Houston Professional Wedding bilingual DJI’ve considered myself a Professional DJ for the past 2 years, mainly because I’ve invested some time and money into learning the trade.

At the Improv

I’ve taken some improv classes at Massive Creativity to help me think faster on my feet. If anything happens that is out of the ordinary, with the training I received at Massive, I can quickly adapt to the situation. They teach you to build connections and to use your emotions to keep those connections… alive, so to speak. So whenever I perform the role of Master of Ceremonies, and I am in the middle of a presentation that goes bad, instead of sitting there and freezing and making the situation worse, I can come up with something to make it a lot better…

One situation that recently happened was…

At a recent wedding where I was asked to be the Master Of Ceremonies, I had to do the announcements in both English and in Spanish, so my preparation work was already doubled and of course the anxiety and nervousness you experience before any performance doubled as well. However, I was pretty calm and relaxed, thanks to some of the exercises that I do as a result of my “Love Story Workshop.” More on that later…

So the bride and groom arrive with their bridal party, I got the Pastor and the Translator ready to do the blessing of the food, I got the guests to their seats with a short, concise introduction and announcement, and I asked James at The Pavilion Royale Event Center to help me with the Grand Introductions.

I introduced the bridal party while James signaled the appropriate time for them to walk in…

“Ladies and Gentlemen, with your applause and cheers please welcome… Maria Garza Escorted by James Johnson..”

And I went down the list, waited for the bridal party to reach their spots and await the entrance of the bride and Groom.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Please Rise to welcome for the very first time as Husband and Wife…. Mr. and Mrs. James Carter!”

I waited for them to reach their table before I introduced our Pastor and Translator…

I came on the Microphone and said…

“Now to do our blessing of the food, please Welcome ‘Mr. and Mr. ….”

When the pastor received the wireless, he clarified…

“First of all it’s not Mr. and Mr. …”

All in good humor, the guests busted out laughing, they both had a smile of understanding in their faces, and everything was good. When I received the Microphone I apologized and kept my cool…

In this situation, the Pastor was the one that come over the microphone, built a great connection with the guests and continued to keep a “good humor-positive feeling in the air.” I continued it with an apology and a short statement to fill in the “why I did that” question in some of the guests mind.

Had I not been prepared mentally, for the event, for any situation that might come up, and to understand the “feeling that is in the air,” I would probably have frozen and not wanted to take the microphone.

The commercial “Wanna get away” comes to mind, but I kept my cool, kept it under control and everything was fine, thanks in great part to my partners in this situation, “Mr. and Mr…” :)

The Love Story

I’ve taken the Love Story Workshop, given by Mark Ferrel… An outstanding person…

The Love Story Workshop is a training course that is designed to help DJs Improve their microphone skills and at the same time to gather information, from the bride and groom, to create a meaningful story of how the two met and all the events that lead up to it. As Mark Puts it in his website…

“The Love Story, done properly, is an incredibly humorous, meaningful, and moving addition to any romantic event’s entertainment. Doing it properly involves a specific skill set that requires training and education, and is cultivated over time.”

Does this make me a Professional?

Not immediately, a professional is, according to Dictionary.com

pro·fes·sion·al [pruh-fesh-uh-nl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –adjective

1. following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
2. of, pertaining to, or connected with a profession: professional studies.
3. appropriate to a profession: professional objectivity.
4. engaged in one of the learned professions: A lawyer is a professional person.
5. following as a business an occupation ordinarily engaged in as a pastime: a professional golfer.
6. making a business or constant practice of something not properly to be regarded as a business: “A salesman,” he said, “is a professional optimist.”
7. undertaken or engaged in as a means of livelihood or for gain: professional baseball.
8. of or for a professional person or his or her place of business or work: a professional apartment; professional equipment.
9. done by a professional; expert: professional car repairs.

–noun

10. a person who belongs to one of the professions, esp. one of the learned professions.
11. a person who earns a living in a sport or other occupation frequently engaged in by amateurs: a golf professional.
12. an expert player, as of golf or tennis, serving as a teacher, consultant, performer, or contestant; pro.
13. a person who is expert at his or her work: You can tell by her comments that this editor is a real professional.

So, a Professional performs his trade to earn a living; follows as a business, an occupation ordinarily engaged as a pastime: a Disc Jockey; a person who is an expert at his or her work. So it involves learning the trade, being good at it, and if you make a living from it, you are a Professional.

Do you agree?

Ok, maybe now I feel a lot better about calling myself a Professional. I earn a living from what I love doing, I do it every week, I devote extra time and energy to all events, I devote extra time and energy to learning to perfect my performances, and weekend of the year I am out there acting on what I’ve learned. Additionally, I specialize on only one particular aspect of the field; Bilingual Events (Spanish and English). Just like in the doctor field, you don’t go to a chiropractor to do plastic surgery, or a plastic surgeon to align your spine… In the DJ world, you have to find the right DJ that specializes in your particular needs.

Why do I write this?

It was inspired this morning as I was looking through google just to see where my website stands on some of the more popular Search terms. Most of them I am on the front page. For example, DJ in Houston, Houston Wedding DJ, Quinceanera DJ in Houston, Bilingual DJ in Houston, and so on… On one of the results, there was a website, a blog article, that I read and enjoyed so I thought I would give credit to that publisher.

Rig Galvez’s Article: The art of finding the right specialty D.J.

Happy Planning!

–

Francisco H. Perez
“Simply Frank”
Your Bilingual Wedding DJ