Why Chicago Hotels Have Stricter DJ Rules Than Most Cities | DJ Will Gill
Booking a corporate DJ for a Chicago hotel event is meaningfully different than booking one for a hotel event in Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, or most other major US corporate event markets. Chicago has a specific combination of a strict municipal noise ordinance, deeply established union labor jurisdictions, exclusive in-house AV ...
Red Flags in an Event Entertainment Proposal | DJ Will Gill
Most bad corporate events are decided at the proposal stage, not the event stage. The decision to book the wrong entertainment vendor is almost always visible in the proposal document before the contract gets signed. The problem is that most corporate planners have never been trained to read entertainment proposals ...
The Sound Check Mistake That Ruins More Events Than You Think | DJ Will Gill
There is one sound check mistake that ruins more corporate events than any other. It is not choosing the wrong microphone. It is not underpowering the room. It is not skipping the sound check entirely (although that certainly happens). The mistake that produces the most avoidable failures is more subtle ...
From the DJ Booth to the Keynote Stage: Lessons in Reading a Room | DJ Will Gill
The single skill that separates competent keynote speakers from the ones event planners rebook is the ability to read a room in real time. Not the ability to design slides. Not the ability to memorize content. Not the polish of a rehearsed voice. The ability to look at the audience ...
The Virtual Corporate Event Rehearsal Checklist | DJ Will Gill
Rehearsal used to be optional for corporate virtual events. In 2020 and 2021, "rehearsal" often meant a 20-minute Zoom call with the CEO to test their microphone the day before the town hall. That was the industry standard because platforms were simpler, expectations were lower, and audiences were forgiving of ...
How to Handle a Dead Room at a Corporate Event | DJ Will Gill
Every working corporate emcee has stood in front of a dead room. Not a quiet room. Not a tough room. A dead room, where the energy has collapsed and the audience has visibly checked out, phones are out, side conversations are running, applause is polite but not real, and the ...
Audience Warmup Techniques That Work for B2B Crowds | DJ Will Gill
B2B audiences reject about 90 percent of the warmup tactics that work reliably at consumer events, weddings, and general-market crowd work. That is not a personality failing on the executive audience's part. It is a rational response to a different context. Corporate professionals are at work, not at a party. ...