Tips to help you enjoy your first karaoke experience

Singing in front of others can be intimidating, but karaoke doesn't have to be. Before you head to your first karaoke experience, you should know how these places work and how to prepare yourself for a performance that's fun and enjoyable to watch.

• Unlike almost any other type of public performance, karaoke isn't about singing beautifully.
• Karaoke is a judgement-free zone, where the ability to create an enjoyable performance is prized much more highly than singing talent.
• If it will help your confidence, consider choosing a song in advance and practising it until you can perform it well. This certainly isn't necessary, but it may help your nerves.

• There are two main types of karaoke: open stage and private room.
• Open stage karaoke involves a large room (often a bar) with a single karaoke machine up front. Everyone takes a turn (or multiple turns) performing for the whole room.
• In private-room karaoke, you and a group of friends rent a small room with a dedicated karaoke machine and perform only for each other. This is a less public experience, and it allows you to perform many more songs, but it generally costs more.

• Karaoke places have books listing all the songs they have available, generally organised by title and/or artist.
• Choose a song you know well and would enjoy performing.

• Each song in the book will be identified by a unique code, which is used to pull up the song on the karaoke machine.
• In open stage karaoke, you sign up by giving your information (your name, the song's title and artist, and the code) to the karaoke host, generally using a sign-up sheet.
• In private room karaoke, you enter the song codes into the machine yourself. The staff will explain how to do this and can assist you if there are issues.

• Much of the fun of karaoke is watching other people perform.
• This also helps ease the nerves.
• You will quickly realise that many of the people on stage can't sing at all but are still able to create highly entertaining performances.

• When your name is called, come up to the stage.
• Hold the microphone 5 to 10 cm from your mouth and face the screen.
• The backing track will begin, and the song's lyrics will appear on screen, one or two lines at a time.
• Highlighting appears over the lyrics when they should be sung. Follow along.
• If you get lost, things are moving too fast or you reach a part of the song you don't know, take a breather and come back in when you feel ready.
• There are no rules, so enjoy yourself.
• As long as the crowd sees that you're having fun, they'll have fun as well.