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Second Life Blogs How to be an effective host in SL
Posted 1/25/2013 9:20:04 AM by Cherrybomb - [Show All My Posts] Ok it's been awhile since I've written a blog, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to start this one off with a disclaimer... I'm not a host. I have hosted many times on a fill-in basis when I was a manager at Heroes, but it's not something I do on a regular basis. That being said, being a DJ I've had a chance to work with many different hosts, some of them excellent, some of them not so great. I also frequent other clubs besides Heroes as a guest. So this article will be written from the PoV of a guest rather than a host. And believe me, I have definitely formed some strong opinions on what I like that hosts do, what I don't like, and what makes me want to throw a chair at them.
So let's approach this from a simple Do's and Don'ts standpoint. I'll start off with the Don'ts, because there are a lot of them.
1) Don't be annoying. This one is really kind of all encompassing, and most of the rest of the don'ts are really breakdowns of this one. This should be the first commandment of being a host. Never, Ever, do stuff that people will find annoying.
2) Don't spam the chat with useless garbage. This one is really the downfall of most hosts. You know what I mean, you see it all the time right? Typing out the song lyrics. Pumping out gesture after gesture. w00ting and Hoooooooing like she's getting paid by the Hoooo. This is the #1 thing in clubs that usually makes me tune out local chat altogether and go running for IM.
3) Don't forget people. How many times has this happened to you. You enter a club, you get your obligatory greeting from the host, and then nobody talks to you the rest of the night. You may as well be invisible.
4) DON'T TYPE ALL IN CAPS!!! I mean seriously, what's up with that? Do you think your text is more important than the guests? Here's a heads up for you... It's not.
5) Don't fight the flow of the conversation. I haven't really seen this one THAT often but it does happen. If the conversation is flowing, don't fight the topic, just go with it.
6) Don't Mass TP. I've de-friended people who do this. You might get a few people into the club, but you're more likely to piss people off.
7) Don't go AFK for long periods. This one is self explanatory isn't it?
8) Don't spam group invitations. OFFER to invite people to the group, but for gods sake don't just send out blind invitations to everyone you see who's not wearing a group tag. I've actually gotten repeated invites from hosts of groups I already belonged to, I just wasn't wearing the tag. And I didn't belong long, when that happens I leave the group. And the club.
Ok, so what are some of the Do's then?
1) Know when to lead, and when to follow. This is a big one. The two main jobs of the host are to bring people into the club, and to help keep the conversation flowing. If the conversation is already flowing, then don't get in it's way, just go with the flow. If there's a long lul though, then that's when you have to step up and lead. And I don't mean start spewing out garbage either, I mean use your frigging brain and try and get a conversation going. Ask a trivia question. Bring up a current movie. Anything.
2) Single people out. If you see somebody in the club who's not participating, then try and find a way to bring them into the conversation. Ask the DJ to play a song for them. Comment on their outfit. Anything to get them going. Way too many hosts completely forget about you after the obligatory greeting. Greeting a guest is not the end of your job, it's just the beginning.
3) Get people into the club. This is one of the hosts primary jobs. Use the club group, sometimes it helps to get a conversation going in the group to bring a few people in. Also, IM your friends and bring them over. Just don't send out mass TPs, that's lazy and annoying.
4) IM new people. If you see somebody in the club who you haven't seen before, shoot them an IM and try to get a little conversation going with them. That goes a long way to getting people to want to come back, as opposed to saying "Hi" to them when they walk in the door and then forgetting all about them.
5) Help out your DJ. You are the DJs eyes and ears when he or she is off finding requests or adjusting the play list. If you see a request in local, send it to the DJ in IM. If you see something the DJ should comment on in voice, let her know! DJs are lucky to catch 50% of the local chat on a busy request night, so they depend on you to catch what they miss.
6) Offer to add people to the club group. By offer I mean just that, OFFER, don't just send out blind group invitations.
7) Be Friendly, Fun, and personal. Talk TO people, not AT them.
8) Have fun. Fun is infectious, and if the DJ and host are having fun then everybody else will too.
Well that's about all I can think of off the top of my head. If you're a host, and you only remember ONE thing from this blog, make it the first Don't - DON'T BE ANNOYING! There is absolutely nothing more annoying than trying to have a conversation in a club where the stupid host is spamming gestures and blurting out useless crap all in caps like mad. Be subtle. Be fun. Be a conductor, not a runaway train. And above all, HAVE FUN! That's what SL is all about afterall isn't it? :)
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Forward to Friend | Comments (4)
Readers Comments 1. Been in SL around 8 years on and off and have hosted for many years and also DJ and have to agree with most of what you have said. Have to admit it drives me insane when you go to a club and its just gesture spam and why the hell do people feel the need to type everything in caps as they are the host is beyond me. Makes me want to rip their keyboard off their PC and toss it out the window lol Posted at 10:43:49 AM on 1/25/2013 by kierra delwood | 2. Thanks for the comment Kierra :). And yea, that's exactly what I mean with my first rule, "DON'T BE ANNOYING". There are way too many hosts in SL who actually achieve the opposite of what they're supposed to be doing. They're such a nuisance in general chat that people either leave the club or hide in IM. Posted at 11:05:14 AM on 1/25/2013 by Cherrybomb | 3. I agree with most what is said they are pretty vaild
Im guilty as charged for typing in CAPS. Theres a reason for it(well for me anyway). In a full club when your trying to keep the engery up and people talking and dancing ect..Sometimes People dont see what you write, I write in caps^^() thats my story and im stickin to it :P the gesters x.x; I try not to use the HOOOOOO ones. I have Club gesters that i do use, i try not to be annoying with them ><
I know how that is when the screen is full gesters and not people talking *cough*bad ass *cough*(it was aclub lol). I also dont give people a random vip tag >< i tell the people if they want one can IM me :3 Other then that i think im a pretty good host im a not great one but i do the job :3 i been around 5yrs to know better what people like and what others dont :) Have a good day^^ Posted at 4:34:42 AM on 1/28/2013 by Sakura23 | 4. I guess my counter argument to that Sakura is that if the chat in local is flowing so well that people are missing what you say, then you're really not NEEDED to keep the energy up, it's already up :) So what's my suggestion instead? figure out who's not joining in and IM them, and get a conversation going with them and just monitor local until it dies off. You'd be surprised what a difference a few IMs make to some new person. Like I said, 95% of the time when I go to a new club I get my obligatory hello from the host, then nobody talks to me the rest of the night. An energetic room is your opportunity to change that.
Posted at 2:28:33 PM on 2/8/2013 by Cherrybomb |
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