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Why?

This is a bit of a reflective rant, so please bear with me.

Wedding djsAs you may have seen here, or on my FaceBook page, I was in London for 3 days at the start of this week for some more training.  When people hear me say I’m doing more training I often get the reply “really!” or “why?”. Well there are at least three reasons.

First, I love it, it’s fun!  I get to spend time with my Party Host colleagues Alan and Gary and other DJ’s who all have different opinions and experiences to share. Frequently these other attendees come from another part of the country or even another country.

Secondly, and most importantly, I’ve really come to understand that learning doesn’t stop after school or college – yes we all learn from the School of Hard-Knocks and the University of Life – but continuing to try and improve is really important too.

Surely there has never been a better time to learn with all the access to information the internet has put just a click away.

Surely there has never been a time when continuing to learn and grow has been more important to keep up with this fast-moving World we live in.

Towards the end of the last Century (how old does that make me sound!), when Ce and I were planning to open our new business, I was encouraged to start looking at books and videos that would help me run our company.  I’ve found out so much that has helped me from that moment onwards!  If YOU have never read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey – just do it – get the book or the audio book and give it a go.

Finally, I want to make the most of every moment of my time left on this planet – especially when I’m doing my job for my clients.  You’ve probably seen the adverts for Berocca ~ their tag line is ‘You, but on a really good day’, when I provide my services at a wedding, or play for a family, event I want to be the best I can.  I’ll make a confession here, I hate doing things I’m crap at. Anything that pushes me out of my comfort zone I avoid, so you won’t find me on a golf course or doing anything that I feel I’ll look stupid doing.

Wedding Djs HampshireThis latest workshop with two amazing guys from America ~ Bill Herman and Jason Jones ~ and it came under their banner of The Entertainment Experience. Eleven of us, including Alan and Gary,  spent two and a half days learning how theatre, acting and comedy skills could be adopted to help us improve our performances.

Wedding DJ New Forest

It’s never easy performing and being critiqued in front of your colleagues, especially first thing on a Monday and Tuesday morning in the first working week of a New Year, but I certainly got a lot out of it – stepping outside my comfort zone.

The certificate isn’t a pass it’s more a commitment of intent …

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… and that, dear reader, is why.  Thanks for reading.

The ebook is now a book!

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Derek Pengelly’s ebook “Wedding Day Secrets” is now available, exclusively at the moment, from Gary, Alan and I as a book! Up until now it’s only been on the kindle but we’ve had some printed for our couples.

If you’d like a copy please get in touch ~ email paul@thepartydj.co.uk or call me on 07973 617153

Finishing Touches with The Party Hosts

Here’s the latest video for The Party Hosts Finishing Touches project

For more information about my work with Alan and Gary check out www.thepartyhosts.co.uk

Planning Your Wedding Ceremony

Here this weeks video from The Party Hosts. Last week we had the introduction to the series and now we start to actually look at what you can do to make your wedding unique, elegant and fun.

Please click through to YouTube and give it a like – and share it with your friends – thanks.

The Party Hosts

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As well as trading as The Party DJ I’m also very proud to be part of The Party Hosts with Alan and Gary. The Party Hosts came about because the three of us are great friends, share values, had all trained with Mark and Rebecca Ferrell among others, and live fairly close to each other. We originally got together to offer back-up for our clients in the event of something unforseen happening to any of us just prior to a booking. We then decided it might be a good plan to develop a brand that we could market and build together.

It’s now about a year since we got together and things are really starting to take off. Yesterday we launched our Wedding Entertainment Show – our weekly video tips on planning your wedding from an entertainment perspective.

We also started The Party Hosts blog here The Party Hosts

This weekend will also see the start of another of our Party Hosts projects … but we’ll tell you about that next week, when we should have some pictures.

Finally, for now, we have also been entered for the 2014 Wedding industry Awards
Wedding DJ Hampshire

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Marbecca 2013

May has been an amazing month for me. I’ve had some fabulous events, met some new couples who have chosen me to share their special day, finally found a van, and I got to spend more time with Mark and Rebecca Ferrell who came back to the UK again.

I spent six days with Mark and Rebecca, training and developing my presenting skills and learning more of how they honed their craft drilling down to the importance of every word.

Marbecca Stretch

For three weeks I spent every Monday and Tuesday in their workshops. Last year I did two Marbecca workshops and really felt stretched – this year was even more fun!

It was brilliant spending time with like-minded DJ’s especially on the Gold Master of Ceremonies workshop which included Alan and Gary, my colleagues from The Party Hosts.

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Mark and Rebecca’s signature piece was the Love Story and I’m thrilled to have spent time with them understanding and practicing the skills to deliver it.

Love Story

The Love Story is something that Mark and Rebecca created to emotionally involve all of the guests at an evening reception. Last year I saw Alan deliver a Love Story for one of his couples and I’ve been looking forward to learning the methodology ever since. I am now one of only ten people in the UK who have done this training.

Marbecca Gold Curry

We even found time for a few meals together – well it would have been rude not to.

Until next time, thank you so much Mark and Rebecca for crossing the ocean to share your knowledge, skills and love.

ProMobile Conference 2013 ~ Part 1

ProMobile 2013 Last Sunday and Monday was the first ProMobile Conference for UK mobile DJ’s. When the event was first announced I signed up immediately and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since – I wasn’t disappointed.

The event was held at The Crowne Plaza Hotel, Heythrop Park, just north west of Oxford. I travelled up with my colleague Gary, from The Party Hosts and another of our DJ friends – DJ Joe. Hampshire was probably the best represented county with a very good turn-out of DJ’s looking to improve their skills and network with other professionals. On the way up the A34 we suddenly noticed it was snowing and when we arrived at the conference centre it was like entering a winter wonderland.

Everything about the event was top drawer, the venue, the arrival packs, the food and drink, I can’t speak highly enough of the standard that the organisers set. About 80 delegates were booked onto the two day event and it was great to catch up with many old friends and make new connections.

Networking at the ProMobile Conference 2013

After our arrival drinks and networking brunch we made our way into the lecture theatre for the opening address by the conference curator Eddie Short, the Editor of ProMobile magazine who put the event together.

Then it was time for the Conference keynote speaker, Jim Cerone.

Jim Cerone at the ProMobile Conference 2013

I’ve been reading Jim’s articles and listening to his podcasts for the last 3 years and I can honestly say he has been a huge influence in the direction I’ve taken in that time. His message is that DJ’s should stop “doing gigs” and start “hosting parties”, that we should take responsibility for the success of every event we perform at.

He actually joined us at the earlier brunch and I was delighted to shake his hand as he welcomed us to the conference. Everything about Jim just enforces his image and his mantra of the Perfect Host.

His presentation was brilliantly adapted to fit the British style of wedding and he had obviously taken considerable care to understand how things work over here. My other Party Host colleague, Alan, had been showing Jim and his family around during their UK visit and had passed on some information, but it was clear that Jim had done plenty of homework before his plane had touched down at Heathrow.

The Perfect Host Keynote was really inspirational and although I’d heard and studied the basics of Jim concept for several years it was fantastic to hear it in the flesh. Can you imagine my surprise when Jim was talking about how we present our equipment and the care we should take to make it tidy that he showed the picture below … from my New Years Eve wedding!

More to follow soon …

Mood Lighting

Kyrah & James @ Wick Barn

I was delighted to act as MC and DJ for Kyrah and James at their fabulous wedding back in February. This video is made up of photo’s and video footage snapped by my Party Host colleague Gary Evans ~ please note we are not film makers, we are Party Hosts who haven’t been to a boring wedding in years! We’d like to thank Kyrah, James, their family and friends for allowing us to play our part in an amazing day.

Wick Barn and Strawberry Field Catering were absolutely brilliant.

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Wicked!

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Just a very quick post about yesterday’s wedding at the lovely Wick Barn

First I must thank my friend, and Party Hosts colleague, Gary Evans for his help throughout the day. I’ve had some vehicle issues and Gary very kindly offered to act as driver, roadie, support team and photographer – what a legend.

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This was my first time performing at Wick Barn. I visited with the clients last year and was really looking forward to playing there – I wasn’t disappointed. The Barn is a lovely setting and under the expert supervision of Hannah from Strawberry Field Catering the day went really well. For more information about Wick Barn CLICK HERE.

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Sunday 10th ~ Lovely and Vintage Wedding Fayre

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It’s been a very very busy week, especially considering that I don’t have a booking this weekend. I’ve had meetings with two couples whose weddings are fast approaching and two more with couples who have now booked me to play at their weddings.

Gary, my colleague from The Party Hosts and I also had a very exciting meeting with a very prestigious venue to talk about mood lighting and entertainment. Meanwhile Alan, the other Party Host, has been in Vegas at the annual DJ convention and training with the amazing Mark and Rebecca Ferrell – Gary and I have to wait until May for our next sessions with mark and Rebecca when they visit the UK again.

I’m eally looking forward to my first wedding fayre with Lovely and Vintage on Sunday at Victoria House in Hamble. I was over that way yesterday visiting one of my new couples and it was great to see some nice big yellow signs directing people to the event. Gary’s at the Southend Barn’s wedding fayre So come and say hello ~ bonus points if you come and see BOTH of us!

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