...and if they don't dance well they're are no friends of mine

The Venue

Okay, so you've read all the above and I haven't put you off yet. Great! Now you need a venue to run your club event at. To keep things simple I am going to keep it to established venues licensed to sell alcohol.

Its best to start by working out how many people you expect to turn up. If you know your local scene you will see the numbers at other events and the size of venues they are run at. If you are starting a new event with no others its probably best to start small (say 30-50 people) unless you know the support is out there for more. It also depends on how niche your event is. A mixed genre event that plays a lot of 80s will generally get more people than a niche industrial event.

Next, look into local venues that are around the size you want. If they are alternatively minded all the better but its not necessarily a dealbreaker. Also be aware of other events currently run at that venue. If a similar event is already run there its generally considered poor form to run one there too. Talk to the other event's management and see what they think. Some events don't mind sharing venues, some do. Best not to create friction. You want a crowd going to everything and not being split up by rivalries and scene politics.

Sometimes you will have all your options limited to just one venue. Small town, everything else is booked out or you may even know management so you have a foot in the door.

Contact the venues and compare what they have to offer as well as costs. Work out the one you like most and approach them first to meet with the manager (or owner) in person or make a proposal electronically (email etc).

Event Proposal

You want to go in with a plan. Consider this to be like a job interview or selling the event. If you do it well you may end up with a great deal better than expected.

With The Attic (my first event and my first event with a managerial role) it actually was a job interview but the plan I had is similar to what I do with new events now. I had zero experience DJing yet I got the job because I sold myself well and my event concepts were sound. Attic was free entry and I was paid by the pub directly.

RvM Adelaide we had a management team of three people. I was involved in a lot of the planning initially and apoproaching the first venue (all three of us were there for that) and we also used a similar plan method. Later I settled back into more on the DJ/doorperson/online promo side.

Cybermorph I am the outright manager. After having trouble with teams in the past I decided an event needs a head person. I want it run my way. It means I do a lot of the work myself (I make the flyers, do promo, organise DJs, organise decorations, bring DJ/mixer equipment, sometimes I'm the event photographer too) but it ensures it gets done. I try encourage my team to take ownership of the event too. This worked well for us as when we needed to change venue one of my staff found our current venue (The Bunker) which is even better for our needs. Cheers DJ LVNA! The first venue was a proposal via email, the second was in person. I had LVNA and RavenDjinn with me but I did most of the talking.

A new event I am running soon (Hashtag Memecore) is in partnership with another manager at the same venue as Cybermorph. The rapport I have built with the manager is strong enough that he just let me book the new event with a short rundown of what we wanted to do.

So what do you include in a proposal? You need to explain what you want to do, maybe even bring some samples of the music. For the email proposal that was easy - just link some youtube videos. With The Attic I submitted an audio CD with my proposal. For Cybermorph and RvM Adelaide we didn't submit any music at all. We let the description speak for us. We let the description speak for us.

You may want to make a mock flyer as an idea of how you will promote the event. If nothing else it shows you are keen and willing to put in the work. I did that with The Attic.

Be eager, talk up the venue. Make an offer on how things can be handled financially but be open to counter offers. Ask about things like potential drink specials/happy hours being available. Maybe offer to do the first gig for free to gauge interest.

Find out what your obligations are too. For Cybermorph we initially had to pay for security and mixer hire. But I started helping The Bunker with promo stuff so I was helped in return to reduce costs.

Ultimately you are trying to form a business arrangement. They give you a place to play, you help them sell more drinks. When it works everybody wins.