Youth may be wasted on the young, but fortunately the desire to be a great DJ isn’t.

As I’ve been settling in to my new position at CHAUVET DJ®, people from around the world have taken the time to send good wishes. That’s been really great, but it was the 14 year old from Canada who saw one of my videos that stuck out for me. He wrote that he’s been the DJ at his local ski spot for the past year and owns a Mini 4Bar and a 6 Spot that he controls using his Obey 10 controller. Now he wants to expand his lighting rig. I didn’t even know what a lighting rig was when I was 14. Okay, I’ll admit it, electricity hadn’t been invented yet. But this kid has the right idea and knows exactly what he wants. At 14!!!!

He was interested in the Chauvet Intimidator Spot Duo, wanting to mount them on a portable trussing unit like the Chauvet CH-31 (although I encourage everyone to also check out the TRUSST Arch and Goalpost Kits). He knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to ask for it because he ended his email with, “Anyways, I was wondering if you could hook me up with a deal on one of them.” I couldn’t have been happier at this kid’s request.  Not because I can hook him up on a deal on anything (for any you wondering out there, I can’t), but the big picture was clear to me:

This kid is the future of DJs.

Or at least young DJs like him are. He speaks the language. He wants to get better at his craft. He’s studying videos and reaching out to other DJs. If we care about the future of mobile entertainment at all, it’s critical that we nurture, educate and help kids like this. We can’t let our forums, teeming with cannibalistic snarkiness in our fervor to prove we know more than the next guy, discourage fresh and idealistic DJs. It doesn’t take much to encourage a young entertainer like this. When I let him know that I couldn’t hook him up with gear, his next request made that clear:

I think I could handle that.

The butterfly effect theory says when a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world it can cause a hurricane in another part of the world. I believe that, a small, seemingly insignificant change here can create a ripple effect, leading to big changes there. I’m hoping that the envelope of stickers I sent to Canada last week is a tiny little flap of wings that might add a little something to the hurricane of what surely will be this young DJ’s future success.

Because youth isn’t wasted on the young. It’s the future of our profession.