Advanced Techniques for Reading a Crowd
This Article is a continuation on the subject of The Art of Reading A Crowd. While many clients may find these techniques interesting, these are mainly insider tips for aspiring and professional DJs.
Icebreakers – How To Get Them Started On The Dance Floor
Many of my clients have this big question – how do you get them dancing? Well, there are lots of different ways to get them going, which you can find on my page, Games and Ideas for Receptions and Parties. Being familiar with Icebreaker type songs is very important. You can find a list of Icebreakers which are often used for Bridal Party Songs on my Song Lists page.
Some other ideas for tough crowds might be to offer a “Ladies Only Dance”. You could just announce “this song is for all the ladies in the house…ladies only”. You could play “Ladies Night”, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, “Lady Marmalade” or “Man, I Feel Like a Woman”, depending on the type of crowd you have.
Of course you could do a “Family Only Dance”. Invite all the family members of the wedding couple out on the dance floor to “We Are Family”. Additionally, if you are doing an event where there are people from a specific place, such as New York and play a song like “New York, New York” – invite only the New Yorkers to the dance floor.
From any of these you can easily open up the dance floor to the rest of the room.
Working The Crowd – Group Participation Dances, Name That Tune, Prizes
Depending on the crowd you’re working with, you may want to get them involved with some specific group dances, such as Electric Slide, Macarena, Conga Line, Cha Cha Slide, etc. It’s always good PR for the DJ to grab a wireless microphone and jump out on the dance floor to get them started. You could show them the moves to a dance or two.
I always keep a bag of Balloons handy. When I have the dance floor packed, I will often blow up a balloon or two and just throw them out into the crowd. They always have a good time punching them into the air. Be sure to have a variety of colors. Try to keep with the color theme of the event if possible. If you don’t have the correct color theme, you can usually pull out a red, white or black balloon. These will usually fit in with the colors.
A little warning on balloons – if there are a lot of children there, don’t do the balloon routine, unless you want to blow one up for every child. One of them will get ahold of the throw balloon and naturally the other kids will want one of their own.
Another thing I use is a collapsable Limbo Stick. Every now and then you will find a crowd that wants to do a Limbo Contest, but the main reason I use it is, if the crowd starts into a Conga Line on their own, I will grab the Limbo Stick and run out into the crowd for the line to go under it. It may seem a little silly, but believe me, people really enjoy it and it looks like you’re on top of things.
Another thing I will keep in my tool kit is a bag of sparkle pins. They are not expensive and they are fun to use as prizes for a “Name That Tune” or “Name That Artist” or any other trivia question you may want to use. I don’t do this more than a couple of times per event, but it’s just another way to keep everyone into having a good time.
Handling Hecklers
Hecklers are individuals in the audience who seem to have to put their own input into the scene. They often attempt to intimidate the entertainer by either making remarks (loudly or covertly). Most all entertainers have to develop their own methods of handling hecklers. Many times it can trip up the entertainer’s flow and disturb the rest of the party. These people are not contributing to the joy of the party, and are really only embarrassing themselves. Heckling usually comes from people who are drinking heavily and are not able to carry themselves decently.
Handling hecklers is an acquired skill. It’s rare that an entertainer will hear the same remark twice, so there really isn’t any specific way to handle them other than remembering to keep your integrity. If you feel this person is a problem, you should first inform your employer, and if it gets out of hand, you can call attention to the venue or security.
Some people develop their own unique ways to handle hecklers. I remember on an old Steve Martin comedy album, when someone in the audience yelled something out. Steve just laughed and said “I remember my first beer”. The audience cracked up. This pretty much handled it and he could get on with his routine.
Requests
9 times out of 10, your clients will permit their guests to make requests. Requests are a great way to, firstly, find out what the crowd wants and secondly, give you a chance to offer your service to the people individually. I like taking and playing requests most of the time.
The only exceptions are when my booth gets piled up with teenagers trying to make requests. This can be very trying for a DJ. There can be 15 teens screaming out requests while you’re trying to program out your play list and cue up songs. It can also be dangerous to your equipment if it’s a really big crowd. That’s why I devoloped the concept of the “request station” for teen parties. This is where they can go look through a song list book and list out their requests on a sheet of paper. Every half hour or so, I’ll go over and grab the list and then work from it.
The other situation that comes up is when you get a request for a song that you know will kill the dance floor. This is usually by someone who is not dancing. What I do in this case, is either, wait until the dance floor is empty (intentionally) like during a break or at cocktails, or work a small snippet of the song into an appropriate medley. This way the guest gets to hear his song (part of it) and isn’t left out.
Requests are generally a wonderful way to make sure your guests are enjoying themselves.
The “Do Not Play” List
My clients have the opportunity to create their own Play List for their event. This list includes various sections, such as Must Plays and Do Not Plays (DNP). The DNP is to be observed throughout the event. Every once in a while I will have a request from the guests for a song that is on the DNP and I will need to have a respectful response for them. If the song is not a very common song, you can just tell them that you don’t have that song available at this time. If it’s a common song, I usually just tell them that my client has included this on their DNP and will show them the printed page. Now, on the very rare occasion that I get more than one request for that song, I will approach the client and let them know that I had more than one request for the song. From there, the client can make their own decision on what to do. This seems to be the most amicable method for all concerned.
Medleys
When you have a crowd that’s really pumped up on a certain genre, it’s always handy to have some medleys on hand. Medleys are small clips of similar songs played together forming a single play. To hear some of our popular medleys, you can visit our DEMOS PAGE From there you can hear many types of medleys. Medleys are an indispensible tool to work a specific crowd. And again, if you get that one request that you think may ruin the dance floor, you may be able to sneak it into a medley without killing your dance floor (if your crowd is in the palm of your hand).
Some examples might be an 80’s Medley, Elvis Medley, Beach Boys Medley, Grease Medley, Big Band Medley, Hip Hop Medley, etc.
Introductions
Introductions are usually your first impression with the guests and the way your present yourself at this moment will set you up for the rest of the event. Always treat introductions as one of the most important points of the entire event. First impressions are the most lasting.
Depending on the crowd, I may just gracefully lower the volume of the music currently being played and simply welcome all of the guests to the event. If the crowd is really loud and seem they may be hard to get their attention, I may use a sound effect, such as the THX sound effect (used at the beginning of some movies). This works very nicely.
In order to be able to Read a Crowd, you need to observe them. Get a feel for what they’re all about. You do have your duties, but remember, you are there to enhance their experience, not to just BE their experience. The better you fit in, the smoother your event will go, the happier the crowd will be and the better you will look in your clients’ eyes!
Speeches
At most formal affairs there are speeches to be made. Either by the guests of honor, a parent or the President of a company. Speeches can be a unique time that you can make your skills usefull. Depending on the crowd, if it calls for a drum stinger on a joke, or an uplifting sound effect during a tearful, emotional moment, you can really get creative.
Now, don’t overdo it. Remember that you are not in the spotlight during these speeches, but you can certainly enhance the moment.
If You Wore Them Out, Now What?
Okay, sometimes the dance floor danced hard, sweated hard and exhausted itself. Time to chill it out. Ideally, you will work the crowd up and down and up and down so that nobody gets worn out. If you follow a pattern with your BPMs (Beats per minute) you can create ebbs and flows, perhaps starting with a slow song (ballad), then slightly faster (a motown), then a little faster (grooving dance song) then a fast one – then slow it down again. Repeat cycle.
Once in a while you will run into a crowd that doesn’t want any slow songs. That’s fine. Just remember that a “fast” song to them is not necessarily fast. Learn your BPMs. To them a “slow” song is a belly-rubbing love song.
Now if you did wear them out…acknowledge the fact. You can then let them know that you will play some easy songs for them to catch their breath. Maybe some Steely Dan, Norah Jones, or basic R&B.
The whole point here is to Read Your Crowd. Observe closely at all times and give them the time of their lives!
It’s Not Always About The Dance Floor
There are times when it’s not appropriate to get the dance floor pumping. Obvious times would be during a cocktail hour or while having dinner. At these times, you need to create a suitable atmosphere for the guests.
And there is always the chance that you don’t have a dancing crowd at all! Now what? Well, remember the name of this article “Techniques For Reading a Crowd”. If you are reading your crowd you will recognize that “your crowd” is not a dancing crowd, in which case you can get them involved with other activities or just play some decent background music for them. That’s what is needed and wanted and that’s what you present.
Your clients should be cognizant of the fact and should be more than happy that you are doing your job!
Another year has rolled around and Don will have his booth at the Brea Bridal Show at the Brea Community Center on January 30 from 11am to 3pm. He may need to cut out a little early because he has a wedding that evening in Long Beach.
