Please HELP!!! Tryng to open my dance club 24 hours a day. Need advice.

[Pyro Ashdene]

I currently own a nightclub that is popular and people seen to enjoy coming to it. My problem is that I would like to operate around the clock and have it packed 24/7. Does anyone have the secret to going from 6:00-10:00 pm to round the clock? Any advice would be appreciated.  Thank you.

[Ceka Cianci]

---

Pyro Ashdene wrote:

I currently own a nightclub that is popular and people seen to enjoy coming to it. My problem is that I would like to operate around the clock and have it packed 24/7. Does anyone have the secret to going from 6:00-10:00 pm to round the clock? Any advice would be appreciated.  Thank you.

---

well i used to work at one of the top clubs for a couple of years..our peak hours were from 7am to 10 pm..we would have around anywhere form 70 to 90 people in the sim all day long..then the dj's would be done for the day until the next morning..

i think SL kind of slows down then..we still had like 30 to 40 people avg the rest of the night..but for the most part everyone that worked there had gone home hehehehe

you could try event or having some dj's stick around after hours...i know when i would kick my stream on after the dj's had left for the night i could get some good parties going..so people are out there and wanting to do something

i think once people know you are sticking around they will find you ..

just let the current people that go there know you are going to be expanding your hours..

that should help..

finding out the time zones that are more likely to be awake in those times and catering a bit more to them in those hours should help also..

 

[wiked Anton]

as in RL, you will need at least 3 shifts of staff and dj's. not only that, you will need to relinquish your power to someone you trust to help runit while you not there. this doesnt garuntee people will come, but if your open all the time, eventually people will know that and come when they have the time. good luck.

[Marigold Devin]

I have a favourite club I go to sometimes in Second Life that seems to do pretty well around the clock.  It's not exactly packed outside of the DJ hours, but it does alright.

Their secret would seem to be the general theme is of being among the stars and planets, with different levels, heaven, hell, planets, gardens, lakes.

On the main floor (where heaven is!) there is a DJ in the evenings (it is on European time), weekends mainly have request events. After the DJ it seems to fall into being a couples venue, where they leave a music stream on that plays classic rock.

It seems to work for them, but it depends what niche you are trying to reach. 

I'd actually advise perhaps taking a look at the inworld search lists for clubs, and visiting a few, at different times of the day, to see how they compare population and event wise.

And the suggestion in one of the other posts in this thread, to have the placed manned with DJs 24 hours a day if you want the venue to be a 24 hour party place is spot on.



[LoveAngeL Lyre]

Hello Pyro. 6:00-10:00pm SL Time = 1:00-5:00am in UK, 2:00-6:00am (Central Europe - most countires) and 3:00-7:00am (Easterm Europe). Difficult hour when almost all users from Europe are sleeping. If you want your club with many guests 24/7, you can't do it alone. As other said you need to hire experienced and trusted persons to help you. It is easy to own a club but no easy to run it if we think that there are thousands clubs arround. Slowly - slowly you need to organize a schedule which will cover all day and all night. An idea is to organize events every 2 or every 3 hours with live DJ and contests and advertize them in events calendar. Except of the good music, the atmosphere, the decoration, the fans who are there daily, you need to attact new persons. The more you offer, the more chances there are for your club to be filled. I know it is no easy to find 8-12 DJ's and Hosts / Hostesses daily but this should be your goal. In addition something i want to report now is the economic factor when most of the recognized and known DJ's don't accept to work only for tips. They demand a fee by hour or by event. That's why you need support by your staff (Managers, PR's - some of them from Europe also is necessary) or with other words from persons who will be able to oversee everything in your club when you are offline. A club is like a family, like a small society. It is good to exist a hierarchical structure with Managers, Asst Managers, Head PR, PR's, Hosts, DJ's, Security where all join forces and there is a mutually help. I introduced summary  how work most of clubs with traffic 30K-70K. Good luck and best wishes for your club.

[Lyra Blackthorne]

I would look at the time zones and who my customers would likely be (or where from) during the hours you need to boost.  Create events that would appeal specifically to the largest available audience during those hours and target advertising to them

[Uallas Borgin]

I think 3am to 3pm should be sufficient to include anything from the USA trough Europe all the way to Australia. That kind of cuts the problemn in half :matte-motes-bashful-cute-2:

 

Off course I see this from my own perspective, having a 9 to 5 job and going into SL in the evenings instead of laying on the couch waching TV. Most people with a 9 - 5 job have their evening leisure time between 7 pm and 10 pm or midnight for SL junkies like myself. 7pm to 12 pm amounts to 10am - 3 pm for central Europe. If I got my timezones right, 7 pm to 12 pm in Australia is about 3 am to 8am on Second Life. As other posters said, you'll have to have teams working is shifts, and people you can trust with owner privileges in those shifts. You'll need capital too: your dj's and hosts will expect to be paid from the beginning while your revenues will come in only after your place gets a reputation.

I don't know much about business so I can't give much advice. However, for the timezones I would recommend you see what countries you want to target and at what time the "big" evening news is at their regular tv channels. That will give you an idea of when most people have done their commute, put the kids to bed and are ready for entertainment.

 

[Venus Petrov]

I work at one of the longest-running most successful clubs in SL.  It is open 24/7 with live DJs but that was not always the case.  Depending how long you make the DJ shifts, you will need about 1/2 again as many DJs as the number of shifts to account for no-shows. 

Other than that, you need to decide if you want dancers, bartenders, hostesses, security, and other managers.  Clubs have a variety of these roles.  Where I work, the dancers are also security.

You can have a very successful club without strippers and endless contests.  Visit popular clubs and see what works for them.  Make it a place where you want to spend alot of time because you will be doing exactly that.

[Dilbert Dilweg]

Invest money. Run lots of events at key low times. Get fantastic staff and a good employee program.

It doesn't fall in your lap without throwing a bit of cash to it.. It takes money to make money.

Initial start up costs a lot in events. Be willing to throw that cash out there.

[BearChub]

Many great ideas already, but I'll add a few more.

The main thing you need to keep in mind ---- You already know that 6-10 pm works. Be sure to not loose sight of what makes that work as you try for more up-time.

The second thing to remember ---- Don't make this a do or die thing. If it works, great! If not, don't become discouraged. You still have your core staff and club members that already have stuck with you over time.

Start slow.

Perhaps make announcements and plan for earlier starting times for a dance/set and also after hours dancing. Be sure to have staff for both. Having DJ's that play a variety of music might be a good idea as well. If your club plays mostly Rock, there are varieties of Rock music that could be played, such as classic rock, soft rock, hard rock.

Check with the current members and staff to see what they think and if they have any ideas that might help. You wont be able to use every idea, so think them over and see if they fit in with your goal.

Lastly, you can't MAKE it happen. No amount of money, time, and resources can quarantee a club will become popular. Or in your case, more popular. If you've been in SL long enough, I'm sure you've seen clubs pop up, claiming to be (or soon to be) THE PLACE TO BE IN SECOND LIFE! Before long, the club is gone.

Be patient. And best to you in your venture.

Bear

[Marigold Devin]

Welcome to Second Life Forums, BearChub.

It really is a good point to be starting slow.  There have been far too many clubs inworld that have begun thinking themselves to be the best thing since sliced bread, and often they vanish simply because the owner of the club has been trying to do everything themselves and has suffered with "burnout".

Others have resorted to using "bots" to pad out their venue, but have fallen foul of doing that, when other patrons have realised there has only been one or two real people to chat with.

*****

To the OP, I hope you've found some of the advice in this thread useful. I've found it interesting and might now go and open my own venue to compete with yours (I am joking :matte-motes-wink-tongue:) I wish you lots of success.

[Ann Otoole]

Examine time zones. Hire hosts from the main time zones. Allow them to post event notices in the language they target.

However, one small word of advice. Quantity does not beat quality. Making something that is highly desired and not available 24*7 can lead to full regions and people wanting desperately to get in. The venue I used to be associated with will never return but I can point at Duran Duran's venue as a seriously good example of this effect.