What do you like to see in a good club?

My partners and I recently bought a club that does fairly well, but could do better. We are trying to figure out what we can do to boost traffic, get people in the doors and keep them coming back. Thus, I am bringing a survey to the general consensus to ask what you like to see in a club you visit often.

Obviously, I really good DJ can make or break the night. I think we have a couple of awesome disk jockeys. What do you consider a good DJ?

We have talked about totally revamping the place and giving it a complete overhaul, including a new structure altogether, but none of us are sure that is really necessary. Is the way the club looks a big deciding factor for you?

So tell me, what you want in a dance club!

Lots of bots. It ain't a club without bots.

Jiggly bewbies

I think too much emphasis is placed on the DJ as the key to a club's success. Sure, having a good DJ is important, but it's not the end-all beat-all of club success. In fact, "big-name" DJ's tend to bring their fan club with them everywhere they go. This may be good for traffic, but bad for a club's image, as it just further reinforces the cliquish impressions people have about clubs.

The key is your staff - in particular, your host/hostess. She needs to do much, much more than robotically greet everyone who steps within chat range. She needs to become the life of the party, so to speak - keep conversations flowing, keep things interesting, and keep people from wanting to just click on the contest board, park their avatars, and go AFK for a couple of hours.

Humor.

It depends on the club. Some clubs are based on sex, some on music and specific genres of music, some on socializing and some on contests, etc. To be general and cover all bases, a good club must be fun, friendly, and professional. Everything else is specifics that are particular to the type of club we're talking about.

A DJ is vitally important to a club based on music, but not so much on a club based on sex or contests. That being said, a great DJ can certainly help any club, just as a hostess can be a major plus to a club that is based on a genre of music.

Limit the gesture spam, ban "woohoos", "roars", "omg I love this song", "this club rocks". Have a staff that doesn't spend the entire evening begging for money, but instead spends the evening making people feel part of the action. Arsheba and Aerolite were great for that (before they imploded), the staff actually made friends with the customers, old timers and newbies alike.

to me a good club has to be like a party not a cattle call..too many clubs are out to jam the traffic numbers and get the volume of people they can as soon as possible..

good music is one of the keys.DJ or not..i've ran my stream and had 40 people show up because the music sounded good..not because the dj got on the mic..i basically got on the channel and said..i think i'm gonna kick on my stream..if anyone wants to come on over i think we are gonna have a party ..so if your not doing anything come on over..just good fun and hanging out..
next thing ya know the place was pact and we were all having a ball..no pressure no events no tricks..just a good old fashion invite to a hangout party.hehehe
and yes i have pics to prove it

Good communication with your customers..a simple hello is nice but getting them involved is also a lot of fun for staff and for the customers and keeps them coming back..

we used to practice dance routines on stage during the day..people would come in and sit down and watch and say..wow that looks really neat..so we would ask them to come on up and let us hook them up to a hud and ball so they could join in..before you know it we have them showing up with friends during the day and all of a sudden we have some nice day traffic going on..

people know when they are being sent a gesture hello or stuff is programmed or copy and pasted or what green chat means..they can smell fake a mile away..
clubs need to get to the real and be about the customers more and less about the volume numbers..
if clubs want a loyal customer base they need to be for real..
if the experience is the same in your club as all those that are out there..then it's only as good as the paint job..

a loyal customer base takes a bit longer to build but it lasts a bit longer as well and it's a lot more fun building one

When I used to strip at clubs, we were supposed to interact with the audience; what people tipped for was us entertaining them by flirting with them and fooling around and making them laugh and generally feel welcome. Which was fun for me, too.

I wince now when I go to clubs and see the dancers copy-pasting screeds of embarrassing emotes, and generally end up muting them, cos I don't need my screen cluttering up with whole paragraphs describing how hot taking off her top makes her feel.

Agree wholeheartedly with Katheryne. Some Djs do bring their retinue and, often, the retinue brings its habits from other clubs

A really good DJ, imho, will try to find/download anything anyone requests. "Sorry, don't have it" doesn't cut the mustard.

Agree on the host/hostess thing too. A good host will be all things: joker, conversation stirrer, match-maker, organiser, sounding board, and not afraid to be the butt of jokes and make a twit of him or herself, plus be a good communicator - no job too big or small.

Live Music! no DJ's.

a host/hostess who is silent after a greeting, but who is present and keeps trouble away. must have ejection/ban powers.

A club that does not have the dancers stripping when tipped
A limit on spam I dont need to hear over and over " I love this tuuunnneeee"
A good variety of music
No ask spanking without knowing if the person likes it
A fun atmosphere

As a DJ, I do try to do this. I think what most people don't understand is that when they ask for a song, and the DJ does not have it, what does the DJ do?

Three basic options:

1.) Sorry, I don't have that. "What? OMG...you're a shit DJ. You mean you don't have every song in the world?"

2.) DJ downloads song for free using Limewire or something similar for free. "OMG....you thief!! You're stealing music!!"

3.) DJ downloads the song from Amazon or Itunes (pukes) for a dollar, which is roughly 265L. The person requesting said song either does not tip at all or tips the DJ 50L.

Don't get me wrong, I will try to download whatever I need to for people, as long as it fits in with the particular gig I'm spinning at. If, however, I do 3-4 downloads a gig, that is anywhere from 25-100% of what I'm making. Since I do what I do out of love of music rather than to make money, things usually just work out.

Just remember that if a DJ doesn't or can't download a song for you, it's probably not because he/she's a crap DJ. It might be that a song won't fit in with the venue format, like the infamous "I'd like to request YMCA" at a classic rock club I got one time. It might be that DJ has limited funds to be able to download and has reached that limit. It might be a technical issue which I've had come up a couple times over the last two plus years, in that my internet connection went shit and I can't download anything lest I lose the stream out to my server.

Bottom line, we're not professionals here, but hopefully we ARE professional. I have a quite large and varied collection of music, but I have no where near what a radio station or professional DJ has. What I do have, is a pretty good collection of tunes to compliment the gigs I have picked to play and rather than try and make everyone happy, I settle for drawing an audience that has similar tastes to mine. Oh, and yeah, I can't afford to download every song known to man, not with what we make here, and I don't worry about it. I do the best I can with what I have and have fun with it.

Do you have Drive by Melissa Ferrick?

Sadly, no. I have a list of "Songs I NEEEED" that is just plain oppressive. Drive is actually a song I would DL for myself! There are requests that I enjoy downloading, and that would be one of them. I've been in jazz mode lately though....lol....and I've been more focused on picking up more Coltrane, etc.

Yes Crighton, provided issues such as genre, event theme and local culture are taken into account, I do believe the DJ should do his best to acquire the requested song, preferably legally, if not for this gig, then for the next one. A good Dj should also get familiar with the regulars' preferences and try to remember who likes what (more or less). It never hurts to flatter a patron by spinning his or her favourite tune and announcing it, rather than back-announcing it, as some do.

About having fun with it. I figure if you give it a fair shake and are willing to make some self-deprecating humour about things, it goes one hell of a long way to building loyalty.

Cheers

Yes. A good club should be functional yet stylish. It should be well balanced with a comfortable handle that can be gripped firmly to avoid accidents. It should do a maximium of damage with a minimum of effort and easily color coordinate with a variety of outfits

QFT

I'm going to hit it from an environment angle. I like clubs with a simple dance floor with no transparencies. I don't need flashing lights and glowy things. If there is good music and good company, I don't care if the walls are plain old brick. In fact the fewer textures the better.

The fewer scripts the better too. And no freebie dances in the dance balls. And no sploder that begs to be played with, or tip jars that beg to be tippled.

Yes yes yes yes yes.

My experience has been that every good club should have a Tringo board with games hosted on a regular schedule. It's a nice distraction from dancing, a bonding experience for guests and staff, and a great way to build up a base of regular visitors. Newbies in particular are drawn to Tringo as it offers them a chance to win spending (and tipping) money, and such people are likely to come back every night.

I do

Rooms upstairs for quickies.

Real people and staff.