Most people hiring a DJ for a company event have done it once before, or never. The DJ has done it hundreds of times. That imbalance is why the first conversation tends to be the DJ asking the questions and the buyer nodding. These fifteen questions turn it around. Each comes with why it matters and what a good answer sounds like, so you can tell a real answer from a confident one. Ask them of us too.
Insurance, reliability, and backup
1. Do you carry liability insurance, and will you issue a certificate naming our venue?
Many Manhattan venues, and more New Jersey venues each year, will not let a vendor load in without a certificate of insurance naming the venue as additional insured. A good answer: yes, we carry commercial general liability year-round, and we issue the COI at no charge with whatever wording the venue specifies. A DJ who has to look into it has not been asked before, which tells you something about the rooms they have played. More in what your venue will ask for on a COI.
2. What happens if your equipment fails during the event?
Gear fails. What matters is whether the failure reaches the room. A good answer lists specific spares on site: a second controller, a spare mixer, spare cables, a spare microphone, and music on local drives rather than a stream that dies with the venue Wi-Fi. A vague "I have backups" deserves a follow-up: which ones, and are they in the van or in the room?
3. What happens if you are ill on the day?
The honest answer for any single-operator DJ is that a qualified replacement is arranged in an emergency, and that the plan exists before it is needed. Be wary of an answer that promises it could never happen, or one that implies a roster that does not exist. Ours: we have not missed an event in 14 years, and there is a plan if we ever have to.
4. Have you played a corporate room like this one?
Not "have you played corporate events" but this kind: a gala with an awards program, a launch with timed cues, a holiday party with a CEO speech. The good answer describes what those rooms need, in terms of cues, microphones and volume, without needing to name a client's event to prove it. A portfolio that is entirely private parties is not disqualifying, but it means a program with cues will be new to them.
Sound, microphones, and what gets said on them
5. How many wireless microphones do you bring, and who checks them?
The most exposed person at a corporate event is whoever is holding a handheld in front of the whole company. A good answer gives a number, says the microphones are checked before doors from where the speaker will stand, and says fresh batteries go in before the program rather than before setup, because a battery that was fine at five o'clock can be dying at nine. If your program has several speakers, ask whether additional microphones are an add-on; for us they are, and it is on the quote.
6. What do you say on the microphone, and what do you not?
This exposes the biggest mismatch in the trade. Some DJs are hosts; some are silent. We do light mic work: welcomes, introductions, calling the room to dinner, program cues. We do not run games, hype a crowd or host. If your event needs an emcee, the good answer is "hire one and I will work alongside them," not "I can do that too." The line is drawn in light mic work vs a full MC.
7. Do you play clean edits by default?
Yes should be the whole answer, followed by a question back about your company's tolerance, because a radio edit removes the words and not always the subject. "I'll read the room" is the wrong answer here, because HR is in the room.
8. How do you set the volume during dinner?
The answer that shows experience: from the far table, not the booth, and again once the room fills, because two hundred people absorb sound that an empty room reflects. Anyone who answers with a number in decibels but no mention of walking the room is quoting a spec sheet.
9. Can you work with the venue's house system if they require it?
Hotel ballrooms and some rooftops require you to patch into their system. A good answer is yes, followed by a plain statement of the trade-off: ceiling speakers designed for announcements are fine for dinner and weak for dancing. The DJ should also say they will confirm the patch point with the venue and sound-check through it before doors.
Logistics and the venue
10. How long do you need to set up, and what do you need from the venue?
A useful answer is specific: about 90 minutes to two hours from reaching the room, an hour to break down, two outlets on a circuit the caterer is not using, a table, and the load-in window. In Manhattan, the honest answer adds that freight elevator windows and COI approval are the real variable, not the gear.
11. Will you talk to the venue directly?
You do not want to relay messages about patch points and dock schedules. The good answer is that the DJ confirms load-in, power and sound with the venue's operations contact before the date, and copies you.
12. What do you need from us before the event, and when?
Expect a planning call, a timeline, names to pronounce, a do-not-play list, and the venue and AV contacts. A DJ who needs nothing from you is going to improvise your awards program.
Money and terms
13. What is included in the price, and what is not?
Ask for the list. Ours: up to four hours of performance, event-specific music preparation, setup and breakdown, with sound and microphones confirmed against the venue. Not included, and priced on the quote: extended hours, cocktail hour coverage, a second sound zone, early setup, additional microphones, and lighting. It is all on the pricing page. A quote that cannot be itemized cannot be compared.
14. How does overtime work, and who authorizes it?
The good answer: the hourly rate for extended time is on the quote before the event, one named person can authorize it on the night, and the venue's curfew is the ceiling regardless. If overtime is "we'll figure it out," you will be figuring it out at 10:40pm across a dance floor.
15. What holds the date?
A signed agreement and a deposit, together. Ask what happens to the deposit if you cancel or move the date, and whether the balance invoice can be timed to your company's payment terms. Full detail in deposits and payment terms.
What to send us
Ask us any of the fifteen. To check a date, send it with the venue and a rough headcount through the contact page or call (201) 705-3139. We reply within 24 hours.