Past & Upcoming Meetings
BADJA meets on
the first Monday of each month at Hightopps Backstage Grille by Timonium Fairgrounds (2306 York Road, 21093).
Your first 3 meetings are
free!
February 6, 2012 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: Trade Show Marketing.
Please bring and share your promo material that you would like to use at a tradeshow to promote your DJ business.
January 2, 2012 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC:
Join us for the first meeting of 2012 as we begin our meeting with the induction of the new Board of Directors and then we have a round table discusssion of how your 2011 was business wise and where you are heading in 2012.
Our new BOD will have a secondary topic to present that at this time is being finalized. So come early and network and please support our meeting place by purchasing a meal.
Happy Holidays
Jose Castro
December 5, 2011 - BADJA Holiday Party 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Sakura Japanese Steak House (Hunt Valley, MD)
This is only open to current members and their guests. Prior RSVP required with food order provided at that time. Contact Cammie Adler for RSVP details.
November 7, 2011 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC:
Topic 1: Need liability & equipment insurance? Hankoff insurance will be our presenter. www.hankoffinsurance.com
Topic 2: Undercover NYC. Look at samples of cases to protect your equipment. www.undercovernyc.com
October 3, 2011 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: Join us Monday October 3, 2011 for the first installment of new seminars to come that will focus on international or world music.
DJ Jose Castro will present on Latin Music 101 which will give you a great understanding of the differences in the different genres of Latin music. This seminar will focus on Salsa, Merengue, Bachata & Reggaeton which are the predominant genres that you have to know in this market. Handouts will be provided to the first fifteen that arrive.
Please come early to network and help support our meeting place by purchasing a meal.
September 12, 2011 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: Join us for our September meeting, as we get started with Stacey Dorman of Perfect Wedding Guide Magazine as she tells us about how PWG Magazine has consolidated the DC, MD, and VA regions into one book.
Our second topic of the evening will be a round table discussion including everyone in attendance about the Do's and Don'ts of Microphone technique.
Come early to network and catch up with other members and please support our meeting place by purchasing a meal.
August 1, 2011 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: This month we will have two presenters, the first will be John Panzer of Just Audio who has been the Go-To-Guy when any of our equipment breaksdown. Just Audio repairs and maintains an array of product lines and also is an authorized warranty repair facility for many producers of pro audio components.
Our second presenter is DJ Angie D. and she will be showing us how to market to the LGBT community as the Maryland legislature contemplates passing new laws governing Gay Marriages.
Please support our meeting space by purchasing a meal and coming early, don't forget to RSVP on this invitation.
See you there!
July 13, 2011 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Mark Whipple's House
TOPIC:
BADJA Summer Cookout 2011
It's that time of year for us to get together and hang out and grill some Burgers and Hot Dogs at Mark's House next to the pool. Don't forget to bring a swimsuit if you want to take a dip. There will be plenty of time to talk and network with everyone and please bring your spouse or girlfriend.
BADJA will supply all food and beverages, if you want to bring your own beverages that is also welcome. Please RSVP promptly so we can have an accurate count for the food and drinks.
See you there!
June 6, 2011 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: Join us for our June meeting as we welcome our own Mark Whipple to show how he can create stunning graphic images and print them in a large format to capture your company logo or a great promotional piece for a customer's upcoming event.
Our second part of our program features DJ Chris Hart leading a discussion on music trends and research sources.
Come early and network and please support our meeting space by purchasing a meal
Come early, buy a meal, and support Hightopps Backstage Grille. See you there!
May 2, 2011 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: DJ SOFTWARE, MP3 PLAYERS, & MIDI CONTROLLERS
Wanna see what's up with the latest in SOFTWARE, MP3 PLAYERS, & MIDI CONTROLLERS?
We will have a panel of experts to get you caught up including Randy White from Chuck Levin's, Christopher Hart our Serato expert, and Nicky B who is our tech expert who will help with the "DJ Tools" that lead up to and help maintain the digital DJ's work environment. We will also touch on Virtual DJ, Traktor, Traktor 2, and other applications.
Please come early and suport our meeting place by purchasing a meal.
April 4, 2011 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: Social Media – Part II
Still wondering if Facebook is for you? Interested, but just don't know where to start?
Then the April 2011 BADJA program is just for you!! Chris Hart is going to introduce Social Media – Part II. If you missed the first series on Social Media, don't worry! We're going to do a deeper dive into this second series and do a live demo on how to create an account and setup a public "Page". We'll also talk a little on how to secure your page and some of the privacy settings available. For our second half of this program, we'll show you how to create a Twitter account, in which you can easily link to your Facebook page to allow auto-updating. We'll then formally introduce our BADJA Facebook members page and public page so you can start sharing thoughts, ideas, and music tidbits!
Come early, buy a meal, and support Hightopps Backstage Grille. See you there!
March 7, 2011 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: Lights, Camera, Action! Well...just LIGHTS! For our March 2011 BADJA Program, we're going all LED!
Whether you're interested in getting into lighting or upgrading your lighting to LED, you not going to want to miss this program! Members Barry Hart, Nick Burke, Bill Ziemski, along with Blizzard Lighting's Gerry Spear, will be showcasing up to 17 LED lighting fixtures from various vendors to tell us how they use them at each of their gigs. We're then going to open up the discussion amongst the BADJA members to find out many of them are leveraging lighting at their events and how each of them market them to prospective clients.
Come early, buy a meal, and support Hightopps Backstage Grille.
See you there!
January 17, 2011 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: Guest Speaker - Rick Brewer
FEE: Free for BADJA Members, $10 for non-guests
Stay tuned for more details but Rick Brewer from www.getmorebrides.com will be coming up from Florida to speak to BADJA and guests about how we can market our businesses to attract more brides. Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/GetMoreBrides
December 6, 2010 - BADJA Holiday Party 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Sakura Japanese Steak House (Hunt Valley, MD)
This is only open to current members and their guests. Prior RSVP required with food order provided at that time. Contact Cammie Adler for RSVP details.
November 1, 2010 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC:Segues, Mixes, Dancefloor fillers...oh my!
For the month of November, we're going to have the following:
1. Kicking off the night will be our monthly BADJA spotlight DJ, letting us know a little more about who they are, how they got started, and where they're heading! – Brad Hart.
2. One of our very own, DJ Chris Hart, is going to kick off the night with a live performance, demonstrating some segues, mixes, and dancefloor fillers. He's then going to open up a round-table discussion amongst the members, inviting them to either perform ideas of their own (live), or talk about ideas that they use at various gigs.
NOTE: This is not a complete mixing seminar/program. We will lightly touch on fading, beatmixing, etc., and even more so, talk about music by itself; to not only fill your dancefloor, but keep it full!
See you there!
October 4, 2010 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: Spotlight DJ, Legal Advice - DJ Contracts "Do's and Don'ts", Tuxedo House exclusive BADJA discounts year round seminar
Our October meeting is approaching fast!
For the month of October, we're going to have the following presentations:
1. Kicking off the night will be our monthly BADJA spotlight DJ, letting us know a little more about who they are, how they got started, and where they're heading.
2. Our resident DJ, Jason Walsh is going to be presenting his legal knowledge to the group and how it applies to the Entertainment industry. We've had Jason present such topics in the past, but this time he's going to zero in on contracts, marketing, & web pressence, and things we want to look out for. He's also going to present some recent litigation that's taken place with companies and give an example of things to be aware of. All good stuff!
3. Lastly, we're going to try to bring Scott Furman, from the Tuxedo House, in again to re-introduce himself. He was unable to make our program earlier in the year, but we're trying to get him in for October. Many of us use him for all of our formal attire needs and he's always been an outstanding local vendor.
Come early, buy a meal, and support HighTopps Backstage Grille.
See you there!
September 13, 2010 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: Blizzard Lighting products, Meta data, Post AC DJ Expo review.
First things first – Due to the Labor Day holidy, we will NOT be meeting on 9/6, and instead will be meeting on 9/13!!!
Now for our September programs:
1. Kicking off the night will be our monthly spotlight DJ – Escapsist Entertainment (Mark Ricche & Jordan Rich) letting us know a little more about who they are, how they got started, and where they're heading.
2. LIGHTS, LIGHTS, LIGHTS! For those who missed the Mobile Beat Tour, lighting seems to be making a come-back, and especially wedding lighting; becoming a pretty big buzz in our industry, with up-lighting, pin-spotting, floor washes, etc. Lucky for us, we have Gerry (a local vendor) representing Blizzard Lighting that manufactures all of this type of lighting and he's going to bring it in to demonstrate for us. He's come up with some special pricing for BADJA (9/13 ONLY), so check out www.blizzardlighting.com, and bring your check books!
3. Ever heard of the term – Metadata? Maybe, maybe not...
Essentially "data about data". I am going to share exactly what it is, and go into detail about how important it is to understand for all of us DJs/VJs that are using software-based setups, MP3/4's, and Video files when it comes to tagging our media & managing our software music libraries. I am also going to share some personal experience in not understanding how important this is, and how it can really hurt you when modifying your library or moving to another software platforms.
4. Lastly, wrapping up the evening will be a 2010 DJ Times Expo recap presented by our president, Jose Castro.
Come early, buy a meal, and support HighTopps Backstage Grille.
See you there!
August 2, 2010 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING LOCATION: Hightopps Backstage Grille
TOPIC: Chuck Levins and Interactive Games
Presented by: Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center and Escapist Entertainment.
We've got all kinds of new stuff for August!
1. In case you weren't informed or didn't hear, Damon's in Hunt Vally has officially gone out of business (found out with the doors closed/locked in July). So, we will be moving our General Meetings to a new spot, and the new spot is Hightopps Backstage Grille , which is located at 2306 York Road, Lutherville, MD 21093. It's right off of exit 16A on I-83. We will continue to have our networking session between 6:00pm – 7:00pm, then our Monthly Spotlight Interview between 6:45pm – 7:00pm, and lastly we'll then have our monthly seminars between 7:00pm – 8:00pm.
2. I've reached out to Randy White, from Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center, to come chat with us. Randy is 'one of us', not only as a DJ but also as a huge music fan! Many of us purchase equipment from him, and he always makes sure we're taken care of. Randy is going to come in to talk about the upcoming 2010 DJ Times Expo in Atlantic City (Aug 16-19th), and may even have some FREE passes to raffle of with our 50/50. He's also going to come and briefly talk to us about the wireless 700 Mhz topic and things that we all need to know and be aware of. Lastly, he's going to come and talk about his services at Washington Music Center and what he can do to help us with equipment needs, etc.
3. Since we had a venue snafu last month and had to shuffle some program plans around, we're going to have two of our own, Mark & Jordan, come in again and present brand new games to us all. They are both going to come in a shed some light on some new and extemely helpful games that we may be able to use to spice up our gigs. These are always extremely helpful not only as a possible upsell, but also as something in your back pocket to use as an interactive tool to "wow" your client. This is going to be fun; you don't want to miss this one!!!
See you there!
July 12, 2010 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING @ DAMON'S GRILL - HUNT VALLEY
TOPIC: Weddzilla
We're all familiar with TheKnot.com, WeddingWire.com, etc., but have you heard of Weddzilla.com?
If not, you better sign up now! Rumor has it, this is going to be the new up and coming big wedding social networking website and you don't want to miss signing up early. One of our guests for this month will be Sara Morgan, from Weddzilla.com, and she's going to come in and talk about about their offerings, the site, and her perspective on social media.
See you there!
June 7, 2010 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING @ DAMON'S GRILL - HUNT VALLEY
TOPIC: Web 2.0
Presented by: Jordan Rich from Escapist Entertainment
Web 2.0...ever heard of it? Well to sum it up quickly, things like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. (a.k.a. Social Media) are some examples of what is driving what's known today as Web 2.0 (the second generation of the Internet).
Have you ever stopped and thought about how/if these forms of communication can help your business? Have you ever felt that maybe traditional print advertising, etc. isn't working as well for you? Well you might be right!
Jordan Rich, from Escapist Entertainment, is going to come in and talk about some of these and how prospective clients are levering these technologies and communication channels to gather information, communicate with businesses, and learn about what a company has to offer!
May 3, 2010 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING @ DAMON'S GRILL - HUNT VALLEY
TOPIC:The Secrets of Selling to Brides
Presented by: Marc McIntosh, producer of the Washington Bridal Showcase
Attend this seminar and discover why selling to the bride is different than selling to anyone else. Learn cost-effective ways of reaching the bride and turning her into a valuable customer. We guarantee that you will walk away with dozens of innovative ideas and strategies that you can put to use immediately. These are fresh ideas ... not the tired ones used by your competition!
• Where are the most effective places to advertise? This list is different than it was even a year ago.
• What are the seven myths of selling to brides, and how do they impact your marketing?
• Why are brides ignoring the traditional wedding planning timelines? What does this mean to you?
• How should I integrate Facebook, Twitter and You Tube into my marketing program?
April 12, 2010 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING @ DAMON'S GRILL - HUNT VALLEY
TOPIC: FREE Professional Head Shots / Tuxedo House
SMILE! It's formal time!
Some of you may know him, some of you may not, but for April we're going to be bringing in Scott Furman from the Tuxedo House (www.tuxedohouse.com) to introduce himself and let you all know what his company can offer in regards to all types of formal wear, etc. A lot of us have used him in the past, and continue to use him, to purchase tuxedo's and other formal wear, and he is a great guy to work with!
Also on the agenda, Jose Castro is going to address the membership and let us all know, as President, where he envisions BADJA heading and where he plans on taking the organization. Jose has been with BADJA for a very long time, and this is a great opportunity to understand where he sees BADJA in the near future!
Lastly, we're going to bring in a professional photographer to take the 2010 BADJA group photo, as well as give you all the opportunity to get head-shots, as well as personal photos FOR FREE! This is the opportunity for you all to wear your formal wear (tuxedo or suits) and receive photos that you can use for various promotional material.
AGAIN PLEASE BRING / WEAR YOUR FORMAL ATTIRE TO THE MEETING. The last thing we want is to have a group photo and have someone stand out because they didn't follow directions.
We won't be doing another group photo this year, so you better come! See you there!
March 1, 2010 - BADJA Monthly Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING @ DAMON'S GRILL - HUNT VALLEY
TOPIC: Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by Chris Teer
To kick off this month’s programs, we’re bringing in Randy & Janice to make a "Lasting Impression" with business cards that represent not only what you do, but who you are. They are graphic, fun, and permanent, and show your personality. They have also expanded their product base to include all types of signage, banners, vehicle magnets, t-shirts, etc., etc.
They will also be offering special deals at this presentation so be sure to come check it out (deposits will be required).
Search Engine Optimization
Also this month…
Ever wonder why you’re not getting the business you’re expecting from your web presence? Wondering why when you look yourself up on a web search engine, you’re not listed as high as you’d like in the rankings?
I’ve asked Chris Teer, a webmaster/developer at a Fortune 500 company, to come in and teach us DJs some “real world” knowledge and experience about Search Engine Optimization; giving a “high-level” explanation on how search engines work and some tricks you can do to help boost your web presence. He will not only explain the technology, but he will give examples and advice on what we can do with our websites to make them more visible online!
February 1, 2010 - BADJA Monthy Meeting 6:30-8:30pm
MEETING @ DAMON'S GRILL - HUNT VALLEY
TOPIC: DJ INTELLIGENCE
Feelin’ a little “old school” and overwhelmed when it comes to organizing all of your job leads and booked gigs? If you answered “yes” to this question, then you HAVE to come out to our next meeting on February 1st and listen to Larry Adler and Rich Malinksi present “DJ Intelligence”!
Featured in Mobile Beat, DJ Times, ClubWorld, and other various magazines and DJ expos, DJ Intelligence allows you to throw away those stacks and stacks of papers and contracts, and now lets you all manage it from your website. And instead of constantly sending out MANY emails to every single client, they can now fill out everything and submit it all to you online, all from your site!
Upload your entire music library catalog for clients to view and to request songs.
Allow the ability for clients to check your availability and submit a complete online event booking.
Provide a password-protect client area for a booked client to communicate with you and everything that’s related to that client. Contracts, song requests, itineraries, etc. are now all organized into one convenient space.
Upload your entertainment packages and additional offerings, and now provide the capability to give your potential client an automated quote generator.
…And oh yeah, DJ Intelligence has also gladly supplied us with a few complimentary subscriptions to DJ Intelligence! You don’t want to miss this one!
|
