A friend of mine planned her San Antonio wedding for a weekend in June. The venue she had chosen featured a huge outdoor garden with an indoor space that was not so spacious. But she figured that with some shade and cold drinks, the guests wouldn’t mind mingling and mixing outside. She was wrong. Not a single guest was interested in venturing out into the muggy, hot day. The poor attendants stationed outside were red faced and sweaty, but completely alone. The guests inside were packed to the rafters but determined to stay inside where the air conditioning was the hardest partying thing in the place. The lesson we learn from this experience is that the date you choose for your party can have a huge impact on the success of your event. Make sure to watch out for these three mistakes people make in choosing a date for their event.
4 Tips for Choosing the Perfect Entertainment for Your Corporate Event
A recent survey polled business owners and executives about their party habits. Turns out that 73% of those surveyed reported that their company would hold at least one corporate event during the year. That's a lot of party planning!
Most companies won't utilize the services of a professional party planner for their company party. Usually, the planning tasks are turned over to employee volunteers. But unless you plan parties for a living there are a lot of rookie mistakes that can trip up your event, ruining your opportunity to build community and reward achievement. At Dancebands.com, we have a lot of experience booking event entertainment. Here are some tips from our experts on how you can make sure that your event is a smash.
What to Do When an Event Goes Wrong
Anytime we put together an event we invest a lot. Time, energy, enthusiasm, hopes, dreams, and money are just a few of the things we throw into the mix when planning a big day. So when something goes wrong, it feels truly awful. But as we look at what happened the night of the Oscar’s big blunder, we can learn a lot about how to handle such a crisis. Here are a few lessons dancebands.com garnered from studying that muddled mess.
How to Plan a 50th Anniversary Party
This summer will mark 50 years of marriage for my parents. For years my Dad has been dropping hints about what he’d like to do for his golden anniversary. When he would say something about it to me, I would always respond with something like, "If you're going to do that, you better start planning now." It was mystifying to me why neither he nor my Mom ever moved forward on this party that was clearly important to them. About six months ago, it became clear when I discovered that the etiquette for a 50th anniversary party suggests that the children of the couple host the party. #HeadSmack
To spare you the same kind of frustrating experience with your parents (or your kids if it's your anniversary coming up) at Dancebands.com we decided to share some of the lessons we've learned about how to plan a truly golden 50th anniversary party.
Ringing Out 2016 with Dancebands.com
Dancebands.com had an awesome 2016. It was a record breaking year for our company as we played and produced hundred of events across the country. We asked some of our talented artists to share some of their favorite moments from the year. Here are some of the highlights.
Seasons Greetings from DanceBands.Com
At DanceBands.com we love the holiday season. Our bands keep busy as they rush from one event to the next, providing entertainment at corporate parties, weddings, and community events. We're so grateful to be able to spread holiday cheer and share in the joy of each festive celebration. We also love how the holidays bring out the best in people. It’s a season of the year where we think a little bit more about others and try a little harder to reach out to those in need. The feeling that comes from helping people is like nothing else and it got us thinking about all the wonderful things people do at this time of year. Some of the gestures are huge while some are small acts of kindness, yet hearing each of these stories fills our heart with the spirit of the season.
Do I Need Background Music at My Event?
Background Music Helps You Achieve Your Event Goals
As your planning your next event, you might be wondering if you should hire musicians to provide background music. The answer is yes. Background music has a huge effect on people and by using it appropriately you’re actually more likely to meet the goals of your gathering. Not convinced? Here are a few examples of how music has helped people and organizations to achieve their objectives.
As a high school teacher, my husband has to create an atmosphere that promotes learning in his classroom. One of the things that he has to deal with on a daily basis is the varying moods of his students from class period to period. How does he do it? “I usually try to play music during the passing period. The kind of music I play affects the way the kids come in and perform in my class. At 7:30 in the morning the kids are all tired, but if I play something upbeat and energetic then that energy transfers to my students and they’re more awake and willing to participate.”
Retailers also make use of background music as a way to influence the behavior of their shoppers. Retail psychologists have done all kinds of experiments and they’ve shown overwhelming that they can actually affect not only how you think but how you behave in a store. For example, if they play music that is thought of as “classy,” such as classical or jazz, then the consumer actually believes that the goods for sale in the store are more valuable. Another example has to do with how much time you spend in the store. If a store plays upbeat music with an unhurried tempo, it will slow your shopping down. You’ll spend more time in the store which means you’ll spend more money.
Movies and TV shows use music to tell the audience how to feel about a scene or a character. Watch this training scene from Rocky without the scoring playing underneath.
Here’s the same scene, but this time it’s the finished version in the film that includes Bill Condi’s triumphant score cueing the audience that Rocky isn’t just repeating some dull and painful exercises-he’s becoming a warrior!
Hopefully these examples have convinced you that music, even in the background, can have a tremendous impact on the emotional responses of your guests. The musical atmosphere of an event can actually motivate your guests in ways that can help you achieve the goals of the event.
If you’re not sure of what kind of music will help you best achieve the perfect atmosphere, here are some suggestions.
Corporate Event
Why do companies throw parties? They want to make connections and build relationships with their clients or employees. The best way to do this is to keep people mingling and talking. At this kind of event, the music needs to be electric and stimulating, but can’t get in the way of people chatting. String Love is a fun variation on the typical classical quartet. They can do the classical music on the periphery, but they can also add some energy to your event by playing recognizable pop and rock hits in a classical style.
If your corporate event is less mingle and more party, then you may be interested in booking Electric White Orchestra. The Electric White Orchestra plays a variety of music styles and the song list is versatile, but the energy is high voltage.
Weddings
A wedding is made up of several different “big” events. Background music at a wedding is most useful to help ease transitions and to underscore the emotion of the events. Soft vocals crooned during shifts between the ceremony, cocktail hour, and dinner, cue people to relax and enjoy the down time, maybe even strike up a conversation with a neighbor. By including this atmospheric music, you can create the friendly and romantic mood any couple wants on their big day.
Check out Mimi Valentine and the Gentleman’s Club for a fun, style-bending take on some music you’ll immediately recognize.
For a more intimate event, Will & Dave’s guitar/vocalist and trumpet duo will dish out smooth hits to keep your guests smiling.
Fundraiser
At a fundraising event you have the very specific goal of making and keeping your guests happy and feeling generous. The more successful you are at creating that particular atmosphere, the more money you’re likely to raise. Creating an upscale vibe will help your guests to feel like they belong to the crowd of people who like to donate money. An ipod plugged into a speaker can’t get the job done like an up-tempo jazz combo.
You can go with traditional jazz favorites performed by groups like the DanceBands.com Jazz Combo or hire a more unique variation – the Zenith Vibes Jazz Trio.
There's a reason that we call it "dead air" when there is no music playing. Music, even when it's playing in the background, brings energy and feeling to our lives. Make sure your next event succeeds by keeping the background music at the front of your planning.
Halloween Party Playlist 2016
Pop Quiz: Name a Halloween song…but not Thriller…and not Monster Mash. Did you come up with anything else? Probably not. That could be a real bummer if you’re planning a Halloween party where you want killer music and energized dancing. But at DanceBands.com we know all kinds of songs that will set just the right spooky, scary, and fun mood for your All Hallow’s Eve bash. We’ve put together a party playlist that anyone can use to strike the right note for a jammin' Halloween.
Get started with a little "Ghostbusters" (the original) by Ray Parker Junior. This is a song almost everybody knows and it's a fun, lively dancing tune.
Since we're starting out by meeting people's expectations, get all the obvious Halloween songs out of the way right off the bat. Play "Monster Mash" and "The Addams Family" back-to-back.
Next, you can shake things up by playing something darker like "This is Halloween" and "Dragula."
Bring the fun back with "I Put a Spell on You," followed by "Time Warp," and then "Devil Inside."
Keep the dancing going with Rihanna's "Disturbia," Fall Out Boy's cover of "Ghostbusters," Lady Gaga's "Monster," AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" and Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper."
Take a break to hand out costume prizes and play a few games. When you're ready to dance again, start things off with the classic party favorite, "Thriller." Follow up with "Somebody's Watching Me," "Creep," "Superstition," "Deal with the Devil," and "Dead Man's Party."
You can choose to end the night on a creepy note or if you're a chicken like me, end it on a funny note. If you choose creepy, then end with "Black Sabbath."
If you'd rather be silly, then end with "Purple People Eater."
You don't have to use that version. Unless, you really want to freak people out!
Happy Halloween!