Brad Scott Gish ~ Professional Mobile Disc Jockey ~ Emcee ~ Host ~ Entertainer ~ Event Coordination ~ Event Lighting ~ Video Projection ~ Officiant ~ Karaoke ~ Some Insight From An Entertainment Industry Veteran’s Perspective

Based upon the calls I’ve been receiving, many
people these days seem to be willing to
"make due" with underqualified, low
budget, beginner DJs for their events.
Everything is just dandy, until the day of the event
when they realize that they've made a horrible mistake!
By then, it's too late to recover leaving them no choice
but to suffer the embarrassment of their unfortunate
poor decision.

When your guests honor you with their presence at
your event, they are expecting that the time spent
with you and your other guests will be delightful.
They arrive with high hopes that they will be entertained
and not bored out of their minds, which is just one
reason you need to hire a professional entertainer.
If your guests aren’t being entertained, they will
begin “entertaining thoughts” of “escaping” the
funeral you’re calling a party. Let's face it, we’ve all
been held captive at boring events where simply
remaining in attendance was inhumane torture.

Remember this, bored guests
very quickly become absent guests.
After they eat your free food they suddenly start
running for the door, and it won't be long before your
party is over. THAT is when you'll begin to realize that
you should have hired a professional entertainer, instead
of a beginner or someone who simply presses “play” and
not much else.

“Great Events Don’t Happen By Accident”
If they did, I wouldn’t have a career. People who host
events need my services to insure that their event is
going to be a smashing success. With the downturn of
the economy, some people have opted to use their Ipod
for background music at their event. If providing good entertainment for your guests is paramount, simply
plugging in an Ipod won’t even begin to cut the
mustard. It’s just not the same.

If you hire a seasoned professional entertainer,
wonderful things will happen at your event that
would not have happened otherwise.
You and your guests will share exciting, heartfelt and memorable moments that will be talked about for years
to come. Detailed planning and years of entertainment experience give the entertainer who has “paid his dues”
a huge advantage over the beginner. A seasoned
professional entertainer will be able to
“Create Moments That Make Time Stand Still”.
Your guests will rave about your choice of
entertainment, tell you how wonderful your
event is and think that you
are an amazing party planner.

That's fine,
I'll let you take the credit.... :)

Much more than the venue, the decorations,
the food or your attire, the success or failure of
your event will be due mostly to the quality of
your entertainment.
If your entertainment is substandard, your guests will
very quickly catch on that you didn’t think enough of
them to invest in quality entertainment on their behalf.
Even though your family and friends love you,
remember that people are basically selfish. If your
event is painfully disorganized, uneventful, boring
and lifeless, they WILL leave as soon as they can
think of a plausible excuse. They won’t be able to
get out the door quick enough and then, they’ll talk
about how awful your event was.

Before you hire entertainment for your event,
remember that “newbees” simply cannot provide
the same level of service as fully qualified
experienced professional entertainers.
If they could, they’d price their services in line with professional standards and command a fee commensurate
with quality professional entertainment services - instead
of bargain basement prices.

One uphill battle that I continually face as an
entertainer is getting clients to understand that there
are different types of DJs with different skill sets.
Some specialize in certain types of events and while they
may be terrific for example perforning in a nightclub,
they will be completely lost trying to DJ your wedding reception, a 50th anniversary party for your parents,
or corporate event.

Last night I received a call from a bride who told me
she needed “music” for her upcoming wedding
reception in 3 weeks.
She then actually told me that she was more concerned
with hiring someone at a LOW LOW price than with the quality of the service that person could provide. I was astounded. I couldn’t believe that a bride would
actually want to hire an inexperienced person for her
wedding instead of a proven wedding professional. I
tried to explain to her that she’s setting herself up for disappointment but my words fell on deaf ears. Sadly,
it appears, her entire wedding reception is going to be
in the hands of someone who’s completely clueless about
what to do at a wedding reception. The chances of her
wedding day being a “dream come true” are zero. She
couldn’t see the big picture and didn’t realize the impact
her decision would have on her event.

I personally know what it’s like to hire an
inexperienced, underqualified DJ.
I made the same mistake over 17 years ago for my
very own wedding. At the time, like most people, I
was completely uniformed and opted for the cheap DJ
because the price was right. I had no clue whatsoever
what I was getting myself into. I didn’t realize that there
were many different types of DJs and that the DJ’s
skill set, level of intelligence, commitment to the event
and years of experience REALLY MATTERS. As you
can probably guess, my very own wedding reception was lifeless, uneventful, boring, disorganized and a BIG disappointment. I wasn’t a DJ at the time, but could feel
that something wasn’t quite right. Nobody danced, the announcements weren’t made, we were not coached in advance on how to take advantage of certain moments -
(lots of opportunities for beautiful memories were missed), improper music selections were used for key segments,
and our guests were not engaged and involved just to
name a few mishaps. Our wedding day could have been
the best day of our lives. Instead our reception was a
BIG FLOP! My memories of our wedding reception
are overlayed with disappointment and lots of regret.

Now, back to the bride: Her perception was that a
DJ plays music and nothing else.
She wasn’t taking into account all the other responsibilities
the person she is about to hire will have. The person you
select to be in charge of your event needs to be able to
help you plan your event, manage groups of people
in preparation for grand entrances and introductions,
deliver intelligible announcements, control the flow of
your event with calculated precision, play the right music
for the right moment, command an audience to follow
along and participate in whatever is happening, manage a
sound system with the expertise of an audio engineer,
control a lighting system, delicately deal with problems
and concerns as they arise, be properly attired and
elegantly represent you and your family or company.
It’s a lot for any one person to handle properly unless
they have been down that road many times.