Why $395 DJs don’t belong in YOUR SCHOOL!

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 Arizona Pro 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 CD Players = $300
• 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 $2 million insurance policy and other business expenses, or a computer which houses most of the music the DJ will be mixing.
That’s $9000. All rental companies charge at least 10% of cost. This means that to rent out this system at 10% it would be $900. 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?

$900 is $505 more than $395. This means the $395 DJ either 1) values his skills at NEGATIVE $505 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, large video screens, 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. A few companies, such as ours, can even bring celebrity performances to your school.

We’ve talked equipment, but what about service? The right company (Arizona Pro DJs *cough**cough*) 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.

3) $2 million insurance policy.

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 commercials / audio drops / lunch “jam” sessions to promote the dance! At Arizona Pro DJs, your marketing is included in the cost of your event! We have the best of the best digital artist serving up 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, Arizona Pro 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 Arizona Pro DJs for example, we give you an event planner dedicated solely to knowing every in and out of your event! They are your go-to person and the communicator between your school (or just you for private events) and the ENTIRE team responsible for making your event a success, ie marketing designers, production crew, entertainment, etc.

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 Arizona Pro DJs by looking at our many sites: Start with azprodjs.com our official website, facebook.com/azprodjs our facebook fan page (be sure to become a fan while you’re there!), twitter.com/azprodjs, our twitter page, youtube.com/azprodjs 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 [(602) 910-3804] or text or shoot us an email (info@azprodjs.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 at www.arnoldooffermann.com