1. THE TIME OF YEAR….

As you can imagine, in the height of summer, during a beautiful day, at a beautiful venue, when the sun doesn’t go down until 10:30pm-ish – it’s hard to get people inside, NEVER MIND getting them to dance. 🙂

   Luckily, if you have my live music booked for the evening package, I can come out and stroll around with my guitar. Taking requests and entertaining guests as the sun sets. It’s a gorgeous way to lead into the last stretch of the evening.

**QUICK TIP** UTILISE MY ROAMING REQUESTS FOR THE FIRST SET IF GUESTS ARE OUTSIDE UNTIL LATE**

2. LOVE LETTERS….

LOVE letters are really popular and look great. But, if you place them in the wrong area, they can sometimes light up the dance floor and make it look like the milk aisle in ASDA! I personally think that kills the vibe somewhat. Overly lit rooms in general are a dance floor killer in my opinion. I don’t know if it’s because people feel more self conscious, but there’s definitely a relation between a dark dance floor (with disco lighting) and the amount of people dancing.

It’s common sense isn’t it? Which dance floor will have the better vibe? A dark and colourful dance floor or one where you’re basically spotlit in white from the side and can see the whites of everyone’s eyes? I’ve experienced it a few times where a room is too bright and there’s no vibe. So, I get the venue to kill all their lights and ask the couple if I can turn the LOVE letters off and the dance floor becomes more busy. 

**QUICK TIPS** BROACH THIS SUBJECT WITH THE VENDOR AND MAKE SURE THEY’RE OPTIMALLY POSITIONED. GET A ‘WARM’ BULB AS OPPOSED TO A BRIGHT WHITE.

3. THE ADDED EXTRAS….

Things like photo booths and casino tables all have an effect on the dance floor. Quite often, the dance floor will be busiest when these services leave. It’s quite natural. People are distracted and queuing to use the other fun activities. This isn’t me being negative about them. I like all these things and they add to the special event feel, I’m just pointing out the natural effect they have on the amount of people dancing.

4. VENUE DRESSING….

Obviously this is a bit of a specialised area. But, I’d advise any customers who have hired a venue dresser to have a quick chat with them and make sure they know what your priorities are for the evening.

I’ll give a couple of examples. A common theme is that the venue dresser will have gotten in way before I get there and of course, where do they set up a balloon display/LOVE letter display/event wall/etc? Straight in the most central and prominent location in front of the dance floor – it looks the best! The trouble with that is that in many venues, you’ve now no space or limited space for the DJ/musician. So, instead of playing TO your crowd, I’m now obscured, or in many cases, side on! My personal opinion is there is now no way my services can affect your crowd in the best way. 

**QUICK TIP** MAKE SURE YOUR DRESSER KNOWS YOUR PRIORITIES WHEN IT COMES TO POSITIONING OF YOUR MUSICIANS/DJ. 

 

5. VENUE LAYOUT….

Of course, you can’t do anything about this, so I’ll not dwell on it. But, it’s just worth mentioning a few factors that you can expect to affect your dance floor. Of course, none of these may actually play out on the night, but it’s just some general patterns I’ve spotted that are more true than not.

*If your venue is large and the amount of guests is low for the size –

This is a straightforward one. Obviously, if everyone is spread out in lots of different areas that are far apart, it’s hard to get a packed dance floor. 

*The location of the bar – 

This is a big one. It’s super hard to get good dance floor where the bar was in a separate room. People gravitate towards the bar. Getting people to leave the bar area before it closes is very difficult. 

*A mezzanine –

For some reason, venues with a mezzanine floor are always tricky to get people to dance. I’m in Whatsapp groups with other singers/DJ’s and that’s one thing that everyone agrees on. I supposed they’re just nice places to be, but people generally like to chill and drink on the mezzanine, especially if the bar is up there. 🙂

I’ll add anymore to this list if I think of them on my travels, but these are the first three that pop into my head. If I walk into a venue I’ve never been in, I do a quick mental checklist and if I can see factors like this popping up, I know it’ll be a tricky one or people may not dance until later. Again, your guests may prove me wrong (it happens all the time), but they’re just general rules.

The IDEAL room looks something like this – size appropriate and cozy for the amount of guests, the bar is at the opposite side to the dance floor and it’s all on one level. 🙂

6. SCHEDULE…

There’s a few points to consider here too. 

*The time of the cake cut/first dance in relation to evening guests arriving – 

So, a standard evening is 7pm-12am and the schedule will usually start with something like, ‘7pm – Evening guests arriving. 8pm – Cake cut/first dance.’ I would say this is ideal, considering all factors – usually food will come out around 9pm. This gives everyone time to say hello and have a drink before being asked to join in for the first dance.

If the first dance is scheduled for 7:30pm (or even 7:45pm!), some people may still be arriving or are just not ready to commit to the dance floor. If possible, push the first dance back as far as you can and leave a 30-45 minute gap for my first live set, so that I finish my first set just as the evening food comes out. Even if it’s just that extra 15 minutes, it gives everyone chance to drink and settle a bit more before being asked to dance. The more they’ve relaxed, the more they’ll dance! 🙂 

**QUICK TIP – PUSH THE FIRST DANCE/CAKE CUT/FIRST SET BACK 30-45 MINUTES FROM EVENING FOOD BEING SERVED.**

*Evening food being served – 

The factor to be aware of here is that there’ll generally be a natural lull on the dance floor when then the food is announced. Obviously, if everyone is running to the queue and then eating/letting food settle for the next hour, it’s hard to make em dance! 🙂

   There’s gonna be a lot less wiggle room on the timing in general because the venue has everything set in place. So, changing the timing of this is generally a no-no, but if you have any leeway, see my quick tip above and see if you can schedule things in a favourable way. I know, you guys – it’s like spinning plates! Haha! 

*The time of night –

This is an obvious one, but people tend to dance more as the evening goes on. The drunker the dance floor, the gooder the dance floor! Haha! But, it’s more than that. They’ll kick in later, but when the evening guests arrive, there’s lots of hellos and chatting going on while the new blood ‘catch up’ on the vibe and number of drinks. 🙂

SUMMARY…

I may keep revisiting this blog post as I think of other things, but these were the ones that jumped out as regular factors. Hopefully there’ll be one or two useful or relevant tips here for each customer and this post helps them get the most out of my services, the venue and most importantly – the guests! My advice is always, ‘If you have some party animals on the ‘maybe’ list of invites. Throw them on the ‘yes’ pile because they’re usually the touch paper that sets the whole room on fire!’ 🙂