Preventing "Are You Ready to Leave Yet?" at Your Events.

For Any Event, Prevent This! "Are You Ready to Leave Yet?"

You might know someone or maybe that someone is yourself who is ready to leave an event before it has even started.  I kind of feel that way about surgery, but some people feel that way about events and weddings.  I don't know if it's the opposite of the way kids can be on a road trip and they are saying, "Are we there, yet?" or maybe they grow up to be adults wanting to leave any event early.  You know who they usually are. Typically it's a husband leaning sideways toward his wife's ear to say, "Are you ready to leave yet?"  If it's really bad he might say, "I'll be out in the car".

When you're hosting an event you've obviously put a lot of time, money, thought and energy into something that will not last nearly as long.  A host will often feel disappointed or like a failure if their guests leave early.  Everyone should host an event to see what that might feel like. For a business event, it can feel like a failure to meet your ROI. (Return on Investment) but it's not really a good measure for that. There are a couple of simple things that will make people stay longer.  

For a social event, I found one thing that works to keep even the most reluctant attendees from leaving early!  In my experience, it's been having an ice cream cart or truck.  Trucks are better in hot weather, obviously.  Ben and Jerry's (my favorite) is only one of similar operations. Dessert trucks are great, too.  Everyone becomes a kid again and will find ways to get in line multiple times to try each flavor in a cone. Then, little justification is needed to try another flavor without a cone.   It reminds me of variables and probability.

Remember the cone holds the ice cream, but the ice cream holds the power!

Music is another key to having people linger. Music affects more areas of the brain and will also make people remember your event. When I'm helping a client plan an event, I frequently go into a science lesson as to why this is the case. 

Remember these simple tricks that will make your guests want to stay longer whether they know the reason or not!

As always,

Wishing you the greatest of days!

SaveSave
SaveSave

DJ's. They Only Play Music, Right? Wrong!

This is an introduction at the beginning of each topic in this series.  Look below for the new entry in this series.

We all want to save money whenever we can, but if we end up paying more in the long run or creating a bad experience, what are we really saving?

Everything boils down to what you don't know can hurt you.  Here are just a few things you should know about various aspects of your wedding if you don't use professionals.  This is just the tip of the iceberg!  If you hear yourself say any of these statements, you might want to really stop and take the time to consider the costs in time and money.  Stop and be honest with yourself first to make sure that you aren’t making a decision you will regret weeks or years later.  

“I can do that!”  

“I have a friend who does that!”  

“That looks easy enough to do!”  

“I don’t think that will matter”. 

“I don’t have the money for that”.

“I think that _____ would enjoy doing that!”

I will be the first to tell you that a good DJ does so many things for a wedding reception that go unnoticed.  If you don't have a good DJ you might very well be looking back on your whole wedding reception in a completely different light.  I will go so far as to say that they can make or break your reception. 

Here are some things you need to consider before you go with someone other than a professional DJ.

A good DJ will read the crowd.  He/She (I'll refer from hereon out as he) will be able see the signs before things could become stagnant or read the crowd to know when the timing is perfect for just the right element you've wanted in your reception.

A good DJ will not just play music that he happens to have and thinks will work with just a few that you might want.  He will talk with you extensively about what you like and how you want your reception to feel and will help you think about how you want to look back on your wedding day.

A good DJ will know when to speak and when not to speak.  He's not there to take over the show, but to give it the flavor you want. He will also make sure that you hear the announcements that need to be made.  (Not like a non-professional that I witnessed who did not even turn the music down when he made the announcements about cake cutting and toasts and was no where in sight when people needed to talk to him!)  What do you think happened?  I'll let you guess.  

If you don't have a Wedding Coordinator, your DJ is likely to be the one that keeps everything on schedule.  A Wedding Coordinator will be able to match you with a DJ that fits your personality, style and budget and will work closely with your DJ to make sure that things go off without a hitch.

Wishing you the greatest of days!

Greatest of Days