We held our inaugural How To Session in Manchester last week and were lucky enough to have a respected panel of club promoters and DJs on hand to offer tips to anyone wanting to start or grow their own club night.

Chairing the sold-out event was Jamie Groovement (groovement.co.uk), – prolific music blogger, promoter and warm up DJ for international hip-hop artists on tour in Manchester.

On the panel were Danuka from So Flute, Juicy Club’s Oscar Wildstyle, Sophie Bee, freelance Production Manager at a various events and venues – including Glastonbury and the Albert Hall – and Balraj, aka DJ Samrai, from Swing Ting.

Here are 5 things we learnt from them about How To Run A Club Night.

1. Build a reliable team

Having a regular and reliable crew of people who you can run your event with is essential.

“Nights live or die on their residents,” explained Dan from So Flute, and each person brings a different skill to the mix.

Juicy Club has a similar approach, having a tight-knit core of people working on their club nights time and time again. One person’s strengths might be in social media promotion, while another might be better suited to the logistics of getting the event off the ground.

But beware: “It’s important to have a crew but it needs to be small enough to guarantee consistent quality,” said Dan.

2. Create your brand and identity

Take the time to define what your night is before chasing an audience and don’t over-complicate the message. The clearer your identity, the easier it will be for people to remember you.

One approach is to work with a designer on a visual identity, but only if you have the funds to do so, warned Sophie.

“Don’t put your last £100 into it – bide your time as it will cost money starting out, wait until you have a bit more money behind you.”

3. Find the right venue

All the panelists agreed that finding the right venue and maintaining a good relationship with owners and staff is a massive part of running a smooth and successful club night – especially in Manchester where paths are likely to cross again.

When it comes to securing a venue, the typical thing is to pay a flat hire fee which has been pre-arranged. Try to avoid making agreements based on bar takings, this is a risky approach as you can’t guarantee audience numbers.

Check out our post on 7 Manchester venues you didn’t know you could organise a gig at.

4. Promote, promote, promote

“You always need to do more promotion than you think”, said Jamie. “It’s worth spending money on getting posters up in highly-visible places around the city centre and look into paid social media promotion – it’s not as expensive as you might think.”

Another good tip is to flyer people as they’re coming out of club nights with similar musical styles to yours. A word of caution, though, make sure you have a flyering pass because you can be fined.

For a more in depth look at promotion, sign up to our next event: “How To Promote Like A Pro – music event marketing on a budget”, which takes place on March 11.

5. Know your audience

DJ Samrai, aka Balraj, stressed the “value of getting to know the crowd”.

“Get insights of who’s there, why they’re there, and how you can cater to them so they keep coming back,” he said.

One way of doing this is by looking at your guest list to work out who your regulars are then you can proactively target them and build up support. Also, don’t be afraid of going out into the crowd and asking people! If you get positive feedback, you know you’re on to a good thing – if it’s negative, you know what to do to improve.

A bonus tip:

Invest in a decent pair of earplugs!

Our next How To Session is on March 11th and is all about promoting your music event on a budget, you can get your free ticket here.