How many here are ADJA members?

Bill Kexel said:

In our area, 3 yrs ago, most wedding DJs were getting $650-$795 for a gig.
Today, thanks to our ADJA local chapter's efforts the bar has been raised. Most all our members rates start at $1,000+

Thanks to education, networking with other wedding vendors & educating consumers that there is a difference in skilled DJs & the fly-by-nights.

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In short, nothing anyone with marketing savvy couldn't do, and have done.


Bill, again, I'm sure they are capable of being helpful to in some areas where they have a presence. but that area is extremely limited. The money and affluence in this country is on the coasts. ( Actually, this is true in ANY country with a coastline.). The orgs seem to focus on the less populated mid-section of the US. BTW- I'm talking about ADJA, NAME, and a few others. The west coast has their own organizations that seem to isolate their presence in that area. The Northeast has nothing at all worth talking about. I'm told that Florida and Georgia have some sort of org, but I don't know what it's called.

Until and unless someone can explain to me why so-called national "marketing experts" aren't national, and have no presence where the money is, I see no reason to think of joining.

....and have no presence where the money is,.....

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Could be that if the title of your book is: "How to Make $141,000 as a Mobile DJ" it's a tough sell to a NJ DJ company doing $1.5M.

Just a guess. :sqconfused:

Proformance said:

Could be that if the title of your book is: "How to Make $141,000 as a Mobile DJ" it's a tough sell to a NJ DJ company doing $1.5M.

Just a guess. :sqconfused:

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Yeah, that'd be part of it, but my point is, if a marketing organization isn't showing themselves to the best demographics, how good could their marketing strategy be? Also, if an organization claims to be national, but isn't, it kinda gives their credibility a pinch, at leat to me.


DISCLAIMER: These are only my opinions, and are in no way biased by the internal workings or politics of any named organizations. I am only referring to the marketing techniques involved.

Cap Capello said:

If one wants a say in the way a group operates, the direction they take, how they should take it, and perhaps wish to be influential, you must be a member.

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Cap, the fact is even when the ADJA was a non-profit organization they had their own determined direction regardless of what members said. Part of that determined direction was to eliminate any perceived obligation they had to either listen to or be responsive to their members by staging a hurry-up election to remove the members' right to vote.

Did 82% of ADJA members want to keep their votes and keep the ADJA a non-profit organization? We'll never know. Because the group's certified tally said only 18% of ADJA members actually cast ballots. Of them, 174 voted in favor of the referendum. It passed by a 2-to-1 margin.

Did only 18% vote because they didn't know - or care - about the election? Guess we'll never know that either.

Cap Capello said:

If one does not belong to ADJA, or NAME, or any of the others, you have no right to criticize anything about their direction or activities. You don't belong? You have no rights to cry about the inside when you're on the outside.

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Following this logic, I am not female and have never been faced with a decision to have an abortion, so I shouldn't speak out on right-to-life?

JoeChartreuse said:

I'm in northern NJ. There are, to my knowledge, no chapters, meetings, offices or anything else within 100 miles of me (in NJ) or are easily accessible to me ( in NY or CT or PA). These organizatiions and their credentials (good or bad) mean absolutely NOTHING to my clients, which means they mean nothing to me, and are of no benefit.

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There's a reason why major cities like New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Seattle, Minneapolis, Baltimore, etc. do not have a local ADJA chapter. These are huge cities, all of which have DJ's in the 4-figure range.

I agree that if you live near an active local ADJA chapter, the networking benefits might make it worth the membership fee. But the ADJA does not have a monopoly on local networking. There are many other local DJ organizations - and general business networking groups - without national affiliation and without the perceived elitism of the ADJA - that do quite well.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Drax's big chest thumping accomplishment for the ADJA is Drax speaking at some NACE conferences about the importance of a professional dj. I would assume that Drax tries to correlate the idea that a DJ who is a member of the ADJA is such an individual.
As far as I can tell the only qualification or standard you need to have in order to be a member of such an elite group is the ability to pay a fee (and receive the blessing of the A.D.J.A.) https://www.adja.org/member/signUp.asp

Now the catering manager goes away from the NACE meeting thinking all they need to do now is to refer their clients to the A.D.J.A web site or to a dj who is a member of the A.D.J.A. You, know...the dj who had $200.00 as their only qualification to be a member.

This is a plan that has no chance of back firing....

Dan : The comments and statistics are well stated.

The analogy is a bit of a stretch in equating a DJ organization membership to abortion but the emotional point is made nonetheless,

Mark Beecher said:

Drax's big chest thumping accomplishment for the ADJA is Drax speaking at some NACE conferences about the importance of a professional dj.

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An important footnote is what greased the wheels for these NACE speeches was not the merits of the ADJA members, but the fact that ADJA bought those speeches for the sum of $7,000.00 to become a Silver Partner of NACE.

Some of the paid benefits of that partnership:

- Leadership Conference Roundtable Discussion group with board members and chapter leaders
- Major Educational Conference Event featuring your product
- Opportunity for Local Chapter meeting sponsorship featuring your product in up to five major NACE markets

Like membership in the ADJA, anyone with $7,000.00 can buy this "privilege" with NACE just like Samuel Adams beer did.

Was it a good investment as a marketing expense? Perhaps! But does writing a check fall in the realm of "chest thumping accomplishment"?

Hardly.

I hope that's not the pillar of ADJA accomplishments.

I was a local member NACE and the ABC - 4 years before the ADJA even existed! Glad I didn't wait for the ADJA to speak on my behalf.

And what "chest thumping accomplishment's" did individuals that slandered, mailed letters, caricature assonated, and minimized efforts of others to uplift their personal agendas achieve?

If the leader of such an industry group were a convicted felon would you post with equal passion?
If the leader of such an industry group were a drug-head and spent a major part of his him wrapped in a cloud of smoke would you post with equal passion?
If the leader of such an industry group were selling burned illegal music sets in a variety of formats would you post with equal passion?

I'm blown away at so many in our industry that turn a blind eye when it's self-serving, than attack, with as little as hearsay, to insult anyone they don't see eye-to-eye with.

Some of you just blow my ****e! mind!

Professor Jam said:

... caricature assonated ...

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I'm not exactly sure what this is, but if I were taking $300 a year from thousands of people and represented myself as the public face of our industry, I would expect some of those funds to be spent on efforts to bring us business from those most likely to hire us. It seems all the ADJA advertising funds are spent on getting more members.

Please don't tell me about how getting more members will get them more money where they COULD buy advertising and launch PR campaigns directed to brides and party planners. What will be that magical number of members that need to be acquired before that can take place?

Jam, what you might think about those who are indignant about this cyclical issue seems like your own bout of caricature assonation.

Aren't these valid questions no matter WHO asks them?

To my knowledge, those with the ADJA that should provide these answers either don't have them, or have not disclosed them to their members.

But don't let me stop you from speculating away; I've got a doob to work on.

Character Assassination (my bad)
It’s interesting how from a simple post the mistake is exploited, and the core is ignored. Much like the years of growth of the ADJA, focus on the negative and ignore all the positive!

All questions are valid no matter who asks them! The undermining usually comes from individuals that don’t like the answers.

Jon Tuck said:

Im going to say it now. IF anyone has issues or praise of the ADJA please take it to the ADJA site or one of those other sites who love controversy we dont need the post count. Jam, Dan take it somewhere else.

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Some individuals know exactly what I'm saying and the blinders and continued editorial miss-direction insults many of us! I could careless if individuals have wild hair over the ADJA, NAME or any other supposed industry leader. The expressed method of communication continues to be very self-serving with focused undertones that do more harm for our industries growth then any of the supposed association issues....

As far as taking this to a site that loves controversy it's only possible if you have a mutual opinion and warped sense of humor. Post against the sites political agenda and you are "banned" for life with no reason.

There goes the neighborhood.

Bryan,

I forgot to remind you on the phone to check rates.

See you later and I'm emailing a .pdf for proofing.

Though I too have political and personal issues regarding recent posts, I've found that these types of debates are unwinnable, and best if let be.


On the other hand, I stand by my statements regarding marketing.