| Having
organised events and entertained well over half a million people in the
U.K and abroad with High Quality services for over 20 years, me being
Rajesh Kumar Patel (RAJ.K)
one of Three dedicated people, the others my Brother Rajan Kumar Patel,
the pioneer in organising Quality events in 5 star Hotels and introducing
outside Asian Caterers into Londons Top Hotels, and lastly Brother Roopesh
Kumar Patel, pioneer in Audio production within the Asian Music Industry.
We
have gained a great wealth of experience in what makes an event successful
and here are some Key Points when booking a DJ or other service providers.
These
days I find a growing number of clients are dictated to by so called
Caterers who say they are Exclusive Suppliers in Hotels and Venues,
(infact that is all they are...the latter, just suppliers). They also
claim they have the right to allow you to book the venue or not, this
is certainly not true by any account, remembering the Venue/ Hotel is
a business and at the end of the day will have you the Client in its
first frame of mind and your needs, as it will value your needs and
your business. The ever growing greed to become sole suppliers to London's
4 & 5 star Hotel venues continues, and this is having its toll as
service levels and food quality for many top caterers are falling each
week. I believe it is due to them losing sight of who is really the
most important person/ company, them or the client.
A
few Points:
1,
Never get pushed into booking a DJ or other services provided by a Caterer
or so called Event organiser. The chances are the DJ's they provide
are not professionals and in most cases have cut a deal just to get
the business with the Caterer or it's the Caterer dictating to unknown
DJ's to provide a basic level of service for the business they put through
to them. I have come to know that some well known AsianCaterers are
now pushing this one stop service as standard and pushing clients into
going there way or no booking and in some cases actually dictating that
they will charge you the client a levy to bring your own entertainment
or services provider. Dj's that are in house at some venues or part
of packages sold by Caterers, always use secondary DJ's and never the
main DJ who's company's name is qouted, so always check who is actualy
turning up, you may be surprised to know that your reply could be, "it's
only a DJ, they are all the same". Hopefully this should sound
Alarm bells as for the quality of person you are dealing with.
2,
Music plays one of the most important parts of any celebration or
social event for DJ RajK, and if correct importance is not given, it
can make or end your party before it's begun.
3,
RajK was the first DJ to organise events in 4/ 5 Star Hotels, and is
no stranger to Londons vast range of quality Hotels in and around the
UK..
4,
Reputation is everything, and by knowing your Dj has a past history
and reference, will secure any successfull event be it a Wedding or
Social occassion..
5,
I believe having a broad span of clients and having worked through actual
events, is the mark of any reputable DJ. I have worked well over 3,000
successful events over the last 20 years from student balls to Award
Cermony's and Celebrity VIP partys.
6,
It has been brought to my attention that CATERERS are pushing more and
more clients into booking entertainment/ DJ Roadshows via themselves.
Given that none of the DJ Roadshows have any famous personalties or
skilled DJ'S, not even well known with any reputation, makes me question
WHY CATERERS have made this association, is it only for greed and the
extra 'cash' at the clients expense.
It
has also come to my attention that some DJ Roadshows use false testimonials
on their websites, claiming that they are directly from clients. Please
take them with a pinch of salt as you will discover soon that they are
not from Clients, but again from Caterers who are the main source of
there bookings. I believe anyone booking any service especially if it's
for a Wedding, that they do choose carefully, always go back and ask
people you know, have you heard of this company, has anyone seen them
in action, how professional were they on the day and before the event.
Did they turn up with an army larger than your quest list to do the
music with?
DJ
Rajk has a long history of client relationship and has always worked
directly with Clients, thus ensuring the clients needs and requirements
are fully met and where possible exceeded.
Please note that if you are reading this, that any high end DJ or service
provider worth his sort should always be booked directly, to ensure
the finer details are never overlooked and thus ensuring total communication
between the client and service provider. Anyone trying to push the booking
of a service via any other way will have an ulterior motive, normally
greed or favours...not the client interests at heart.
Some
common questions raised by CATERERS and so called Wedding co-ordinators,
brought to my attention:
a,
The DJ needs to be certified with Pat tested equipment (electrcal safety).
This is no doubt necessary to ensure equipment your DJ is providing
is safe, fused correctly and is earthed and no mains cables are damaged
and exposed and checked regulary, however i do not believe that Caterers
would truley no the difference and true meaning of this, as we have
first hand experience in seeing the kind of people they employ as part
of their packages also including Video/ Camera and Mandap companys.
I have seen many bad examples first hand and the Caterers have no time
to ensure this safety and in most cases find it humerous, obviously
health and safety is not at the top of their list and priorty is with
the food service for the day and the management of the kitchen. Please
ensure directly as this can affect your important day and event, especially
if theres an in house technical inspection or health and saftey inspection,
which will normally result in the dj or services provider being asked
to remove his equipment off the premises affecting your event.
b,
Public Liability certification and cover. Venue's do have adequate cover
for Public liabilty Insurance and Health and Safety for all guests attending
events anyway. However the DJ or other service provider needs to have
cover for his equipment, staff, minimum public liability insurance against
his services. Normally £5,000.000 liability.
c,
If you are booking a Venue via a Caterer, then they will also have taken
out cover on behalf of the client for your special event and guests
attending including all persons in the room at anyone time. So there
is no reason why you cannot bring your own choice of DJ, after all it
is about you and your guests having a good time with the right kind
of music you like..
d,
Caterers will let you believe that all good things come in packages,
however quality services are always individual/ be spoke and dynamic
and will always stand out from the rest. Do not forget that its not
all about a cheap package deal, in most cases you still pay top money
via a Caterer or Agency package as they have a big cut on it, but the
DJ that turns up is not so top/ inexperienced and it's too late in the
day once you've seen what you got. It is about individual taste and
quality, and not the Catering boss telling you," we use this DJ
for all our events", without even knowing your music tastes, (lets
face it not all Asians want Bhangra music) and the different levels
of quality. I would definately state, what would a caterer know about
music anyway, I would certainly stay away, and make my own judgements
based on if they would meet my requirements..
more
points continued...
Images
shown on certain DJ websites, may not be the property of their own,
we have first hand experience and have been victims of image theft ,
as other DJ Roadshows have used our quality images of our high profile
events we have worked and organised, and have used them to assocciate
with their business portfolio. Always look out for Consistency of phtotography
on brochures and websites, as you will find with our website all images
are of the same quality standard and the equipment used is consistent
from one event to the next.
Always
ask to speak to the DJ who will be present on the day and providing
the service. A quick conversation can go along way when making that
important decision in the booking of a DJ as you may find the DJ not
suitable or too fixed in what he may be able to provide and play on
the day,
Some
common problems found with roadshow DJ's,
No
understanding of correct Sound levels and how to achieve the right balance.
No
Flexibilty, Bad Attitude, To many so called staff behind the Decks with
no actual role.
Badly
dressed staff wearing Trainers and Jeans.
Alcohol
drinking on the Job !
Equipment
is tacky/ large or substandard and of poor quality, and the users are
too young with very little knowledge and experience in using the systems
properly.
Typical
Roadshow mentalty "BIG is BETTER ? " what happended to quality..!
I questioned?
Poor
experience in Playing the right music at the right times.
Do
more talking on the microphone than playing actual music, or in most
cases, cannot mix and talk through the song changes and mixes.
I
believe the above to be very true of most Roadshows and their lack of
experience as professionals. With time comes filters and only the best
are remembered as compitent DJ's who prove there services time upon
time.
Finaly
when booking a DJ, always ask friends and relatives if they have have
heard of the Company and it's associated DJ's, as a good one generally
shines through, and as you know knowledge and experience is everything.
...Remember
its your event, not the event organisers nor the Caterers, there interests
are purely of their own..!
PLEASE
CONTACT ME FOR ANY FURTHER FREE IMPARTIAL ADVICE ON VENUES, SERVICE
PROVIDERS SUCH AS CATERERS, VENUE THEMING COMPANYS, DANCE COMPANYS ETC...
TEL:
07956-523585.
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