I like dancing to the music. Put me in an environment with similar people and the feeling is amplified so it only makes sense that I’ll want to go to a jam like a battle or other similar types of get togethers. However, sometimes there are parts of an event that can really take away from everyone’s good times. Rather than list a bunch of problems, I’ve decided to give a few suggestions that may hopefully help inexperienced promoters throw jams that keep everyone happy and coming back!

1) You’ve Got to Pay to Play

It’s been touched on before but there have been many instances that I have seen winners of competitions get paid either partially or not at all. As Dennis likes to say: “WHAT THE HECK MAN?!”

It is important that the promoter should ALWAYS have enough money to pay the people you’re supposed to pay. By not sticking to your word, no one will trust you and how do you expect to have people come back to your future events if you can’t be trusted?

“But I have to make sure I pay my DJ and Staff first”

In my opinion, that’s quite a heaping load of bull.

Not the bulls that you are looking for.

So what you’re telling me is that the DJ and Staff are more important than the dancers? Who is this event being thrown for again? This is why I believe that a promoter should have all the money ready to pay everyone before the event is even thrown. It feels like some promoters are counting on making enough money back just to cover the minimum expenses of throwing the event. You may as well put your money on the roulette tables since you’re basically gambling.

Do you really want to go to an event planned by this guy?

** A similar gripe I have is when a dancer is asked to do an exhibition show or battle but is only offered “exposure” or “it’s for charity.” If it’s a favor for a friend, I might be down, but for some random promoter, no way. You get as much as you put in and if you put nothing down, you get nothing. I do realize there are circumstances where performing for free really is a noble cause (I have done a few for charity myself), but I have just seen this excuse used in too many cases as a get out of jail card so that someone doesn’t have to pay a performer. If this keeps going on, we’ll need to have a charity event for dancers that perform for charity.

“These will soon turn from b-boy dance floors to prime b-boy real estate.”

2) Know How to Market Your Event

How can you expect people to go to your event if they don’t even know about it? One of the most common ways I’ve started seeing recently is through social media such as Facebook. I think this is one great way to let people know about your event, but that’s just it. It’s only one way.

Try multiple ways to market your jam. I’ve seen people go to practice spots and other jams to pass flyers for their upcoming event. Other promoters have had parties or exhibition performances to let people know how much fun they’ll have if they show up and what kind of dancing to expect. Mini events and get togethers are always great ways to help spread the word.

You can also try reaching out to other dance websites and blogs to help get the word out and let people know about your upcoming event. It doesn’t cost you anything but some of your time. And if you feel like this takes too much time on your own, use a team of people.

Technically, all you really need is the Flash

3) Check Your Calendar for Other Jams on the Same Day

This is self explanatory. So many times events will land on the same day and someone’s going to be losing money. However, I think that if promoters were to either do research on what events are happening on the day they want to throw their jam, they might be able to find a different day or coordinate with other promoters to make everything work.

For example, rather than having two events on the same day, multiple promoters could have different events on different days. That way dancers could plan ahead and go to both of them. They get to dance more and promoters don’t have to compete for people on the same day. Everyone wins. The main idea here is communication between everyone.

4) Start with Small Jams

I know the idea of throwing a huge jam and having a ton of people come out sounds very exciting, but if you’ve never had any experience with something like this before, it’s probably best to try and throw a small jam first. If you can’t throw a successful event for 10-20 people, how do you expect to throw a great event for 100 people? For 10,000?

5) For the Love of God Allow People to Bring in Water

Not allowing dancers to bring in water to a jam that they’ve already paid for is a horrid idea. I understand that a promoter needs to find ways to make money or doesn’t want soda spilling everywhere, but taking away essential stuff like water just demonstrates short sighted planning. Yeah people might pay for water, but how many dancers will have cash for that? Say some great dancers start to get dehydrated but don’t have money for drinks. They can’t battle 100% and the overall quality of the battles goes down.

I’m not saying that promoters shouldn’t sell food or water. I think that’s fine, but allow people to bring in stuff like water too. And if you do sell water, please don’t charge $10 for a small bottle of warm water. Whether or not someone has the money to spend, a ripoff is a ripoff.

“Oh you’re thirsty? That will be $5 bajillion dollars and one of your kidneys.”