Wanna Jam DJ Productions

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Syracuse DJs Wanna Jam DJs Answer Top 10 Questions

08/15/10


Whenever we meet a client for the first time we like to show them how we provide premium DJ services for the Syracuse area that few others can match. We have compiled a list of the top 10 questions that we have been asked and are answering them here for you.

1. Will the Wanna Jam DJ team be our DJ at our event or do you contract out to other DJs?

-We always provide a written contract that clearly states that Wanna Jam DJ Productions will be the only DJs at you event. We do not subcontract out to other companies. The Wanna Jam DJ team consisting of DJs James, Zak, and Johnny will always be the DJs at your event.

2. How many years of experience do you have?

-Head DJ James Wanamaker began DJing at the age of 15 and has built Wanna Jam DJs from the ground up to become the largest entertainment company in Syracuse geared especially towards teens. We do teen events almost every weekend and have built a reputation as the leaders in teen entertainment.

3. May we call your references?

- Yes, we have  a list of testimonials here. If requested we will provide you with a contact list so you can hear first hand about the amazing work we have done at our clients events.

4. Can we pick the music ahead of time?

When we first meet with a client we provide them with a music questionnaire. With this form you can pick your favorite songs that are a must play as well as a do not play list. Using this form we create a playlist that integrates your personal choices with crowd favorites that keep your guests on the dance floor.

5. How early do you arrive to setup?

-We tend to arrive 1-2 hours before your event to set up our equipment. The length of setup depends on the size of your event the larger the event the longer we need to setup. This will all be outlined in our contract.

6. How will you be dressed?

- The easy answer is we will be dressed however you prefer. Our general attire is a solid black dress shirt, black pants, and black shoes. For more formal events we add a tie and jacket. Some DJs always wear Tuxes but we feel that is outdated and opt for a more modern look. For informal school dances like homecomings we wear stylish jeans and a Wanna Jam DJ Logo t-shirt. On special events like halloween parties we will even come in costumes.

7. Are you insured?

Wanna Jam DJ Productions carries a $1 million dollar liability insurance policy. Every professional entertainment company should carry a liability insurance policy. Many venues require outside vendors to carry such a policy. This is meant to protect you and your guests in the rare event something goes wrong. If your DJ does not have insurance then you need to reconsider your choice in entertainment.

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Syracuse DJs Wanna Jam DJ Productions How to Plan a Super Sweet 16!

How to Plan a Super Sweet 16!

So you decided you want a Super Sweet 16 Party but you don’t know where to begin. This is where we come in. Wanna Jam DJ Productions does more Sweet 16 parties than any other DJ in Syracuse. To start out pick a theme for your party here are a few ideas from ones we have done in the past:

Mardi Gras Madness!

Winter Wonderland

Under The Sea

Sports Star

Hollywood Sweet 16

Car Crazy

Tropical Luau

Fiesta Sweet 16

New York New York

When you pick a theme we can customize lighting and decorations tie it all together. Say you picked the Under the Sea theme, we will come in with uplights that will turn the entire room a dark blue to simulate being under water. We also recommend http://mickeysballoons.com/ for your decorating needs.

Next make a guest list and decide how many people you want to come. (This is important in deciding how big if a room you will need)

After the guest list is set it is important to pick a location. For parties on a budget a backyard or basement always works but if you are looking for something more upscale check out the local country clubs, The Red House Theater, local hotels, and restaurants. A few months ago we provided the entertainment at the new banquet room at the Dinosaur BBQ in downtown Syracuse. This is a perfect location because they have great food as well.

If you pick a location that does not provide the food decide what type of food you want. You could match the food to the theme with one of our recommended caterers or you can always order pizzas. Your friends will remember the entertainment more than the food so don’t feel like you have to spend a fortune on catering.

Once you have you guest list, location, and food planned you can send out invitations. These can be simple ones bought from a party supply store or we can have one of our graphic designers create a custom invitation to match your personality and theme!

Now to the most important part, the entertainment. Wanna Jam DJ Productions will turn any boring party into an extravagant evening where you are the star! This includes a grande entrance like you have seen on MTV. Before the event we provide you with a survey/form to plan the schedule of your night and to help us to get to know your taste in music. We bring club style DJs that are between the ages of 19-26 so you can be sure they know all the current music and will have you and your friends dancing all night. Our speaker and light systems transform any room into a nightclub with heart pounding bass and intelligent lighting that we change for every song!

For more information give us a call today 315-396-1097 We offer a free consultation where we can meet you and show you in person how Wanna Jam DJ Productions is the Syracuse DJ company for your Super Sweet 16.

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Syracuse DJ – Wanna Jam DJ Productions finishing the Grad Party Season with a Bang!

07/17/10

What do you get when you put together delicious food, a water slide, beautiful weather, and the great music?

We just got back from another great Grad Party for Racquel from JD High School. Her family chose our graduation party summer special for only $275. This included 3 hours of live mixing music, 2 crystal clear powered speakers, and of course the Wanna Jam DJs team. Based on the music survey we gave to get a feel for her favorite artists we put together a great playlist of Top 40, Country artists like Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, as well as classic favorites like Billy Joel. The party went so well her dad asked us to stay for another hour. See some of the pictures below. To Book us for your party give us a call at 315-396-1097 and check out more on Our Website

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New Updated Blog

Check out our new blog that will be updated weekly with pictures and videos from our events. We will also include details on some of the upcoming music that is guaranteed to be popular. We might even show behind the scenes details on new gear and lights that we will be using at future events. Be sure to check back each week for something new!

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Syracuse Wanna Jam DJs old posts from our Prom X Tour & 2010 Grad Parties

06/26/10

GRAD PARTY CENTAL

We just finished a busy weekend of 3 high school graduation parties. We have been rocking the Seniors from Bville, to Syracuse, all the way out to Deruyter! We have been playing a mix of family friendly music as well as today’s hottest tracks. Our music choices had everyone from teens to grandparents dancing! Be sure to give us a call for your next grad party. With packages starting as low at $275 our prices are affordable for everyone. Check out Our Facebook for pictures and more info from the grad parties.

06/23/10

Super Sweet 16

We just finished the video editing from Shawna’s Super Sweet 16. She chose a great package with 10ft of  trussing raised 10ft high with intelligent lighting and 5 pink uplights. It was a great party at the upstairs banquet room Nibsy’s Pub in Syracuse. We played a mix of top 40, rap, showtunes from her musicals, and some old school classics. It was also the first event for our new DJ Johnny, who is an excellent addition to our team. He had the teens dancing so much it was shaking the floor above the bar! No worries though the floor held up the 50 dancing teens. It was a night of great dancing, delicious food, and amazing lights with your Syracuse DJ, Wanna Jam DJ Productions. Check out our Youtube page for a great video from Shawna’s Sweet 16.

06/17/10

Why a $395 DJ does not belong at your school!
~Special thanks to Arnoldo Offermann
Homecoming and prom are becoming more and more elaborate affairs ever year. Extravagant venues, Hollywood-quality décor, and even 5-star food is what students will find at many of these dances. Unfortunately the person responsible for the nights entertainment, the DJ, sets up a tacky 2 speaker system and a small tree with a light show that was decent back in the mid-90s.

Ouch. What an eyesore.
It’s not the school’s fault– after all, DJs are all the same, right?
Often, I’ve talked to too many schools that have hired a DJ who charges $300 – 500 because he’s a former student, teacher, or does it on the “side.”

But what else is out there? What if there’s a DJ company that does more than just send a random DJ with a Top40 list, pushing buttons, and telling students to wave their hands in the air like they just don’t care??

Guess what? There is. And no, we won’t raise our hands because we DO care.

School & Teen Entertainment companies are a rare gem. Many DJs specialize in weddings, AND school events, AND corporate events, AND backyard parties. There is nothing wrong with this, but the school and teen event business is a completely different animal than weddings. Because this genre of events is so unique, we at Wanna Jam DJs have made teen entertainment our ONLY focus!

Since we only deal with school and teen-focused events, we know all of the ins and outs. We work daily to find solutions for issues that people only see at teen events including: appropriate dancing, music mediating between students and administrators, making the best out of the available power with the highest quality lighting and sound system, and most importantly, we know how to make your dance 100% successful!

Yes, 100%!

Food, venue, & décor IS important, don’t get me wrong, and I won’t deviate from that point. These items are important to set the mood of the dance. If the right vendors are hired, then you’ve achieved success in setting the right mood. But what you need to know is: the proper entertainment will take that achieved ambiance to the next level.

To fully understand what I mean, answer me this: If the DJ didn’t show up, would the dance be successful? The mood is set thanks to the right vendors, but now what will students do? No DJ means no dancing. No dancing means no one stays. No one stays means no food is eaten, and the décor and venue layout are not enjoyed the way they should have been.

Or how about this one: If the DJ shows up but is AWFUL, or their equipment is too powerful for the provided outlets and therefore repeatedly has problems– how much did that DJ REALLY add to the dance’s success?

Ok ok just answer one more. What if the right DJ shows up? Great setup, great sound, beautiful light show– and the right crew to make everything work? Students dance the entire night, eat ALL the food, take lots of photos with the décor and thank the venue staff and administrators for a job well done. For the next day (hopefully even longer!) the dance is the talk around school and ticket sales for next year look to be even more promising than the sales for this year!

What percentage of success would you place on the aforementioned scenario?

I had a great chat with another DJ company who was asked if they can do a school dance for $395. When asked how the school chose that price, they told the DJ that’s what the other DJ charges.

Great! So he asked, if they like that DJ and he’s $395, why keep calling? The school told him that the other DJ doesn’t have the equipment to pull off a dance of more than 100 kids.

So what is a dedicated school entertainment company worth? The truth is in the numbers. Let’s take a look:

Here’s a cost breakdown for a small DJ package that can handle around 500 kids.

Two speakers = $800/each (there are cheaper, but you get what you pay for. $800 is a very conservative number for a system that can handle 500+ kids.
One Sub = $1500
1 year music subscription (multiplied by the last 5 years) = $1,200
Trussing (to hang lights from)… At the cheapest $2,000 for a small setup
A small light show consisting of 4 LED floods and one centerpiece effects light = $1000 This is a very SIMPLE light show with no special effects (no club lighting). Just the basics.
Clamps & cords = $200
Cheap Mixer = $300
Cheap Laptop – $1000
WIRED (not wireless) Microphone = $100
Tripods for speakers = $100
Console to hold everything together = $200
Controller for lights = $500
Keep in mind, I didn’t add in gas, the $1 million insurance policy and other business expenses, or a computer which houses most of the music the DJ will be mixing.
That’s $9700. All rental companies charge at least 10% of cost. This means that to rent out this system at 10% it would be $970. In the last three years this number has averaged to about 20%. We’ll stick with a low 10%.

What does this conclude of our $395 DJ?

$970 is $575 more than $395. This means the $395 DJ either 1) values his skills at NEGATIVE $575 or 2) He’s bringing out low-grade equipment that won’t serve justice to the students.

Not to mention it’s not possible to run a business and provide effective equipment and service at $395. Even if they were booked 52 days of the year, that’s $20,000…. Barely double of what it costs to purchase the equipment, not including the costs of running a business itself.

Here’s something to think about: the numbers I gave you are for lower/middle-end equipment. Most school companies bring out a much more sophisticated system. We also didn’t talk about special effects or other add-ons.

Think back on the scenarios I gave you on the success of the dance. Is that success worth more than $395? Talent should be worth more than that if the dance depends on it.

You’ll see numbers from $1500 for a small setup to $20,000 for a large setup.
We’ve talked equipment, but what about service? The right company (Wanna Jam DJ Productions) brings the following ON TOP of the highest quality equipment:

1) DJ / MC Hypeman whose entire life revolves around the ever changing world of music.

2) CUSTOM edited music library. FCC standards are NOT school standards. A proper DJ will remove the 4 words that the radio plays that do NOT belong in a school dance and make sure all songs are age appropriate.

3) $1 million insurance policy to protect the students.

4) Proper knowledge of electricity. You want to maximize the use of each outlet (power drops are not cheap) while leaving headroom in case of an insurge. Having everything shut off in the middle of the dance is not a good thing!

5) Marketing! The company should provide custom marketing sessions to promote the dance! This could include lunch jams and posters. At Wanna Jam DJs, your marketing is included in the cost of your event! We can create flyers, t-shirts, logos, basically ANYTHING that you can think of with info. about your school’s dance on it, that can be used to advertise and get people talking about the big night.

6) A limit! Every school is different and at some point the DJ setup can be too much or not enough. The right team should be able to design a setup to fit your needs 100%. Overkill does nothing for the dance except pull away from it! With a production team that has been in the business for MANY years, Wanna Jam DJs has access to the newest in dance party/club technology. Not to mention an incredibly creative team that can masterfully design the entire event (not to mention customize it) down to the last detail. Our goal is to make sure two dances, even with the exact same theme, are NEVER alike! We give you a totally custom experience to ensure it’s nothing anyone at the party has ever seen before, which only adds to the level of amazement!

So where do you start? Research DJs, or many will attempt to call or email you. The first question you ask should be: Are you a dedicated school company?

If the answer’s yes, invite them in for an audition/consultation. If they insist on doing this over the phone, move on to the next company. Dedicated means they have a person/crew who will handle your event at your comfort level and schedule. Take Wanna Jam DJs for example, our head DJ, James Wanamaker will help you with every in and out of your event! He is your go-to person and the communicator between your school (or just you for private events) and the ENTIRE team at Wanna Jam DJs responsible for making your event a success.

What all this means is, these dances need to be treated as a business. Whether or not they are seen as school fundraisers, you want to be in the black, not the red. A “$395 DJ” cannot bring in the excitement via service AND equipment to make students say “I WANNA COME BACK NEXT YEAR!” There are competing schools, many on the same date, that want the same business you want; keep in mind that students will attend other schools’ dances. When a rival school has a dance on the same date, you want your students and their dates to attend YOUR dance.

So, how will YOUR next dance be the best?

You can start by getting to know a little bit more about us at Wanna Jam DJs by looking at our many sites: Start with WannaJamDJs.com our official website, facebook.com/wannajamdjs our facebook fan page (be sure to become a fan while you’re there!), twitter.com/wannajamdjs, our twitter page, youtube.com/wannajamdjs where you can see videos of our latest works as well as up and coming trends in the entertainment industry, or you can keep reading right here on our blog!

Once you like what you see, give us a call [(315) 396-1097] or text or shoot us an email (james.wanamaker@wannajamdjs.com), or facebook message, or tweet, basically get in touch with us however you’re most comfortable. Once you’ve seen and heard everything we have in store for you we’re confident you’ll keep coming back for more (only because we know we offer the best!). So with all that said, we look forward to hearing from you and making your next event the coolest thing you’ve ever seen!

Original article written by Arnoldo Offermann of 4 Schools Only in Florida. Please visit his website athttp://www.arnoldooffermann.com/schools/why-395-djs-dont-belong-in-your-school.html

06/10/10

Conclusion of the 2010 Wanna Jam DJs Prom Tour

We had our most successful year yet with our prom tour. Some of the most notable events were the Christian Brothers Academy Senior Ball at the Landmark Theater, the JD Junior Prom at the high school, and the JD Senior Ball at the Double Tree Hotel. These events were a great opportunity to use our new speaker system and uplighting package. Every single night was nonstop energy with DJs James and Zak mixing the latest music as well as a couple classic throwback sets. The themes were as follows:

CBA Senior Ball - Living on a Prayer

JD Junior Prom – Under the Sea

JD Senior Ball – Don’t Stop Believing

We are currently editing a video highlight and will post it here shortly. Be sure to check out our facebook page and our Youtubefor more pictures and videos!

1/30/2010

We just got back from another great Sweet 16 party at the Hotel Syracuse. About 30 teens mostly from Christian Brothers Academy came out to celebrate Keira’s birthday. Keira and her parents chose our Gold Speaker Package (JBL PRX series with a subwoofer) as well as our Silver light show. This is the package we tend to recommend for Sweet 16 parties with less than 100 people in a large room like the lobby of the Hotel Syracuse. Some of the songs that were most popular were The United State of Pop 2009 Remix, Tik Tok, Hoedown Throwdown, and The Cupid Shuffle. We also brought out a sombrero and Keira and DJ James led a conga line around the room. Below is a video and a few pictures from the event.

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