Question about hosting

[ZoaEroiKirei]

Hello everyone I've been interested being a host.. Applied for various clubs and I've been curious with this...

Is there anyone here who does hosting and knew great HUD's to use? Any recommendations... and what to make sure with features when buying one? 

Also , may I have tips ... If ever, I got the job I applied for. Thank you.

[Alwin Alcott]

4 minutes ago, ZoaEroiKirei said:

Hello everyone I've been interested being a host.. Applied for various clubs and I've been curious with this...

Is there anyone here who does hosting and knew great HUD's to use? Any recommendations... and what to make sure with features when buying one? 

Also , may I have tips ... If ever, I got the job I applied for. Thank you.

do not use a HUD but practice your skills ... if i see a host with a HUD he can forget any tips.

It's impersonal, lazy and boring when you can't entertain the public.

All you need to do is pay attention to your radar to see who comes in, all the rest should be your skills.

At most use a FEW gestures ... thats all.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Alwin Alcott

[Cindy Evanier]

51 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

do not use a HUD but practice your skills ... if i see a host with a HUD he can forget any tips.

It's impersonal, lazy and boring when you can't entertain the public.

All you need to do is pay attention to your radar to see who comes in, all the rest should be your skills.

At most use a FEW gestures ... thats all.

Yep everything Alwin said but with even fewer gestures

People are more likely to tip if they get the personal touch and not some click of a hud.  They may not have any money to tip that day but if they feel welcomed and included they will return and maybe with L$ next time and will remember you.

[Skell Dagger]

What Alwin said. The thing about using a HUD to throw out the same few phrases and gestures every couple of minutes is that the people who have been in the venue for more than half an hour will have seen them all time and time again. And that gets very boring and irritating. The point of being a host is your personality.

Have you ever been served in a store by a checkout assistant who's clearly bored out of their skull from reciting the same script a hundred times that morning? (Many large stores have checkout scripts, as anyone who has worked in retail will tell you.) - "Hello. Did you find everything you were looking for? Do you have our loyalty card? That'll be [amount]. Thank you. Have a nice day."

Contrast that by recalling if you've ever been served in a store by a checkout assistant who's clearly got the same script, but deviates from it a little, remarking positively on your purchase, smiling and adding their own personal touch to that script - "Hi there. Did you find everything you wanted today? Oh, what gorgeous flowers! Your garden's going to look beautiful this summer. Do you have our loyalty card? That'll be [amount]. Thank you. Have a lovely day, and I hope the weather holds so you can get those beauties into the garden!"

It takes just a couple of seconds longer, it still adheres to the store's requirements for the script, but it personalises the transaction. It makes the shopper feel like a valued customer rather than just another sale. The same thing holds true in an SL club.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Skell Dagger

[Tari Landar]

1 hour ago, Alwin Alcott said:

do not use a HUD but practice your skills ... if i see a host with a HUD he can forget any tips.

It's impersonal, lazy and boring when you can't entertain the public.

All you need to do is pay attention to your radar to see who comes in, all the rest should be your skills.

At most use a FEW gestures ... thats all.

I'm going to ditto Alwin here-all very good advice

One thing I *hate about most clubs, is the gesturing, most especially when it comes from staff. It's...obnoxious(I know, that's a me thing, lol)

But please don't use HUDs, most clubs have some type of product that will let you know when someone new comes in, and if they don't, and the place is too busy for oyu ot notice when someone comes in-use a radar(they're pretty non-invasive as a general rule, these days, soem viewers have them built in..dunno about LLs viewer, I don't use it)

Don't use gestures to ask people to "send linden lovin"-again, it's very...commercially, and not cool. People will catch on real quick when all you use is gestures, you're far less likely to make much in tips.  In fact, I don't tip hosts/hostesses that use gestures to address the club, and if I can tell it's a hud, it's a definite no, lol.

My best tip....speak to your audience. Though I mean that both literally and not...make it personal, not..commercial, chat the room up in ways that *many people can join in a conversation(if all you talk about is shopping, or the latest sl fad/trend, you're only likely to garner the interest of a small portion of the club, for example) Seriously...ask people about the weather, lol, as cheesey as it sounds, questions like that can get more folks chatting-they're pretty generic and general, applicable to more folks. Talk about the music, the songs, stuff like that... If someone seems particularly non-chatty, feel free to chat to them, but don't make folks feel like they HAVE to talk-that just makes some people feel weird. Some of us really mostly go to listen to the DJ, we don't chat much in local(and that's ok), I know it sounds odd to go somewhere public and want nothing to do with the general public, but I come across it a LOT(and did as both a dj and a host, lol, I also happen to fit that criteria sometimes)

Enjoy what you're doing, enjoy your audience and they will likely enjoy you too, and it will show in the tips you receive   (but please for the love of god do NOT beg for them constantly, for you, the club, or the dj..that gets old super duper fast, and few clubs these days can pull that kind of stunt off without a huge existing following, which many don't have)

That sounds preachy, doesn't it, especially coming from someone that seriously dislikes most clubs. Well, maybe not preachy, maybe it'll help some folks understand why some of us don't like clubs, lol. I have one club I like to go to now and then that does all of the things I don't like...but some of their djs are pretty damn good, so I tolerate it in short spurts (but rarely tip hosts/hostesses, just the dj, and the club itself-cuz it's been around forever and somewhere I used to hang out a lot)

 

[Amanda Crisp]

I would advise "be careful where you work" as well. I have worked places that were BDSM-centric and where the Submissives made up 80% of the population.

They were always complaining about not being able to keep steady staff; but the Submissives Didn't Tip ( their custom was Dominants-only-Tipping ) and the Dominants rarely showed up. This was a local custom and not common in SL - so you won't run into it a lot (I hope).

I changed venue and my tips jumped about 300%. 

The moral: "Know Thy Venue"....

[Amanda Crisp]

HUDs.....

The Good:

-You can get one that gives you a positive alert when someone trips a preset Radar Range and prompts you to type them a greeting. This saves you a little embarrassment when you "miss" a guest who showed up in a group or you were already frantically banging out personal IMs to other guests and didn't see the passive radar. Some Residents are prone to IM heckle Hosts and DJs who miss their arrival.

-Huds can let you toss up a titler for some things (I use mine for humor, like when I set it for "clothing optional Night" or "strip the DJ night" for Naughty Night. They are also useful for things you might have to SAY repetitively like; "Relay for Life Kiosk at Main Entry" when (like me) your typing is a little slow due to a RL disability (like the stirring my brains took some years back).

-Some HUDS can make it easier to access the area-security tools to ban griefers. Griefing events is a problem and the faster you can shut it down, the fewer Guests you lose.

The Bad:

-HUDS do not usually handle display names well on auto-greet, so stay away from that.

-HUDS can be very repetitive for other to listen to canned gestures and greetings

-HUDS performance can be affected by the Lag-monster.

 

Overall, there is a big difference in working a small venue and a larger place where people arrive in gaggles and where you WILL have to figure out how to deal with Stalkers, Griefers, Lovesick Guests and other things that take up lots of time. Social skills are a -must- but using a few passive tools can help your time-management and allow you to focus on your guests.

 

Observation:

Its also good to note how much WORK the Host does vs the other staff......and be aware that at many venues the House tip-jars are set at lower levels for the Host than other staff...

-Greet new arrivals (that means deciphering cutsie and often unreadable custom name fonts - so save time and look at their profile)

-Be sure and ask departing guests back

-Promote the event in group IM and with Group Notices

-Make new Guests welcome and ensure they know what entertainments and facilities are available.

-Deal with griefers and love-sick Guests who want 100% of yours or some other staff-members attention (preventing them from doing their job)

-Deal politely and respectfully with guests who are being disruptive or causing technical issues with their avatar-attachments.

-Run the contest by setting it up, reminding people to vote, making sure contestants are in-theme, handling disputes (complaints that someone's Alts gamed the vote)

-Handle social issues as they happen

-Promote the NEXT event

-Have a new or new-ish "In theme" outfit or costume every event

[ChinRey]

2 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

At most use a FEW gestures ... thats all.

Sadly it seems too many hosts follow that rule but overlook the rest of Awlin's advice.

Three gestures and two standard greetings for new visitors, that seems to be the complete repertoire of the average host.

Edited August 5, 2017 by ChinRey

[ZoaEroiKirei]

I wasn't really into with the gesture features, I don't know why most all assumed that? I was interested with the radar thing. I don't want to miss anyone who arrives anyway... Thank you everyone for your advice. 

[Amanda Crisp]

TBH the reason I moved from hosting to DJing is that in a busy venue; DJing is less stress than hosting attentively :-)

SAM broadcaster was a good investment for me :-)

[Tari Landar]

1 hour ago, ZoaEroiKirei said:

I wasn't really into with the gesture features, I don't know why most all assumed that? I was interested with the radar thing. I don't want to miss anyone who arrives anyway... Thank you everyone for your advice. 

People assume that, because it's one of the main uses for those HUDs, it can toss out canned "gestures" in chat real quick..some of them even greet guests for you (plus..gestures are commonplace for hosts, well clubs in general, regardless of how much most folks on forums despise them being used by hosts lol, which you can figure out super quick if you visit a few clubs and watch a few hosts, most of them use them-most clubs actually hand them to staff) There's actually a few really good threads about hosting here on the forums. If you do a search, you should be able to find them, lots of great tips in there, I highly recommend checking them out.   

Using it for a radar alone is a good idea though, if you don't already have one, or the venue doesn't already have one set up to inform you(some places do, some don't, ask the places and they can let you know, some even have an object that you "log into" that will tell you-and only you-when someone comes into the club-those can be nice, even if slightly delayed at times, it's not often by much). I personally always preferred to use my own radar, or the built in one anyway, and scan the crowd frequently for new faces, but that's just me, probably not ideal for everyone, so I can see a definite need for *something that helps with that in those cases. I don't mind waiting a few minutes to be greeted, if I'm at a place that the host regularly greets folks, others might not feel the same way as I do about it though. I'm odd, I like the personal touch, and being shouted HI..WELCOME TO YADDA YADDA TARI the very second I walk in a door in a clearly canned gesture doesn't make me feel all warm and cozy and  wanna shout HI right back. I swear I'm not as antisocial as I sound sometimes, quite the opposite, which is probably why I prefer typing over gestures, even if chock full of typos, I'm kinda known for making loads of them-and rarely fixing any   

[ZoaEroiKirei]

Really appreciate your further explanations @Tari Landar & @AmandaKeen. Thank you again (´• ω •`) ♡

[Amanda Crisp]

Actually the main club I work at does not allow gestures from Staff :-) Any gesture spam you see there is guest-generated :-)

[Callum Meriman]

6 hours ago, ZoaEroiKirei said:

Is there anyone here who does hosting and knew great HUD's to use? Any recommendations...

Don't use a HUD, please don't use a HUD.

Amanda and everyone else above have given great info, I can only stress again that you must welcome each person properly, by typing it yourself after taking care to decode their silly display names, and also, that you don't welcome them by their group title. "Hi Officer" is always a head-shaker. Also, if they have a name in "Japanese letters" you can of course copy/paste from their profile... but don't copy/paste the display name, decode it, as that saves your guests the eye strain.

I try to remember all who come to the set, so I don't repeat-welcome people who go and return. I give them a "I am so happy you could come back" or "Yay, you made it back" or something along those lines. I also learn who the regulars are and give them a <3 in their "hi" make them feel like VIPs. If you see someone who might be a regular, do it to them too. Every welcome as different and unique as I can make it. >.< That get's hard just in itself.

And as said above, gesturebaiting over and over is not hosting, nor is spamming a spanker (I've muted many a host who spanks over and over and over). Instead of a "I love this song oooh lalalala" gesture try actually typing [[/me loves this one and sings along "~and insert some mondegreen'd lyrics~"]].

I won't repeat all the great advice people made above, if you can talk for hours about nothing, if you can beat off the advances without hurting them, if you can be friendly to everyone, and keep greeting each guest by name, and if you can control the crowd so discussion of politics and breakups won't destroy the atmosphere, you will do fine.

 

Tips, yes you can keep them if the venue allows, but don't ask the guests for them. If the venue allows you to put up a tip-board but they don't take a cut, I always find it polite to also tip the venue yourself from some of the tips you get, 20% or so. They are paying tier after all... but that's just me.

[Callum Meriman]

2 hours ago, Tari Landar said:

I personally always preferred to use my own radar, or the built in one anyway, and scan the crowd frequently for new faces, but that's just me

Not just you. I set up my firestorm to beep when someone enters the sim, and when someone enters chat range. I get a high pitch pre-warning there is someone on the way, then a louder more noticable beep when they can hear me.

From there it's just memory as to if this is a new person, or just someone moving in and out of chatrange (which won't happen in a well set up club)

[Christin73]

There is a hud but most clubs don't allow the use of them. The big thing with hosting is learning to emot after you been tipped and coming up with creative ways to promote the dj and events.