Interesting thread,

Just had my first involvement in this and it went pretty well.

It's definately about engaging with the people you want to come to your night, you can't go around shouting "Techno Techno Techno" at people and hope they'll come.... they're probably thinking about 2 Ulimited or how much Eminem hates Techno.

We gave away a free CD to the first 100 through the door,
all locals artists on the CD, a selection of which were DJing and playing Live sets on the night.

I don't believe you need big names to rock it, it's perfectly possible to build your own names locally through CDs, website and producing good music.

People respect a producer much more than a DJ because they believe they are actually doing something. It's a good idea to tie this artistic edge in with it all and get some nice flyers on the go, it's a student town down here and they all loved the flyers, it at least puts your logo and images in their mind. Pink luminous hard trance flyers will not have this effect.

Keep the door entry down, and maybe offer a cheapy before 11, the more people in early, the better the warm up DJs will play, making people come early next time.

I'm gonna stop before i run out of breath and keel over!
cheers
Udy.