Organize events – Do we agree with Phil Morse?
Organize your own events – Do we agree with Phil Morse?
In his book “Rock the Dancefloor”, Phil Morse says that what has been a game-changer for him was to organize events. The reason for that was that he could earn more money than a simple gig and that he could play what he wanted.
At Lesk, we believe that one who organize events on his/her own will enjoy the DJ journey even better. We think that the reasons why Phil organized his own parties were the same as ours. This is why we wanted to comment on all the recommendations he gives in his book. We will add some of our perspectives to help to have a better analysis.
You should start small
Why do we agree?
It is a mistake to think that you will get the jackpot by organizing one party. Maybe you can spot a good gap and then get a lot of people. If you’re experienced enough, you will know how to market and get paid. Then you will be able to make quite a decent money out of that. But come on. You don’t do that for the money, do you?
What I am trying to explain is that you’re more likely to start slow than fast. It is a mistake to think the reverse. The only case you could start fast is that you have a network of people ready to party. This is what happened to us and why we started strong. It was an opportunity that we grabbed. That’s how we started to organize events.
Over the months, as we attracted people from our network and not people that liked the style, we declined. Because here is the thing:
Throwing parties is about creating a movement, not a one-shot.
People need to know you enough and be secure enough to go to your parties. In the beginning, you’ll have only the one who likes the type of music you’ll play. You won’t have the one who follows blindly. So you will have a restricted amount of people.
This is why you should start small when you organize events. Because maybe the first time all your friends will come and their friends. You will have this network effect of 200 people. But what about the other times? Where only 30 passionate people will show off?
So start small, cut your expenses, and build your local audience. It is better than starting big and failing directly.
Choose good night
Why do we agree?
We will have to know your calendar and people’s habits. This is what’s going to make the difference when you will organize events.
Public holidays are really interesting as people want to party at that time. So you have opportunities. But let’s go further in detail.
First, the experience will tell you everything. Don’t expect to know exactly how people will react precisely. Business is “guess something”, “work towards that guess” to achieve it, and then make conclusions. So my experience, you’ll know when night will be great or not.
For instance, we fucked up a party by throwing it on valentine’s day. Only 30 people came even if the concept was great. We also got good results at the beginning because we started just before the Christmas holidays when people were fed up with their studies. It varies a lot. And you will have to understand that.
What we want to add
You can never know what a good or bad night is. So try your best and hope everything will be fine. Look at your calendars and try to target well. If bigger events happen that night, you might be empty. If too big of an event happens also, people might be fed up with joining other too crowded parties and choosing you. You kind of never know. So be aware of that when you organize events.
Do it yourself
Why we disagree (and then why we agree).
When you don’t know what one needs to do, doing it yourself might seem complicated. Between the marketing, the organization, the tickets, the jackets, the cash, and so on, doing it yourself is not the easiest.
It all depends on which kind of deal you get when you organize events. If you’re going to a place where they already have people selling tickets and taking jackets: ok. If you need to do all that by yourself, you’ll need to hire, plan, or do that with friends.
So do it yourself, when you start, is not the best advice I believe.
Why we agree
However, here are the reasons why we agree.
I’m going to take my example, but what happened was that for our parties, everyone was asked to participate. Everyone wanted to join just to mix and be part of the night. I ended up sometimes having no time for my part and no one wanting to let me mix. Even if I was spending a lot of hours doing marketing and logistics.
So if I would have to do it all over again, I would do it with the fewest number of people possible. Yes, you hear me, even alone if it could be possible.
Because I spent a huge amount of work to get the thing running to at the end, get kicked out from my own movement. So yeah, do it alone and like that, fewer problems will arise.
Ps: If you don’t want to invite people, create some rules that will help you to manage everything. Believe me, it will help you sooner or later.
Half of the people who say they would come won’t come
Why do we agree?
This statement is partially true. Partially because we had one-third of the people not coming in our case. Luckily, we had a list of people that we could track to see how many people came or not. At the same time, we had a portion of people that came from nowhere.
My advice here is to understand what is your ratio when you organize events. How many people are showing off vs how many people don’t? I guess there are plenty of ways to reduce the ratio. A bit more advertising at the right time and you’re good to go. But you need to be aware of the number.
Build a brand, not a style of music
Why do we 100% agree?
People respond emotionally to brands. They might not like your style of music, but they might come anyway for the atmosphere. Even if they are just sat at the bar, it’s always good.
As we said previously, you need to create a movement if you organize events. And brands are good to do so. One can associate a brand with a way of thinking, of acting, of living. Values can emanate from your brand and this is where you’ll make the best out of it.
If you just refer to your style of music, you might be limited in the type of people coming. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t choose a niche. It only means you should present it through a brand.
It’s also that you can educate people. Maybe people don’t like the type of music you play. But after one, or two or three events they will. They will be convinced that it’s better than what they are already listening to. A brand has the power of changing habits and perceptions. This is why you should use it.
Negotiate the right deal
Why we agree
“You’re as big as the problem you’re resolving”. Always keep this in mind when you organize events.
If you visit a club that already has parties going on, you’re not resolving a big problem. So they won’t give you a huge credit. If you visit a place that is on the decline and is desperately looking for people organizing parties there, you have the advantage.
So keep that in mind when looking for a place and prepare your negotiation. State what you want in the future and see where you can meet the person.
Don’t forget that a bad deal can ruin both your and your brand reputation. Also, don’t let people take advantage of you just because you want to play somewhere. It will frustrate you more than it will be beneficial. And if someone doesn’t want to take time to negotiate, then it’s a big no. Most of the time, they’ll lose more than you. Believe me.
Use every marketing trick available
True.
Marketing is about spreading the word, and the more you spread, the more people will come. My advice here is to see what you are capable of producing and how fast you can. Between copies, stories, posters, videos, and so on.
That could (and maybe will) be a whole course in itself but keep in mind that you need to advertise as much as you can. You also need to ask people to promote your event. Not selling tickets for it, but at least to share it on their social networks. No matter how many people follow them or not.
The more work you’re putting in, the more credible you will appear when you organize events.
Collect email address
True and not only that.
Marketing people are obsessed with numbers and data. And they are right. The more data you have, the more you can be sure of your activity.
So we advise you to collect email. Try to make a base of people that might come every time to personally tell them that your next event will be that date. Try to reward people who are the first ones coming.
Those are the ones who will make your movement bigger, so don’t skip them.
Marketing and good finances are what will help you to stay motivated in the long run. So get educated a minimum to be able to not lose what you’re building.
If you’re successful, you’ll be able to book your favorite DJ
We don’t know if it’s true. But this is all we wish you if you decide to organize events. <3
I hope that you liked this article. Don’t hesitate to comment if you have anything to add.
Cheers!
The author
Benoit Dervieux is the initiator of Lesk. He started DJing around 14 years old, bought his first pair of vinyls at 22 and started organizing parties at 25. He has a master in entrepreneurship and is developing Lesk hoping the product will enter the market. You can contact him directly on instagram @lesklights.