Ever noticed that even the most senior medical professionals still “practice medicine”. They generally read medical journals, attend training conferences and participate in all manners of continued education in order to stay up to date with the changing trends in their profession.

It’s something that all professionals should do yet very few DJs do.

Here’s a question to ask the professionals involved in your wedding – what was the last thing they did to learn something new?

As DJ Richard Mills of Wellington’s Award Entertainment explains on his blog, there are plenty of opportunities for a professional DJ to get new and refreshed perspectives.

Further to his observations, training, reading books, watching DVDs is a great addition to experience. However there’s no easy “How To” instruction guide that will help a novice become an expert in three easy steps. Having “great music” or “thousands of songs” also doesn’t cover it.

There are certain things that just can’t be “taught”, like how to react and respond as a DJ and MC the time a bride got thumped at a wedding by gatecrashers, or when one of the guests was a bit too friendly with the bridesmaids, despite their protests.

Identifying areas where help is needed at a wedding, then being able to help is the kind of thing that you can’t learn in a book. This only comes with experience. The sad thing for me is that I spent the first 10 to 15 years of my experience as a DJ just doing the same thing over and over. While I did improve, I was offering nothing new to my clients each weekend.

Critiquing my own business and performance and inviting others to do the same has helped, and of course like Richard Mills there are the various outlets I use to learn more about what I do, and get new ideas and perspectives.