by Guest Bloggers, Dan Forbes and Laura Forbes, WPICC, of Sounds of Distinction Entertainment
We recently attended a CPDJA (Canadian Professional Disc Jockey Association) meeting where this piece of material was discussed. (It is currently being handed out at most wedding shows).
We had to share this with everyone because it is so dead on. When you are finding quality venders for your clients or yourself, why settle for anything less than these professional standards. There are hundreds of companies out there to choose from, please do your part in assuring that they are able to meet these guidelines.
Carrying the industry requirement in licensing and insurance should be a minimum standard. A contract/written agreement is an absolute. Never sign up with a company that cannot give you such a guarantee for any service booked. Another great thing to ask your DJ is if they have won any awards or have any extra recognition that they have earned.
While we were at this meeting, another DJ approached me and said, "Hey, I lost an event to you last week." I already knew this as my clients had spoken about the other DJ's that they were interviewing. I responded "I know that I have lost events to you in the past also, and I would rather lose them to another professional DJ then one of those other guys."
We firmly believe that competition is needed in every business; it keeps the industry up to certain standards. We just wish that all the competition was meeting these standards set in place by associations like CPDJA and CDJA. Every year we take dozens of last minute inquiries because; a DJ company will not return calls or e-mails, they have disappeared over night, or they simply forgot about the event and booked something else. We have even received calls from couples who have booked a DJ and just before the Wedding, they were given a call to say that something better has come up, so they can either pay up or miss out. No professional company would ever act in such a manner.
Do yourself a favour and when interviewing potential DJ's for your upcoming event, use this as a guideline for who you would like to work with further. Make sure they hold the proper AVLA licensing as well as full liability insurance. (Ask to see proof, verbal is not enough). You will be saving yourself time and grief. You will also be doing your part in keeping the standards up in an ever changing industry.
Very good information to know. Great questions.
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