A Great Way to Guarantee That People Will Dance at Your DJ Event

0:00 I'm not really asking for anything anyway

So, if you didn't already know, sorry about the bounce, I'm using one of those gooseneck stands for my telephone. So, if you didn't already know, my name's Jonathan Ellaskins, The DJ Tutor, and this video will indeed help you make the right choice in playing the correct music for your night, guaranteeing that people are going to dance. Guaranteeing, alright? Or your money back. Well, I'm not really asking for anything anyway. Anyway, so let's have a little conversation here. How do you feel? Just joking. Alright, so let's step back in time to my event last Saturday. Now I'm not going to give any names of places or venues or anything like that, but it was in the Midlands, West Midlands, in a hotel. I was asked to go there, but what I was told is that the...

The venue itself is great, but very close to that venue is a new trendy night spot. Everyone goes there. It's the in thing and you've got to probably line up to get in. It's one of these really trendy hit places. The drinks are cheap and entertainment every night. So of course, if you've got that happening very close to a venue, another venue where you walk in... And you've got four walls, you've got tables, you've got a DJ in the corner and there's no real decor. It's just like a room. Then it's probably very difficult to keep those people in that room after they've eaten when they know that A, they're in a place that is normally great for seminars, B, the drinks are hyper expensive. And I was shocked. While I was by the bar, I only drink water. A lady walked up to the bar.

2:14 This trendy place

Two pints of coke, six quid. Now, I've got to say something here, alright? Now that is outrageous how people have to pay that much money, digressing slightly, on soft drinks. Three pounds a pint, six pounds for two cokes is outrageous. Anyway, I'm sure it's more expensive in other places around the world and far cheaper in others and so on. So, here was the deal. The week before... The DJ had an absolute nightmare of a night, apparently nothing to do with the DJ. The DJ is very good quality, it's just that at the end of the meal a lot of people left because they wanted to go to this trendy place. But I didn't want that to happen. Now I had 72-71 people from different businesses in the area, so every table probably didn't know the other people on the other tables, maybe by sight but probably not by name.

So you're in a position where you've got groups of people who don't know each other, have come for the meal, a bit of entertainment but possibly in the back of their mind they're thinking about this trendy place down the road. Now this has and does happen all the way around the world where you will have people in a venue, they are eating some food in this venue knowing there is entertainment in this venue Probably far better with great entertainment, loads of people. Sheep follow sheep. People are like sheep. They will follow where other people go. Now this video is about making sure that you play the right music and I had to do that. I wanted to do that because my intention was to make sure that dance floor all night was busy and also I could keep

Most of the people in that venue for most of the night. Now, that's an important statement as well because you will always, not sometimes or maybe, you will always have a group of people who in their mind have decided that they are going to leave early. It doesn't matter what you do. You can strip off and play like the Macarena all night but they will go early. It doesn't matter. A group of people who are sort of 50-50, they'll happily stay if it's buzzing but they're not bothered. But also then you've got the other people who booked a taxi so they've got to go when the taxi arrives. You've got some people who've got kids at home and babysitters so you've got to remember all of this. So if a load of people disappear out of the blue, it's probably not because you're a bad DJ, it's because that is what's going to happen anyway.

4:39 Something to you then it's out

So how do you stop everyone from disappearing to the other venue? It's about the music you play, alright? Now some of you may be saying why didn't you just get straight to the point? Well, you've got to have a picture in your mind. You've got to have this image in your mind before you get to the point. Otherwise if I just explain something to you then it's out of your mind straight away. This way it keeps in your mind, it stays in your mind. Now let's look at cocktail music. Now this is the key, the cocktail music or the tracks you're playing while people are eating. Really important. Now as an FBI agent, not that I am, I could be, not that, you never know. An FBI agent will try and get some sort of profile of someone to see what they're like, their dislikes, their likes and so on.

So this is what you need to be, almost like an FBI agent getting a profile of the crowd. But how do you do that? You do it while you're playing the music you're playing while they are eating. Now theoretically they should not want to dance because they're stuffing their faces with food and drinking lots of alcohol. So what do most people play? They play background chilled out music that they're not going to play later on. Now that's great, do it! But also, you need to put some fillers into that music. Now I'll explain, and this is what I did last Saturday, and it worked 110%. 100%. I'd be playing some chilled out music, and instead of me just doing a playlist and walking away and standing by the bar, no, I was behind that DJ booth from the...

Before they started eating till when the last person left, which is at one o'clock. So I was working all that time. I did not move except to go to the toilet and to get some water from the bar. And I was very, very unimpressed about the price of Coca-Cola at the bar. The lady walked up and had two pints and cost six quid. That's silly. Anyway, so I'm stood by the DJ booth. Playing music. Now, what I was doing is playing the laid-back, chilled-out stuff. But all of a sudden, I would bring in something that was in key and flowed, a house track. I'm watching people. I am like a frigging hawk watching people. I am watching for the nodding of a head, the tapping of a foot or the movement. Now, I...

7:39 Height of the Night, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Jimmy Mack and s

Straight away even before, well when the people arrived there were a lot of youngsters there. Now I would class the youngsters as you know your 18 to sort of 25 etc that sort of age group and there was a lot of those people there. That sort of demograph. And what I was doing is watching what they were doing. And sure enough, while I was playing some like latest house tracks and some hip hop, they were moving, they would dance, well not literally dancing, but you could see them wanting to get up and dance. But then what I did is later on, I'd play some like Tamela Motown, some Northern Soul, the sort of tracks I would normally play. Height of the Night, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Jimmy Mack and so on. And again, I saw people moving to these tracks and they were loving it. So I was getting my sort of profile on what to play later on. Think about it, it's pure logic. If you're just going to sit there...

And play some background fodder and everyone's just going to have this background droning music that no one really knows, then you're not going to get a good idea of what the people like. It's pure logic. So if you do play the tracks that are in, that are hip, inside your sort of cocktail stroke background music, and when you play those tracks make a note of how many people move, what they're doing. The DJ Tutor offers a wide range of different tracks, including the Pogues, Fairytale of New York and everyone started singing, that got the ball rolling and then I went straight into modern day house tracks and hip hop and R&B. The dance floor, dumph, full. Now, suffice to say, and I don't mind admitting this, a lot of the youngsters, after about two hours, two and a half hours, did indeed go because I'm quite convinced that in the back of their minds they're like, we're going to go to this place, we're going to go to this place, we're going to go to this place. But what I did do is I stopped them from going to that venue till later.

9:52 They'd have gone like, oh God, let's get out of here

If I'd have started playing some old stuff and loads of Christmas songs, it's Christmas! They'd have gone like, oh God, let's get out of here. They would have, they would have, I guarantee you they'd have just buggered off within 10 minutes. But I got them to stay. And by the end of the night, and I don't mind admitting this, there was only one table left, I think, no I'm not going to say any names or anything like that, there was about 10 or so 15 people left. But that isn't too bad based on a lot of people disappearing with taxis, some old cruddy fuddy duddies and sorts. There were a mixture of age groups. But I had people dancing on that dance floor till one o'clock and the dance floor did not die at all. It kept on rocking. It was going practically, well no, not practically, it was going all night. Alright? So think about it, alright?

This is just pure logic. There's no kind of like, oh, how do you work this out? That's a cup. There you go. Pure logic. That's a cup. So think about it. Do not just play background music that you would not normally play during the height of the evening while they're eating because you don't want them to dance. Play the classics. Play the sort of tracks that you would normally play during the height of the night. Watch people. Don't just play it and then find the other track. No, get a track ready that you know you would normally play at the height of the night. Of course, you've got one playing already. And then get another one backed up, ready again, and then play that sort of banger and now watch people. Don't just fiddle around looking at your screen and looking at your phone. No, use that time to watch your crowd. Analyse your crowd. Look at them.

Watch every single move and if you see one person moving around to it, another one clapping their hands, all of a sudden then it's kind of this motion where everyone starts moving. You've got them by the short ones. Anyway, right, I hope that's a help. Practice and enjoy. Thank you very much.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.