Time is worth its weight in gold. As I have preached in previous posts, it is vital to make sure you arrive early to every event. No matter how big or small the event might be, extra time is your best asset. There is nothing worse then wishing you had more time before the event starts. Let me a explain a few gigs where time wore thin.

Several weeks ago I had a wedding in Western NY. The couple and I agreed that I would attend the rehearsal which was a day before the wedding. The rehearsal went fairly smoothly. In the beginning I had some problems with my power source. The ceremony was outside and I was getting power from a near by gazebo, but it worked out ok that day. That was not the case on the big day. I arrived two and a half hours early to set up for the reception and the ceremony. This was plenty of time. However I waited to set up the ceremony sound system because I worried about leaving it too long in the sun exposed. So fifteen minutes before the background music start time I discovered that the powere source was acting up again. I was able to get a hold of the banquet manager and we ended up running 100ft of extension cable to the main building. Luckily we were able to start the music in time and no one knew there was a problem. That situation got my heart thumping a bit.

I was asked to DJ a student club formal for a local college. I had done many formals before and had also been in the room where the event would take place. Because I was familiar with the venue I knew how long it would take to arrive, set up, and begin playing music. This is helpful, yet there can also be a false sense of security with familiarity. When I arrived at the venue to set up the venue manager was surprised to see me. The venue said that the student group did not inform them that a DJ would be attending. The problem here was that there was no space allocated for a dance floor. all the tables were already set up. So we took some time to clear a space for the dance floor. This cut heavily in my set up time. I was able to get the sound system up as guests arrived. Because I was in a time crunch I decided to put my wash lighting on the ground in front of my table. This was a new idea and it ended up turning out really well. See there is a silver lining in every situation.

Time never changes. There will always be 24 hours in a day. Yet, it always seems like we are running out of time. What I have learned from this situation, and others, is to plan on things taking longer than expected. If this is done, what is the worst that can happen? You’ll have extra time to prepare for!

ps. This post was written before the move to PA. The next post will cover the new details of the business in PA.