Tag: dance

Posted on

Why You May Want Silent Disco at Your Wedding Reception.

Silent disco works great at weddings too

It is exciting, unique, memorable and more fun:
 Silent Disco is endorsed by Martha Stewart’s Wedding Magazine as a hot, growing and incredibly fun form of reception entertainment. Silent Disco is also listed by Wedding Wire as among the hottest reception trends for 2017.

You want guests to be able to talk more easily:
What is the biggest concern for all guests at all weddings? They are worried the music will be too loud to talk. With Silent Disco they ask, “how can people talk with headphones on?” Then they realize that the headphones can be easily removed for a quick chat in a normal conversational voice. This is much easier than having to yell in order to be heard over the typical sound system at full dance volume.

You want guests to stay longer:
The biggest reasons that guests leave is that the music is too loud for them to talk to each other. With Silent Disco formats, that doesn’t happen. Not only do the headphones have an independent volume control, but the traditional sound system is playing quiet pleasant background music to enhance conversation; -it is never too loud.

Headphones have independent volume controls, three channels & change color to show which one you are listening to.

You want your reception to go later:
Especially if your reception is outdoors or in a location that has noise ordinances requiring the loud music to shut down at a certain time; Now the party can keep going as late as you want it to. Outdoor receptions, barn receptions, and even hotels that rent rooms within earshot of the banquet hall benefit from Silent Disco.

How does Silent Disco work at a wedding reception?
Usually there is a traditional sound system for the cocktail and dinner music as well as for the introductions, announcements, and special dances. The sound system continues to play soft music throughout the reception.
Guests use the headphones when they want to dance.
The headphones have independent volume controls and three different channels which allow three different dance types to play simultaneously. Often, one channel is the Bride’s playlist, the second is the groom’s playlist, and the third is the live DJ taking requests and reading the crowd. The headsets light up in a different color to show which channel guests are listening to. You can literally be dancing with your partner who is listening to a different song. 

Want to learn more about my Silent Disco?
I have it available for you on this page.

You already have your DJ and just need to rent the Silent Disco Equipment?
I can help you with that too. Check here for prices and how my rental works.

Here is an article from the New York Times describing their take.

Posted on

Class Reunion Party Tips, Activities & Ice-Breakers

Class Reunion tips, activities
Music: It goes without saying that a significant amount of the music should be from the years close to the graduation. But the DJ should still avoid the clunkers and stick to the hits of that era. As the evening progresses, (depending on what year of graduation) guests will start to request newer songs for dancing.

Volume: Class reunions have a very strong social element (meaning people want to be able to talk while the music is playing) so the music volume should reflect that. Yes, the volume should raise as the dance-floor fills, but people who haven’t see each other in years (or decades) want to talk when they are not dancing.

Activities and Ice-breakers: Don’t put them all together, sprinkle them throughout the evening to keep it interesting for guests.

Mock awards for who traveled the farthest, who traveled the least distance, who lives closest to the school, who married their high school sweetheart, who came back to get a job at the school, who still lives in the same address since graduation, who has moved the most times since graduation … your imagination is the limit…

A welcome from the class president – or homecoming queen or … maybe just the head of the reunion committee

A toast to the class of ’65

A blessing before the meal for parochial schools.

Passing the wireless microphone from alumni to alumni – this works best while everyone is sitting – the person with mic stands up so everyone can see them and then say their name, introduce their date if the have one- and then say a few details about their life (what they say is optional) but, when I am the MC for this activity, I encourage them to say where they live, what they do or did professionally, and then finish off with a personal detail or two. The mic is then passed to the next alumni. Works well during coffee service while people are still sitting -or even in between courses (depending on the type of meal service you have) Obviously this would be prohibitive if you get more than 100 or so alumni.

Door prizes are always fun.

Class of (insert year of graduation) trivia is always fun: questions made up that only people who went to the school would be able to answer. ie, what was the name of the math teacher who taught ______ . Name one of the novels you had to read for 12th grade English. What team was played against for homecoming that year. Who was the Prom King and Queen. what was the name of the principal of the school… You can do that activity unstructured (which means the MC asks the question and then confirms the answer after somebody shouts it out/no score kept.) Or you can do it structured, where there is an answer sheet. Scores are kept track of and prizes given after drawing randomly from all the correct answer sheets.

Team trivia (general questions) from the year of graduation. Tables work as a team to get the correct answers. Questions can include things like price of gas, or movie, or car, or issues in politics or news worthy events from that year,

Uplighting around the room in the school colors is always nice.

Consider the school logo or mascot projected on the wall or dancefloor.

Depending on availability, pictures from the year book can be digitized and put on a plasma screen or projected on a screen.

A Photo Booth would be great fun too! It is the perfect icebreaker. The pictures make a fantastic party favor and what better time than a reunion for lot’s of pictures!

Posted on

A photo of DJ Johnny’s Lights in action

My dancing lights are in the foreground of this picture. They liven up the dance floor by moving, changing color and ‘dancing’ to the music.

The uplights are in the background. You can see the plasma screen on the left.

Dancing Lights at the Owego Treadway
A photo of Johnny’s dancing lights. Uplights in the background and plasma screen on the left.

This was the Maine Endwell High School Prom. We showed photos of the seniors, courtesy of the yearbook committee, on the plasma screen and projected their “Spartan” mascot emblem on the dancefloor.

The uplights ran patterns of blue and gold to match the school colors.

Johnny DJ's the Maine Endwell Prom
The Maine Endwell High School Prom used their mascot emblem as the projected monogram

It was huge success! Administrators told me it was the best prom they’d had in years.

The class president was so pleased, he wrote me this note of testimonial below:

Johnny Only did a fantastic job as the DJ and MC for our High School Prom. He played a great mix of both our requests and popular hits. Johnny Only knew his audience and kept the Prom rocking for hours with music that we really wanted to listen to and dance to. His speaker system is very powerful and easily filled our large venue with sound. His system has an excellent range, with crystal clear vocals and deep pounding bass. It was everything that one would expect out of a professional DJ and more. As an MC, Johnny did an excellent job of announcing our Prom Court and kept the Prom flowing smoothly all night. His up-lighting synchronized with the music and created a really cool unique atmosphere that changed for each song and served as the perfect backdrop to our simple decorations.. The projected monogram and TV picture slide show were cool additions that also really helped to personalize and commemorate the event.

Thank you Johnny Only; you made our Prom night the best that it could be.

Anthony Taylor, Maine Endwell Class of 2014 Officer anthonytaylor@college.harvard.edu