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I know, it's been a while since I posted something. Two reasons. One, I was pretty busy these last few days. Two, with the new ravewave, I was afraid the whole entry would get deleted once I hit the "add entry" key.

I've been raving a lot recently. Promoting for Time Machine makes me go to every party on the calendar. Sadly, not everyone does that. Some of those parties had less than 50 people attending. I've seen too much empty venues these last months, so I feel the need to whine about it here. Oh, and suggest ways to make it better. Not, as always, there's no magical solution. It is summer, people don't go out as much. There isn't as many ravers as there used to be. Good promotion helps too, in fact it's the only way to have people. That and a good line up actually. Well, add a good concept to that.

First, let's get one thing clear, cause we get the same debate every summer. People don't go out as much. People like me who only go out in all night indoor parties are a minority. People go out on camping, spend time with their families, go on a trip, go to la ronde... They're plenty of things to do during summertime that are more interesting than raving to a lot of people. They might still rave, but not as much as other times of the year. However, as much true as this is, it is getting a bit worse every summer.

The number of ravers isn't raving either. We've said it again and again, people get older and leave their partying past behind. fewer and fewer kids are attracted to raving. I've already written a whole entry about this, so I won't repeat myself. Get up and recruit people! Wether you're a promoter or a raver, bring your friends over, maybe some of them will get hooked. One of my friends dragged me to my first rave cause I was feeling a bit depressed that weekend, and look where I am today.

Now, up to the big part. Now, read carefully I'M NOT POINTING ANY FINGER, I DON'T HAVE ANY SPECIFIC PROMOTER IN MIND RIGHT NOW, so I better not get any drama here. Okay, now that this is clear, a lot of promoters aren't doing things the good way. The word promoter comes from, well, promoting; someone who goes out, talks to people, who's main job is to get people to his or her party. A few things I've noted. First, many parties are announced 1 or maybe 2 months in advance. Only regular ravers hear about those parties. A party announced 3 or 4 months in advance will get more people because more people will hear about it. Some ravers only go out once in 4 months, and they don't read message boards.

Now, anouncing a party 4 months in advance won't help if the promotion is centered around message boards. You gotta go out and promote. That means going to events. You wanna throw a rave, hope you like raving, cause that's all you're gonna do for the next months. Ravers like it when they ear about a party from the promoter's mouth. Go out and talk about it, some kids might just get as hyped as you are. Going out means talking, not just dropping some flyers on a table.

About flyers, a few things. first, the bigger the flyer, the most chances it has of being noticed. This is all a question of how much you'll put in. There's no mathematical formula to determine the optimal size. 4 by 6 is the "regular" size, and smaller flyers might not get noticed. Now that you have the flyers, it's time to give them away. Dropping them is a good way for the party to get noticed, but it's just a very small part. The big one is the door. That's right, I'm talking standing at the door from somewhere between 5 and 6 am, and sticking there till the party's over. It is hard work, but I can say from experience it's easily done if you get some rest before you go to the party. (and I never do it on drugs by the way) Oh, and flyering at non-raves events can help too, you might not get as many people, but you can still get a few.

Next part, the line up. It's pretty simple, if the promotion is amazing but the line up sucks, no one's gonna come. You need djs the people know and love, you need good djs people haven't necessarily heard a lot, older djs who haven't played in a while can bring back older ravers, and headliners usually bring people too. If you only get the djs who play all the time, people will feel there's no originality to the party and will stay home. If they don't know any of the djs, they'll stay home too. Any promoter who throws a party should first ask himself the question: "how is my line up different from the other parties?"

Finally, there's the concept. This is important, because it's a promoter's personnal touch. Any idea you have, try to do it. Be original. A good concept can attract attention to a party. People will go out when they feel it's unique.

Now, to anyone who reads this and says: "your first party hasn't happened yet, you don't know what you're talking about", I have one thing to say. Before being a promoter, I'm a raver, a raver who parties a lot. I've seen what works. I promise after Time Machine, I'll post another entry and either tell you I was right, or try to explain what went wrong. Oh, and I did promote other events before.

Well, in the end, not every party can be a success. Taking promotion seriously and not being lazy is the secret. The hard work is getting people to the party. The rest can be done pretty quickly, it's actually a question of calling people and signing checks. Don't be afraid to get some ravers to pass flyers. It's sometime worth it to give away a few guest tickets. They're tons of tricks, and every experienced promoter has his or her own way of seeing this. The best trick I can give anyone is to ask questions, not be afraid to ask for help and work hard. If you're throwing a party, every raver on the island, and even some in Quebec city and Ottawa, should know about it.