Iowa DJ | Music Planning for events

As this is my first blog entry I will go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Jesse Veenstra, current Iowa Manager for Iowa DJ. Formerly, I co-owned along with Jeff, but recently decided to cut-back on my commitments as I am newly married. I work at ING, and will be attending Iowa State University in the fall to pursue my masters in accounting.

Ok, on with what I plan to talk about in this blog. Music. I meet with a client last night to discuss their wedding in April, and they asked me kind of an interesting question. The soon-to-be groom asked how long in advance I came up with my play list. Now, I don't know what every DJ does, but I bet some come up with a set playlist before the night even starts, and if they get a request or two they try to squeeze them in. However, that is not how I operate, nor do any of the DJs at Iowa DJ handle music. Rather, we usually have "sets" of music, or 3-4 songs kind of planned out that flow together well. However, we can quickly change the direction depending on requests, crowd reactions, and a variety of other factors. Being a professional DJ is all about being able to read the crowd, and all of us at Iowa DJ pride ourselves in the ability to play music that will make people dance and smile. Being flexible is one key to being successful as a DJ, because every event and every person is different. We take the songs that the bride and groom request before the event and create a good mix between those and the wedding "classics" to provide top-notch music selections for every event we do.

Jeff has trained all of us at Iowa DJ to appreciate and value all types of music, and we are continually learning new songs that get people out of their chairs and off the walls and onto the dance floor.

Jesse Veenstra
Iowa Manager
Iowa DJ dot com