join us on the day is floor. Learn how to do these group dances on your own time and come wedding time, get out there and dance with the guest. You can look at our videos on how to do the group dances popular in our area. Getting out and dancing works really well because in a way you're the leader on the dance floor. Everyone will look at you for directions, so make sure you have your wireless mic on you, announced which way everyone should be facing to start the dance off and then go for it. If they are a difficult crowd to loosen up, go into a second group dance. Living in the Bible Belt playing to group dances back to back is totally acceptable and will ensure that anyone that didn't know the first group dance will be able to participate in the 2nd 1 Another thing we like to Dio is playing modern group dance like the Cupid Shuffle and then go back a few generations with something like Let's twist Again by Chubby Checker or Shout by the Isley Brothers. This is great to get those mixed generations out on the dance floor and involve everyone toward the beginning of the night, then as the night goes on. Generally the dancers stay out there and we play more top 40 stuff. If you don't want to go this route and are ready to try something a little different and maybe a little more challenging, see the next icebreaker examples. 9. Interaction is the Key: even though we D. J in a small town, we know her skills are on par with the best. Why? Because we've both been told many times before from people that have traveled all across the US to attend weddings in this area from big cities that were some of the best they've ever seen. One guy told me his brother is a radio show deejay who also DJs big events and weddings in the Atlanta area and that I was better than his own brother. Why, Because of the interaction I did with the audience in my fun loving attitude and spirit that is super key and priceless, we don't say that to brag. We take it a support and encouragement that we're doing things right. A majority of DJs just stand behind the booth and play songs, But now, with technology, we are able to bring up any MP three in an instant, and you can really do so much more than what DJs have done in the past. You no longer have to look through crates and crates of records. You don't necessarily need an assistant anymore. All this time has been freed up and you're expected to do more. We live in an age where people can rent ipads with wedding playlists, ready to go and where disruption of entire industries is happening, left and right. We'd be foolish not to think that this couldn't happen to the wedding deejay business. Sure, people can put together a spot of fire apple music playlists, and that's totally fine for some weddings on budgets. But we know for sure that what we bring to the table can never be matched by any machine where the deejay who adapts with the times and always injects creativity and fun into their performances. You'll never be able to be outdated. And that's what this course represents, especially with sections on interacting with the crowd. With all the amazing changes in music, there are some barriers to consider which are why you need to be diverse these days. People's musical tastes are so varied thanks to having access to so much different kinds of music, so you need to be familiar with all genres. If you ever need help. You Spotify and Apple Music's Amazing Playlists and databases to become familiar with requested genres that aren't your expertise also realized that partying is much more popular than it has ever been before, especially with rise and incredible prominence of E G M Elektronik dance music. We just attended the huge Bonnaroo Music Festival, and I was amazed at how big the audiences work for some of the big GM names, like the Chain Smokers Adventure Club Gloucester, Thomas, etcetera. Younger people are going out and clubbing much more than back in the day, so they're definitely expecting not just a show button experience. And that's great because it makes us up our game. So we go to shows and things like Bonnaroo to consistently see what the big names air doing and try and mimic that in our own ways. At Bonnaroo 2016 our favorite performances by far or Macklemore and flustered Thomas Why just the sheer energy that these guys put out was insane. Macklemore must have burned about 10,000 calories, giving everything he had dancing, sweating, crowd surfing and wrapping. Even Ryan Lewis was going nuts, getting everyone into their experience. J two k from Foster Thomas was just on hype duties, getting everyone to get their hands up, jump up and down, throw things etcetera while Autobot, D J. It was a blast to be a part of now, even though shows like this have been fun, we've also had a blast in places like Athens, Georgia, at one of our favorite bars, nineties Barr. As the name suggests, they only play nineties dance hits. Those were some of the best times we've had dancing because everyone knows the words. The songs bring back so many great memories from our schoolboy days, and everyone can get into their nineties more or less. This is still one of my favorite genres and decades to utilize it. Weddings go out and have fun and see what people are doing were some of the only people who can legitimately go out and party for research and developments or take advantage. The point is, find the right musical choices, execute them and you'll be loved. No one is going to be checking to see if your beats matched up perfectly or how smooth your transition was, unless it's done horribly. So don't be horrible 10. Get on the Dance Floor: one of the privileges of our job that makes deejaying so awesome compared to a desk job is that we can get out on the dance floor with our clients who are paying us to have a great time, and it adds to the experience. This is a family friendly affair, and people really appreciate when you take the time to get out there and teach them the dance moves and not feel dumb. Don't assume everyone knows the cha cha slide. Yes, some will get up and dance to it, but your job isn't done yet. You want to get those people to go out and grab the others who are hesitant, teach them the dance moves and then you have a huge dance party on your hands. If this is what the bride and groom asked for, always check with them on how outgoing they want you to be. Then you're doing a great job as an entertainer. You definitely want to make sure you're a decent dancer. You don't have to be Michael Jackson level, but it's great if you love to dance and can break it down on the floor when the time comes . This comes back to practice, being in good shape and presentable and just having enough confidence to live in the moment . Also, videoing yourself helps, too, and looking at yourself in the mirror, if you have some big mirrors that you can get that show your whole body, I would definitely practice in front of them. There are a ton of YouTube videos that you can watch on how to dance, including our videos coming up. When you watch your video back, you definitely want to make sure you don't look stiff. It'll practice in the mirror until your body movements become more fluid. Another great option is going out to clubs and parties and just mimic what other great male and female dancers air doing. You will literally never see any of these people again, so feel free to let loose and try some new things out. If you live in a small town, go to a big city where you can dance freely and no one knows who you are. In my high school days, I learned how to pop and lock, which I love. Surprising the crowd with this is a dance where you pop and lock your different limbs to the beat of the music. Maybe I'll give you a demonstration later on in this course. My brother, on the other hand, is white and nerdy. Those were his words, but he has got lots of compliments on his dancing. Always go back to the basics of keeping a beat with your steps. If you have to tap your foot to the beat first and then add more and more to it When I'm behind the turntables, I still make it a point to dance and point and smile and have fun with my audience, people on the dance for love that and even that is a form of interaction. 11. Start With a Slow One: Another great way to get people on the dance floor is to start with a slow love song that everyone knows we usually do. The parent dances right after dinner cake cutting and toast. The bride and groom tend to pick slow songs to dance with their mother or father. For these parent dances, a great segue way is to go from these two slow dances to calling all the guest up to share a slow dance with one another. Again, you just gone from dinner, cutting the cake, toast and parent dances. And now it's time to get people on the dance floor. If it is a party crowd and you can already feel a lot of energy coming from the guest, then I would not suggest going into something slow right after the two parent dances put on something upbeat. Two match the energy of the crowd. However, if the crowd is still pretty chill and it feels like they're not super anxious to get on the dance floor, then I would try this slow song method. Choose a timeless classic like unchained melody by the Righteous Brothers unforgettable by Nat King Cole at Last by Etta James or refer to our list in the resource section for more ideas. Some of our most packed dance floors come from slow dance songs. Why? Because everyone is able to participate, even Granny, who is 90 years old. It doesn't take a lot of effort. You just move side to side and look or talk to the person you're dancing with. It helps to say something on the mic to encourage everyone out to the dance floor. Don't just put on a slow song and expect people to come up and dance. Give them a warm welcome. Here's an example. The mother Sundance is just about to end. It's time to fade out the song. Encourage everyone to put their hands together one more time for the groom and his mother and then invite the guest to dance. We'll show you how to do this right now. Just to give you some reference, we are fading out of the mother Sundance and going into our announcement for a slow dance. All right, ladies and gentlemen, let's hear one more time for Kevin and his lovely mother, Andrea, Wait for everyone to applaud. All right, Well, at this time I would like to invite everyone up for a slow dance. Come join us on the dance floor here, a tous point. People will start to trickle under the dance floor. Some may not have heard your announcement. You can fade the music again and make a quick announcement once again. Ladies and gentlemen, join us on the dance floor for a nice slow dance. If you've matched the crowd's energy correctly, your dance floor will be packed and everyone will be slow dancing. If you start a slow song and only get a handful of people on the dance floor, don't play the whole song out. Wait for the course of the song to finish and then faded out and move on to the next song. You don't want to interrupt the course of the song because that's the most important part of the song that everyone knows. Wait til it goes to a verse, instrumental or bridge to fade it out if only a handful of people are dancing, but someone important is on the dance floor, like the parents of the bride or groom or the bride and groom themselves, and they look like they're enjoying the song. Then I would let the song go for at least two courses and fade out enough to have a moment and not kill the song for them. After the slow song ends, some DJs will recommend going into another slow dance song to catch any of the people who didn't come up for the first load and song. We don't usually recommend this usually if we make the announcement and encourage people onto the dance war before playing the song, we get a majority of the people on the first try. I've had lots of people sit down. If I play two songs to slow songs back to back from my observation and experience, people are ready for a more upbeat song. After the slow dance, a group dance right after a slow dance works great and is a guaranteed way to keep people on the dance floor see our list again in the resource section for ideas. A riskier way to go from a slow song into another song is to put a song that is slightly faster on that everyone knows and can identify right from the beginning of the song, literally right from the beginning and an example of This Is My Girl by the Temptations. That, based on guitar Line in the beginning, is very easy to identify, even for the average Joe, and gets people excited. Another song that gets people excited from the intro and is identifiable is Uptown funk by Bruno Mars. They have the voices sing in dope, Don't know, don't don't know, don't don't know right from the beginning. You instantly know what it is when it comes on. I Got a Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas would be another great example of a song with an intro that is super easy to identify. Plus the lyrics Pump everyone up and set the tone of the night. Try looking at some of the most requested wedding songs and pick out which ones have super distinct and exciting intros. We've included a list in the resource section for you 12. Video 7 How We Seperate Ourselves from Other DJs: I think one of the main things that separates us from a lot of DJs is being able to play with the family wants and getting into it. Some DJs avoid taking requests and put on their laptops. I am not a jukebox. That may be true, but you are there to service this family in the best imaginable way on their terms. So if you need to play the chicken dance for the mother of the bride, you better be ready to do it and be into it. We always remind ourselves that we are there for the audience and the guest to have a good time. Sure, we want to play the music that we like to, but if we could make it new and exciting when we play the same old songs and make sure that were playing the songs that they want to hear generally that creates a bigger effect and people are way more into it. For most weddings, this means top forties and the top forties from the past. We'll take you some new ideas to make those older songs more exciting. But even if you have to play uptown funk for the 1/1000 time and you are sick of it. Try changing your mind about the song. Act like this is the first time you've played. It makes something new with it before and after create a little dance. Everyone conduce to it if needed. If you're embarrassed for playing cheesy stuff like the Macarena, I know I am. Let the crowd know with a friendly announcement on the mic. Here's a classic by special request. That way the audience knows it's not necessarily my pick for music. It's someone in the audience. This will cover you. 13. Minute to Win It and Holiday Games without Sales: Yo, what's up, y'all? This is Dominic Barone with pro in entertainment and interactive deejay. And today we're gonna talk to you about games. Challenge accepted. So with the holidays upon us, depending on when you're watching this, we person loved to incorporate games into our holiday parties and even some parties with teenagers and things like that to break the ice. So the first thing I'm gonna show you is some holiday games that are a lot of fun. We've had a lot of success with them, and people just love these. So the first game is called the Reindeer Antler game. So we're gonna need is two pairs of stockings, one for each team and then a bunch of balloons. Okay. And what's gonna happen is going to split those people off into two teams. And depending on how many team members you have for each team, they're each going to come over, run over, grab a stocking and blow up a balloon, tie it off and jam it into the stocking like zone. Don't make sure that they're not too big, so they actually think in the starting. Otherwise I could drive people crazy. They start to cry And what not gonna jam it into each side of the stocking. And you want to dio, depending on how long you want the game. Either three or four on each side writes a three on the side three on this side. The first team that does that in a relay race formation. Is that gonna put the stocking full of balloons on their head and sing the Jingle Bell song ? The first part of it, okay. And that the person that does that win So Jingle Bell, jingle, Jingle all the way. I know that song, but you get the idea. All right, so that is game number one, The Reindeer antler Game. All right. Another holiday game that we love to play is called The Human Christmas Present Game. All right, so what you gonna need for this is wrapping paper, some bows, some tassels. Ah, bunch of different Christmas decoration type of stuff for presence. You're gonna set that up for each team, right? So that each team is gonna have their supplies. All right, so then you break the teams off into two and one person is going to be the Christmas present or even the Christmas tree, whatever, whatever you want to play it as. And the team members were run over to their team member and grab one of the decorations and wrap that person in Christmas paper, for example, or put a bow on. Um, so they're gonna take turns putting one of those things on the human Christmas tree or human present. Okay, And after the end of three minutes or so, we're then going to take a look at our creation and determine a winner. It's a lot of fun. It's very crazy. You could even involved tape, all right to make sure you have some tape so that they can really wrap that person up with tape. It's bunkers. We have played it at our own personal family parties because it's so much fun. Give it a try. All right, so now we're gonna move on to more generic games that you can really play of any party, including holiday parties and, again, those parties for teenagers to help break the ice. So one of our favorite is the Tilted Cup games. We're gonna need a stack of solo cups about eight high for one for each team, and then a bunch of ping Pong balls. All right, so we bought on entire box of ping Pong balls for this game because this game is total, man. All right, so what's gonna happen is one person is gonna hold these stack of solo cups. They're gonna be kind of the catcher, right? And then the rest of their teammates are gonna take turns balancing ping Pong balls, thinking either balance or just toss them at the person, all right? And as soon as they catch a ball, what they need to do is put the that club with the big ball on the bottom. All right, so then the cups start to kind of tilt, as you can see, and they cannot touch this. They can't stabilize it at all. So it becomes gradually, harder and harder to catch the balls. And we're going to demonstrate this for you right now. Here we go. Way down here on the end, they just keep going and going until they get all their cups, okay. And the 1st 1 that gets picked on every single cup is the winner. This is hilarious amounts of fun way that our personal parties because again. It is just hilarious. And you're gonna have a blast with this. Give it a try. The tilt A cup game. Alright, guys. So another one of our favorite games is the rubber band. So little cup match way you're gonna play. This is your going to set up a little table on the opposite end of the room, and you're gonna have that. You're set up solo cups on the table. All right, so we usually do about four or five as a base than four than three than to that one. Then you're gonna give the team a minute. Teoh on take rubber bands to shoot the solo cups down as many as possible in a minute. Now there is a variation of this, which is a lot of fun, which is set up to tables and have the teams shoot reprimand at the same time trying to beat each other. Teoh getting all the solo cups down off their table, right? So, in other words, they're shooting reprimands at the table, Teoh obliterating their solo cups. Okay, So, rush show you a little example of how to do this now, just like so again this game is a ton of fun. We played in our own family parties because it's a blast. We're gonna actually show you a clip of it from one of our family parties. Next way you can see, we also added some fun dollar store props like bow and arrows and Ninja stars our guests. And we hope you have lots of good ideas from these games. You can go on YouTube and search minute toe winning games for lots more ideas. One of the things that we do suggest is to use the minute toe win it countdown timer. So this is just a little audio file that counts down 3 to 1, begin and then plays real dramatic cool music for a minute and then rings a buzzer at the very end. So we just played that are turntable and that lets everybody know how much time there is. And when the game is done, it really builds up the suspense and helps facilitate the game. All right, there you go. Have fun with it. 14. For CRS: The Interactive DJ Mannequin Challenge 1: What's going on? Everybody Deejay Tommy prone here with the interactive deejay and Peroni Entertainment. You guys, 2016 is gonna be remembered for the mannequin challenge. What is that, exactly? Basically, if you're a bridegroom, you wanted to have this at your wedding. If you're having an event, you want to do this at your event. Basically, you're to call up all your people to the dance floor and you're gonna have them strike a pose as a live mannequin. They could do whatever they want. They could be drinking a something another And they could be, you know, holding their girlfriend. They could be all angry. They could do whatever face I want to make. And then if you're the D. J, you grab your camera, you're going to get on the dance floor and go all throughout the crowd, do a test run and make sure you get everybody in the shot. And basically you're gonna go all around and see, like their different poses and stuff as manikins live mannequins and they have to stay absolutely still the whole time. So do this and do a practice run. And then when it comes time to actually do the shot. You're gonna play the song Black Beetles by Ray Sri murdered. And this song is that number one in the charts right now. And because of this very reason this video has gone viral, everyone's doing this at all. They're events. So you want to get this in as quickly as possible before 2016 ends. It is an awesome marketing technique. I've just posted a video to my Facebook and tagged the people that were in it. And within days, you know, over 1000 views, people are sharing it, loving it there, saying it's the best part of the wedding is just amazing. And it will really bring in some business for you. If you're a wedding deejay or just any kind of d j. So do it quick before 2016 ends. We're gonna show you how it's done right now, - guys , Thank you so much for checking out this video. The mannequin challenge. Do it as soon as possible at your next gig. Everyone will love it. Share It promotes you