Karaoke Forums

Someone commented at one of my shows recently that the reason they enjoy my show is my positive personality - that I go above and beyond to make people welcome, to assist new people (with singing or just figuring out what it's all about), and do things to create a supportive atmosphere. (I am not saying I am Ms. Sunshine Happy all the time but my bad mood stays at the door, and any remnants of it are totally gone by the time I get through the opening song.)

I'm just wondering what others think about how their personality affects their show success. I have been to shows where the host had the personality of a rock and I seriously felt NO desire to ever return. Others where there appears to be a phoniness about every single word they say; again, won't go back to those kinds of shows.

Is this a woman thing? I know Babs and I probably have a very similar style of hosting. And other shows hosted by women have been pretty up there on my list of "go back" shows. Do we have more of a nurturing way of doing a show? Just thinkin' out loud.

I know some male KJs in my area who have the friendly feel to them. I think it just depends on the person and their personality. I think smaller venues are more conducive to this.

Sure sometimes I feel like I have to put on a happy face even when I don't feel well, but I don't think you can fake caring for people. It's not something I can turn off. Maybe that's the mom in me, I don't know.

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Personality is one of the top three critical factors to show success in my opinion. Your personality as a host can make or break your show. My Thursday night gig (which I've been doing for three years now) came to me after they got rid of the previous host because he (in their words) "turned into a real jerk". If you're boring, mean, indifferent or just a knob, you'll turn people away from your show. I've been to shows with good hosts that sounded like crap and had limited song selection that I would be more apt to return to than those with a host that has a great mix and 20,000 songs but was boring.

One of the challenges of our position is getting yourself up for a gig when you're really not in the mood. I find I have the hardest time when it's a quiet or slow starting night. I feed off the crowd so the better they are the better I am. I have to make a concerted effort to keep my energy going when there are few singers in the venue.

I don't think it's a gender thing either. I've been to shows where the host is a female and she's a total Beeyoch and I've been to shows with male hosts who do a phenomenal job.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

ABSOLUTELY! My wife runs most of the shows, she not great with the board and not quick witted but everyone that meets her just adores her and instant at ease feeling. (Which explains 10 years of marital bliss) I however am much better behind the mic but with a day job I can't work to often. All of the regs know this and appreciate the diifs. I am certain that most of them prefer personality over sound and show but when we pick up a random party crowd all bets are off.

I find that is my biggest challenge also!
Last night was difficult for me as I wasn't feeling the best. I've had insomnia as of late due to my knee and feet acting up. When you're extremely tired, it's soooo hard to be upbeat. I was lucky last night and had a rather upbeat crowd, so I didn't need to "work" as hard at getting people up and rocking.
I'm not sure it's a gender thing either, but it's hard for me to say. All the shows I've been to have been hosted by females, save one, and he was very effeminate.

Personality is the KEY to success ...
But just the right amount

TOO MUCH ----NOT GOOD
TOO LITLE - BORING

Yup, that'd be it. I think the ability to truly be genuine is the key as well. If I hear one more KJ try and do that fake DJ prattle, I'll just up and puke on the stage.

I totally agree!

Great hosts make it LOOK easy. I remember as a Top 40 radio program director I would hear audition tapes of novices who were so over the top it was ridiculous. But I couldn't blame them because that's how they heard *in their head* how other radio personalities sounded.

Truth is, sounding "natural" is something you have to work hard at.

Much of this has to do with your room and your audience. If you're in a smaller intimate venue and talking AT people instead of TO or WITH them, you're not making the right kind of connection.

That being said, to a certain extent we are performers and emcees. And as such, I believe we're expected to have a certain amount of bravado and self assurance to get on the mic and be a host rather than just a "name caller".

But working within your own natural personality and talent is a must so as not to come off like Guy Smiley.

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..zoobie doobie doooooo...ok i didnt read the other messages first

I don't think personality can be learned or changed..it's who you are
If you're an over the top KJ you're probaly like that outside in "real" life
and vice versa

I'm really into Myers Briggs personality typing - there are 4 dimensions that are measured in the evaluation -- one of them is thinking vs. feeling -- "do you lead with your heart or your head"?

I think most good KJs that really connect with an audience do so because they lead with their hearts and people can sense that about them.

As it happens, 60 percent of women are "feelers" while 60% of men happen to be "thinkers". That still leaves plenty of room for a lot of good male karaoke hosts.

God knows the money we make relative to the money we put into this business isn't anything near a totally logical proposition We may have a whole slew of feelers in this forum....

To me, karaoke is a party where everybody gets to be the star. I consider myself the MC and the leader of the "party animal pack." The "Karaoke Koyote" is a persona I take on to run my show, but also an extension of my personality. All I need do is get "in character" and I'm ready.

Playing an air guitar solo on the plastic guitar, goofy dancing, cheering on the singers and getting excited when somebody really nails one, or whatever... its part of who the koyote is. Enthusiasm is what I hear people say about me most often.

Almost every night I hear, "this is the best karaoke show I've ever seen", "You keep doing what you're doing... don't change a thing."

I work hard while I'm there, and try to keep the energy level high, but I don't feel like I'm "working at it." It just comes to me. Relating to a crowd, regardless of their age is what makes a host a host, and making sure that at the end of the night everyone had FUN!

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

There's two things at play here. I agree with you that a person's personality is what it is and it's not something easily changed. The only way to ever change it is to make a concerted effort to condition yourself differently over many years.

However, what all of us must learn in our jobs is stage presence. This is how your personally is projected when you're up in front of everyone. Stage presence is definitely a skill that's learned and developed. For some it comes naturally but for others it can be very difficult at first. People need to be broken out of their shells and learn how to talk to crowds, ad lib, etc.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I can teach a monkey to run a karaoke show any day of the week... It's better then a warm body because everybody comes to see the monkey. Yeah I played tic tac toe with a chicken in vegas... it was a draw. I will get more people to see the monkey then the warm body karaoke host pusihng buttons any day of the week... why? because it's a monkey! PM me if you want to hire him. He don't sing (becase he don't have an ego). but if you can read the screen you will know who will be next. Don't confuse professional entertainment with "GIECO" so easy evan an caveman.... OMG now everybody is going to import monkies ilegally and... oh well "Imatation is the best fom of flattery"!

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CHECK YOUR ATTITUDE AT THE DOOR, STICK AROUND YOU JUST MIGHT HAVE SOME FUN

Attitude is a very difficult thing.

What one person might see as friendly and outgoing, others might consider intrusive and overbearing.


For me, the majority of my karaoke regulars are at heart introverts 99% of their week, and Karaoke is the time to let it out and be an extrovert for a few minutes.

Sure there are exceptions for some of my singers, and I have been to many shows where most of the singers are the extroverts most of the time.

I am basically an introvert, like most of my singers, and that is my niche in the karaoke market. There are at last count about 12 different weekly karaoke shows in my town. I only want to KJ one night a week, I only need to find 30-40 people in my whole town that want to go to my show on an average week.

That said I think there are plenty of other karaoke shows that cater to the more extroverted crowd.

Being a "Big personality" kj, attracts a kind of crowd, and that can work great with many people. It probably works best in a location that attracts other extroverts.

I think being a bit more toned down works best for me, I am much less likely to initimidate that shy person who may be interested in singing a song. I also believe that this kind of attitude works well with special gigs when the crowd may be full of non-regulars. An agressive big personality host may get the extroverts to sing, and that is generally not too hard anyway. The trick is to get the more introverted quiet person to sing for the first time.

The trick is to show energy without being intrusive. Not always an easy thing to do.

I thought Babs was the monkey person

OP here....when I said get big or go home, I mean this: You'd better have personal skills to be in this business. I don't mean extroverted, loud, over the top. I mean you'd better be able to communicate with people and identify the level where you need to be to do that successfully. I am not suggesting a loud, boisterous, over-the-top stage presence. That has a time and place but for the average karaoke show, that is NOT what is called for. (At times I have seen a host struggle to get attention from the crowd. Being loud and boisterous isn't always the answer. Creating more indiscernible noise in a room that is already at a very high volume does nothing but create more noise.)

Stage presence and personality are two very different things. The point I wanted to make with this post is this: Even if you are a shy person, or introverted, or however you want to say it, if you can communicate well with your room as a whole and individually, the end result is positive.

A person with the personality of a rock can establish a stage presence but if their presence ends on the stage and does not carry over to their relationship with the people in the room, it becomes moot.

Baseball analogy time: If a player like Alex (A-Roid), who is at the top of his game right now, blows everybody away on the diamond but refuses to stop and sign a few autographs, he establishes a rep as an uncaring kind of person. Now the players who take that time, often less than a minute, to sign a ball for a kid, are rewarded with a rep of a great person. "Wow, he signed my ball!" Same goes with hosting. If you're outgoing, funny, and maintain the crowd's attention but never say a word to anyone individually, or never come off the stage to chat with the crowd, your singers may feel cheated. On the other hand if you spend just ONE minute finding out who they are, where they're from, and what they usually sing, a connection is made, and the opportunity to create a "follower" is right there.

Whether your singers are shy or introverted, or outgoing and extroverted, that is what you have to determine, and as a host appeal to those people on their own level. But DO that. No one wants to feel anonymous. The whole point of karaoke is to allow everyone their moment in the spotlight. If you don't make any sort of connection with people at all, and I've seen this more times than not, then you are not creating an impression in their mind at all. One of the reasons that long-running shows succeed is that connection.

Even in a situation where you're dealing with a transient crowd (holiday travelers) you still have to communicate. What I don't understand, I guess, is hosts who make no effort to create a connection with people. All the fancy gadgets and a slick marketing campaign may get you a gig somewhere but if you don't establish rapport with the people (who PAY for your presence there), how long will it last?

(There is/was a host in this area who had the most advanced of everything - music, equipment, etc. He was far too rigid in his style -- "here are my rules, don't you dare break them or I will punish you!" -- and though he enjoyed success for quite a long time, as soon as more hosting companies appeared that made the crowd feel less like a kindergarten class and more like mature adults, he began losing gigs. I don't know if he is even in the business anymore. Last time I talked with him he had lost yet another gig. )

K

Karen - excellent post !

When I thought of the difference between a women host and a man I thought of this scenario-

You see a singer leave the stage and go to her seat crying -
Do you go and ask if she is okay?
Do you see her and just wonder what's wrong?
Do you ignore the situation?

I would go and ask if she was okay as soon as I found the chance. I think most men would feel uncomfortable with this. It really doesn't have a whole lot to do with being a good host or not, but I do think most women have a more motherly attitude.

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Hey now ! You're giving away my secrets. I was hoping no one would notice I was a monkey in disguise.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Hey Babs--I thought you were more like a TRAINED CHIMP than a MONKEY!!! HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT