Calgary Trail South Edmonton Canadian Tire at the Sawmill Banquet Facility.

This event was exactly what a corporate function should be.  Good people, good food and lots of fun.  Last year I also was the DJ for Canadian Tire and even though it was a really good party it ended a little early due in part to it being held on a Sunday.  This year management agreed to close the store early on Saturday which in turn led to a more successful party.  As some of the employees had spouses and partners that normally would have to work on a Monday morning, therefore causing them to leave the party earlier on a Sunday that if the party was held on a Saturday.  Needless to say this year’s holiday party was way more successful than last year.

I would like to thank the staff at the Sawmill Banquet Facility for being very accommodating to my style of DJ.  As an Edmonton DJ many venues can be a challenge to work at.  Maria Baert was very helpful with a number of things that evening to make my job easier and is well better.  The Sawmill Banquet Facility is a very nice venue on the east end of Edmonton just off 34th Ave and 76 St. 

The room was split in half to accommodate two smaller events.  For me this was the exact same room we were in last year.  The only thing I like to do one in this room is placed my DJ equipment in the middle of the dance floor along the false wall that separates the two rooms.  This creates a better look and feel for the dance floor and allows me to interact with the crowd in a far easier fashion.  In order for me to do this the buffet line had to be moved slightly away from the wall it was great to see the staff willing to make this adjustment happen.

Leaving start at about seven o’clock and everyone was in good spirits right from the get-go.  I recognize the a lot of the same people from the year prior which makes it more enjoyable for me as a DJ to work with people over and over again.  We played a fun Christmas game in order to pick the order of the tables for the buffet line and that went over very well.  Dinner was very well done, buffet style, with lots of items to choose from.  What I really liked about the buffet line was that each item had a name tag so you knew exactly what the item was.  There are a lot more fussy people today than ever before in this allows them to know exactly what they would be eating.

We started the dance right around nine o’clock and coordinated our dance start time with the room next to us.  This is a great idea to prevent music, which is normally played at a higher volume for a dance, from being heard overtop of someone else trying to speak and do speeches after dinner.  The venue was right on top of this issue making sure both events were the best they could be.  We had a full dance floor right from the get go and what really made this party great were about six people that really liked the dance and got the ball rolling which in turn made everyone else want to dance.

You can tell that everyone really get along quite well with everyone else as a good part of the night everyone was dancing in a circle as one or two people showed off their moves in the middle of the circle.  This normally happens when you have a group of people that like each other and like to have fun.

The highlight of the night was when one of the gentlemen dancing decided to take off his sweater in a mock striptease.  Everyone was cheering and laughing as this all happened and it truly elevated the party to another level as I do not think this is normally something this person does on a regular basis.

It is nice like this to continue to make me want to keep being an Edmonton DJ.  Thanks again to the staff and management at Canadian Tire for having me back this year and I hope to see y’all again next year.

Please see below for some video highlights from tonight’s event.

Simply put Bridal Fair is a wedding trade show where brides and grooms can come to one location to see a large number of local vendors in the Edmonton area. With over 90 vendors in one location this can be a good place to come and meet some decent service providers.

As an Edmonton DJ I have never participated in a bride trade show.  As a small operator in the Edmonton market,  where I mainly work by myself and use 2 other highly qualified DJs when needed I do not see the attraction to a bridal show.  From a DJ stand point I do not understand how anyone can simply go to bridal show and base their decision on booking a DJ on who has the prettiest booth.  DJing is so much more than just showing up and playing songs from a predetermined list, it is about helping to create an environment where you and your guests want to be and stay there all night long. 

The dance portion of your wedding night is generally 4 hours in length and often people do not place enough emphasis on this part of the night.  Often the difference between a cookie cutter approach to DJing and hire a professional that has more equipment than 2 speakers and a laptop and can all be carried in a Firefly is about 200 – 400 dollars.  Sure that can be allot of money but in the big scheme of things and a typical wedding costing about $19,274 (according to Weddingbells.ca) that really isn’t.  I often have people come up to me at a wedding and say “I wish we had hired someone like you for our wedding” and I simply ask them “what did you pay for your DJ?” and often the reply is $600 – $700.  I simple say “unfortunately you got what you paid for”. 

I recommend that people think about what it would cost to hire a Bobcat operator to work for them on a Saturday for about 6 – 8 hours.  Well I can tell you that is costs about $125/hr with an operator.  So if you had hired someone for 6 hours that would work out to be $750.  I can personally tell you that my equipment and music are worth more than a Bobcat, trailer and truck to pull both of those and it takes a lot more personality to be a DJ than running a Bobcat.

What I really am getting at is you need to do you homework when it comes to your big day.  Be sure to place the right amount of emphasis on the the things your consider important.  I always say to my brides and grooms to focus on the things that they remember from the functions that they have attended.

It was clear that some of the exhibitors went all out for this event.  Joe at River City Rentals created what had to be one best looking booth at the entire show.  He created a room within a room and setup a head table with guest tables so people could get a real feel for how a room could look.  They even went as far as to hang a chandelier from the ceiling to create the look and feel of a banquet room. 

One of the highlights of the day was the fashion show.  Lots of dresses and lots of tux’s made for a very well attend fashion show.  Seeing what styles and colours that will be in fashion this year is what everyone was wanting to know. 

From the exhibitors I spoke with following the show they stated that Bridal Fair 2009 had over 900 bride in attendance and the 2010 show had about 450.  With such a significant decrease in the number of attendees some vendors are already questioning the high cost of being in the show is worth the expense.

Please see the attached video of some highlights of vendors and the fashion show.

List of Show Exibitors

A Beautiful Day - Planning & Decorating

A Chair to Remember - Planning & Decorating

ABC Weddings – Planning & Decorating

Artistic Creations Photography and Design – Photography and Videography

Avenue – Publications/Media

Beauti Control – Health & Beauty

Bed Bath and Beyond – Retail

Best Buds Flower Co. – Florists

Best Western Cedar Park Inn and Westwood – Wedding Venue

Bliss Wedding Consultants – Planning & Decorating

Bloom N’ Memories – Florists

Blue Sky Limos – Limo Services

Bridal Debut – Bridal Fashions

Browns Photography – Photography and Videography

Cakes by Janna – Cakes & Sweets

Coast Edmonton Plaza – Wedding Venue Location

Coral’s Design – Florisit

Crystal’s Bridal - Bridal Fashions

d’Lish – Catering Company

Derks – Men’s Formal Wear

Electrik Lemon Hair and Body Studio – Health & Beauty

Elegant Events – Planning & Decorating

Elegant Touches – Planning & Decorating

Erik Hornung Photography – Photography and Videography

Fantasyland Hotel – Wedding Venue

Final Touch – Planning & Decorating

Flowers In The Park – Florist

Gemini – Bridal Fashions

Graham and Lane Florist - Flowers

Hilton Garden InnWest Edmonton – Wedding Venue

Holiday Inn Convention Centre – Wedding Location

In Motion Style Group – Health & Beauty

Infinite Event Services – Planning & Decorating

Instant Memories – Photography and Videography

Isagenix – Health & Beauty

Karisma Resorts – Wedding Travel

Kelly Redinger Studios – Photography and Videography

La Piazza Dasee – Florist

Mary Kay – Health & Beauty

Moby Disc DJ – Edmonton DJ for Special Events

Moores Clothing For Men – Men’s Formal Wear

Nickibeans – Cakes & Sweets

Notables – Stationery and Invitations

Photsmiths – Photography and Videography)

Picture That Photography – Photography and Videography

Pioneer Meadows Golf Course – Wedding Venue

Piotr & Megan Photography – Photography and Videography

PoGirl Productions – Photography and Videography

River City Event Rentals – Planning & Decororations

Sandals – Destination Lane

Sears – Retail

Shandro Photo – Photography and Videography

Sharaton 4 Points – Wedding Venue

Special Event Rentals – Planning & Decorations

Stella & Dot Jewelry – Bridal Fashions

Strathcona String Quartet – Entertainment/Musicians

Sweet Beginnings – Planning & Decorations

Table Charm – Retail

The Bay and Home Outfitters – Retail

The Bounce – Publications/Media/Radio Station

The Bridal House – Bridal Fashions

The Islands of the Bahamas – Destination Lane

The Last Detail – Planning & Decorations

The Papertree – Stationery

The Tuxedo House – Men’s Wear

The Westin Edmonton – Wedding Venue

To Be In Pictures – Photography and Videography

Transat Holidays – Destination Location

U Weight Loss Clinic – Health & Beauty

Uniglobe Geo Travel – Travel

Vigor Media – Photography and Videography

Weddingbells – Publications/Media/Magazine

Wedlux – Publications/Media

Whimsical Cake Studio – Cakes & Sweets

Yukon Brewing Company – Grooms Room

It was great to be back with a great group of people for their annual holiday event.  Last year Nash and Rob asked me to DJ their joint Christmas party at the Platinum Club/Gold Dust Casino and it was a rockin’ good time.  We were not able to go back to the Platinum Club because it is being renovated and made smaller and no longer can hold more than 100 people.

So this year they moved the function to the St. Albert Royal Canadian Legion.  It had been years since the last time I was here and to be honest I could not even remember where it was located.  It is a very nice room with a easy load in for equipment with no stairs and only about 40 feet from the front door was the room I was playing in.

Boston Pizza shut down their locations early on a Monday so that everyone could attend the event.  Everyone started showing up at around 7 pm and we were in for a good time. 

Nash and Rob were there to greet their staff as the came in and everyone was very well dressed and in great spirits.  The fun things about doing a function like this is the staff.  As they work in the hospitality industry and deal with people all the time most of them have very out going personalities which makes for am ore interesting evening.  I have been an Edmonton DJ for so long that sometimes one forgets how much fun it can be to be a disc jockey.  Allot of people remembered me from last year and were very friendly which makes for a better evening for me.

Dinner was served around 8 PM and it was a very simple yet very good buffet.  Even tough there were not tons of items the ones that were there were very well made and there were a number of people that went back for seconds.  The only thing I would have liked to have seen would have been a better section of deserts. 

Dinner was followed with door prizes and Tyler took over the MCing duties and he is hilarious.  He has a great personality and can really think on his feet.  I think he could make a great DJ someday if he wanted to. 

The dance then followed and all I can say is wow.  Right from the first song the dance floor was full almost the whole night long.  We even had a couple of people sing a karaoke songs.  It is often easier to DJ a function like this as you have a narrow age range and therefore a narrow list of songs they generally want to dance too.  There were lots of requests and lots of dancing and everyone had a good time, and if you didn’t it was your own fault.  I sure hope to be back next year.

Please see the attached video for so highlights of the evening.

It has been 2 years since the last time I was with my friends at Davis and Company and boy it was good to be back.  The weather outside was frightful and inside it was delightful with great food and friends coming together to celebrate everyone’s favorite time of the year.

The Hotel MacDonald is the most beautiful venue in Edmonton at the best of times; and this time of the year takes it too a whole other level.  The Christmas decorations are so well done and really add to the look of the hotel.  So much so that people were taking pictures of each other in the lobby in front of the great tree and reindeer.

As an Edmonton DJ it is always great to DJ at the MacDonald Hotel and tonight was as good as always.  Over the years I have gotten to know some of the staff and on this night a couple of people were there that I have gotten to know.  A special thanks to Chris for his unequalled service and helpfulness.  He treated me like a guests rather than the hired help and that says a lot about him and the MacDonald Hotel.  If other venues could understand this it would server them well as I have customers that call me and ask what is a good venue to hold a function at and I always mention the Mac.

Dinner was served just about 7:30PM, which was a little late, because of the poor road conditions making people run late getting to the location.  Dinner was, simply put, amazing and I could not have had another bite as I over did it.  It was great to sit a relax and enjoy a great meal and my dinner guests were great to visit with and we had a great conversation over dinner.

After dinner we had a couple of quick speeches and the highlight of the night was 2 things.  1st was the slideshow and video presentation that the interns put together.  There were a few slides shown on the screen that were doctored in Photoshop that had everyone laughing as the interns made jokes about the office staff. 

The video presentation followed the slideshow and that was a spoof in the TV show “the Office” and boy was it funny. It must have taken days to put that together and was one of the best presentations I have ever seen and all I can say was the bar has been set high and will be hard to beat.

The 2nd thing was the “Family Feud Game” where 2 teams were picked and competed against each other to answer a few fun questions about the staff and partners based on how well they new each other.  This was very well done and the MC did a great job of preparing the game in advance.  I will be sure to recommend this to other companies in the future.

The dance got started about 10:00 and it was just like old times.  Since I had been with this group before and had a good understanding as to what they liked and that was a good starting point and we were able to hit the ground running.  There were lots of requests and everyone just seemed to cut loose a little and have some fun and relax, something we all need to do once and a while.  What I love about the Hotel MacDonald is the atmosphere in this room.  With a great look and feel and add in great lighting control you can really set the tone for an inviting dance floor where people will want to be.

Please see the attached video for some highlights of the day from “Edmonton DJ” 

December 19, 2009 – Edmonton Corporate Christmas Party for WIKA Instruments Edmonton

It is great to back with WIKA again this year to do their Christmas party.  They are a great group of people that like to have fun.  In order to elevate a party to a higher level we decided last year that we would add in a couple of games to make things a little more interesting.  Corporate functions can be a bit of a challenge as the employees bring a spouse or guest and since they don’t really know anyone they can feel a little out of place.

My goal is to add in some activities that help to break the ice and get everyone to relax a little more so they intern enjoy themselves and stay a little longer.

Last year we decided to play “golf”.  Simply put everyone that comes get a chance to go golfing and every time you sink a putt (best of 3) you get entered into a separate draw then everyone else.  It went over very well last year and everyone lined up to play and it was great fun as everyone cheered and sometimes booed for the person putting.  We decided to leave the golfing in this year and see what happens.  The funny thing is that I think that it was better this year than last year and that is because people knew how it worked and it was so much fun as people that never really golf came up and gave it a try and when they sunk a putt everyone cheered and it was ton of fun.

For dinner we played a game to pick the table order. Santa Bingo is a fun game that is more luck then skill but is better then simply picking number out of a hat.  The fun part was the ribbing people where giving me as we did the game as there was a lot of banter which turned out to be a lot of fun.

Dinner was very well done at the Radisson Inn.  The Radisson is a really nice venue to hold a function at, but is one of the hardest venues to get equipment into and out of.  Also, with the dance floor at the opposite end of the room from the entrance to the room make it even a longer distance for an Edmonton DJ to have to move their gear. Also, the room is quite nice but is in need to painting and a little T.L.C. to keep it current and maintained.

After dinner we played 2 quick rounds of “Name that Tune” and this was great fun as everyone was involved and engaged making it a lot easier to do.  I had a volunteer run my computer which really sped up the game and me running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

The highlight of the night was when myself and 2 managers and the president of the company performed a rewritten version of “Kenny Rogers – the Gambler”.  We did a rehearsal before dinner and that went off without a hitch and we had an almost flawless performance but we all had a little bit of the nerves.  I think the 4 of us had more fun doing this then everyone watching.  I think it is great to see management step outside the box and have a some fun.  I hope we can talk everyone into doing this again next year.

We finally started the dance about 9:30 and we had people on the dance floor the whole night thru.  It was the ladies that really got the ball rolling with some line dances and top 40.  We mixed in a few slow songs, as anyone can dance to a slow song and by 12AM we had a good core group of people left and I played their requests and we had a great time.

Please see the attached video of some highlights of the day from Edmonton Disc Jockey.

The Nisku Inn has 2 rooms (1 Bigger and 1 Smaller) and the smaller room seats about 120 people which was perfect for the Amen Construction Christmas Party.  The day began with a bit of challenge as it had snowed quite a bit through the night and with a little bit of wind led to some drifting which made it very difficult to get my trailer out of storage.  It is always important to give yourself a little extra time when it comes to traveling at this time of the year and today I really needed that extra time.

To make matters a little more challenging, when I arrived at the Nisku Inn the front doors wore not working forcing me to load in a small side door that had a small step which was not helpful when it came to moving all of my equipment.

With all the small things happening I had just enough time to setup my show.  The doors opened at 5:30PM and I was ready at 5:20PM.  I have played in this room before and what was better this time was the placement of the dance floor.  It was right in front of my location which was exactly where I wanted it to be.  Last time the dance floor was about 20 feet from where my table could be placed.

With the weather causing everyone a few problems our evening ran a little behind schedule as we waiting for people to come.  Dinner started about 1/2 hour late which was just fine as the staff at the hotel rolled with the punches and worked around what the customer wanted.

Dinner started about 7:30 and we had a little fun picking the tables based on who was dressed either in Christmas colours or had on festive attire.  The food was very well made and there was a very nice selection of items including porgies which are generally a crowd pleaser.  The only thing that would be a little better would have been using both side of the buffet line but only one side of the table was used therefore, taking twice as long to put everyone through the buffet line.

Just after dinner the owner/president of the company said a few words about the past year and was looking forward to 2010 with new contracts coming up that will put Amen Construction in a good place next year.

What I really like about Amen Construction is that they are not only colleges but friends and family.  Everyone gets along and is there to relax, kick back, and enjoy themselves.  As an Edmonton DJ I consider myself pretty lucky to do what I do.  It is a great honor to be invited back year after year by the same company.  I am lucky to work with companies like Amen as they are the reason I am still doing this and hope to be back next year… in Canmore.

A special thanks goes out to Lynn and Bob as they are great dancers and break the ice for everyone to enjoy themselves.  I wish they could come to every one of my parties as they have such positive energy and are genuinely great people.

Please see the video below for some highlights of the night from an Edmonton Disc Jockey.

As an Edmonton DJ I have pretty much seen it all and all I can say is that Intuit did it all at this function.  From the minute you came up the stairs at the Westin Hotel there was something for everyone.  So where to begin.  As a guest you came in to the reception area where there was a piano player and bass player playing a variety of Christmas songs that just filled the air.

Down the hall was a room where you could have your picture taken via a professional photographer.  These pictures would then be made available to everyone in the weeks following the Christmas Party.

Everyone was mingling and visiting and enjoying themselves and there was a couple of magicians walking around performing close up magic.  This is a great add on to any function as it creates a great conversation starter that breaks the ice and leads to a better evening.  When the staff and their spouses come together for a function the spouses can feel a bit out of place and anything that can make everyone feel at ease creates an even better event.

The doors to the ballroom opened about 6:30 PM which was a little late to allow enough time for everyone to get into the room and find their seats prior to dinner.  The room was very well decorated with a back drop of Las Vegas as a background image that tied into the theme of having a funny money casino after dinner.  There was nothing new here for decorations that I have not seen before but what the organizers had done was well and all tied into the overall theme.

Dinner was very well done, served buffet style and everyone made it through the line in a very short period of time.  When you are feeding 300 people it is important that they all get through the line as soon as possible to all for a better evening.  The Westin did a great job of keeping the food on the buffet line so that there were no delays.

Dinner was followed by a couple of short speeches and a few door prizes that both very well received.  We then went into the informal end of the evening where there was both a dance and a funny money casino.

When there are two different things for guests to do that can be good and it can be bad.  If is always a balancing act trying to make as many of your guests happy.  The thing is that not everyone dances and the fun money casino was a great add on that appealed to allot of people.

The fun money casino ran from about 9PM to 11PM and the dance ran right along side it for those that did not want to gamble.

The casino was very well received and by most of the guests and those that did not want to play were on the dance floor.  There was not anyone sitting in the entire room so it was clear that everyone was partaking in all the activities provided via the organizers.  After the casino ended the person with the most money was awarded a prize and rest of the door prizes were given away and the dance finally got going.  With such a bigger distraction the dance generally suffers until the casino ends and that is exactly how it was on this night.

We did lose a few people after the casino which was expected for a crowd of this size but this size but those that stuck around danced their butts off and had a great time.  I was a little surprised that we had a good crowd still left at 2:00AM when I had to stop playing music as the crowd that was left were chanting “one more song” over and over again.

The challenge for next year will be to top this event.

Please see the video below for highlights of the event for Intuit Canada.

Edmonton DJ at the Edmonton Petroleum Club

I have been an Edmonton DJ for the last 10 years and the NAIT JR Shaw School of Business Christmas Party came about via someone in my past hunting me down.  John Beck is a great dancer and we knew each other from the days I used to DJ at the Fantasyland Lounge in West Edmonton Mall about 6 – 7 years ago.  They wanted to change things up a little for this years event and John remembered my company name and looked me up on Google and as they say it… the rest is history.

The Edmonton Petroleum Club is a really good place to DJ if you are lucky to be in the big ballroom with the access door right off the stage making for one of the easier load ins in town.

We had a great group of people that all were enjoying themselves and we then went into dinner about 7:00 PM and I jumped in with a game to decide the order that the tables would go to the buffet line.  It is a short a sweet game that requires the people at each table work together to answer questions about Christmas Carols and the table with the highest score gets to go 1st and so on.

We enjoyed a great meal with more choices of items than I have seen in a long time.  If you were not happy with all the choices then you were even harder to please than me and I thought it was a great meal, one of the best of the year.  Add in a great selection of deserts made for an enjoyable meal.

Dinner was followed by a couple of short speeches and a few door prizes.

The highlight of the evening was when John Beck sang a slightly modified version of “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer” that had everyone in stitches as he played it up with a great introduction and I had the karaoke version of the song that he sang along with.

We then went into the dance that had a great start but we ended a little earlier than I had hope but it sure was a good time while it lasted.

Please see the video below for some highlights of the night.

November 15, 2009

Twice a year the Hudson’s Bay Company at Southgate Mall hold a special evening for their customers to come into the store after hours and enjoy themselves.  The winter extravaganza was very well attended with lots to do and see.

People were already getting into the Christmas spirit as I was hired as an Edmonton DJ to play Christmas music and provide a microphone for the draws.

The store and mall were all decorated for Christmas which really helped with the atmosphere.

Everyone in attendance was visiting and enjoying themselves and patiently waiting for the amazing door prizes to be given out at the end of the evening. 

What can I say but wow.  There were so many door prizes that started in value from $100 and went up to $350 with 2 grand prizes. 

At about 8:30 everyone gathered at the entrance to the Bay and the door prize giveaway began.  There was lots of cheering and screaming as the winners were announced and claimed the prizes.

Please see the video below for some video highlights of the evening.

Cahahoo Alberta

This was our 3rd year DJing the Calahoo Volunteer annual dinner, dance and silent auction. 

This is one of my favorite functions each year as it is a great function with great people all having a good time.   This is truly one of the hardest place to get into and out of as the room is on the second floor and there is no elevator.  In order for me to get into the room the organizers provide me a couple volunteers to help me carry my equipment up the stairs and back down at the end of the night.

It is a casual event with people attending for as far away as Bruderheim. Everyone has come for some good food, good music and to visit with good friends.  The silent auction is one of the highlights as there are a ton of great items donated via the community and supplies for the fir department. 

Dinner started about 6 PM and is a simple home cooked meal that covers the basics.  It would be great to see a little more variety and maybe some chicken for those of us that don’t eat beef.

The silent auction ran until about 9 pm and then the items were given to the winning bidders and a lot of money was raised in support of the local fire department. 

The dance got started right after the auction and it was a good mix of people dancing to all formats, from country to rock and the newest songs.  One of the highlights from the dance is when we took a break from the dancing to play a couple of games that were both competitive and extremely entertaining.  The Walla Balla and Toilet Plunger games were a big hit that brought out the competitive side of the guests and had everyone in stitches watching from the slide lines.

From there the night just got better and better.  Eveyone danced and had a great time until 2:00 AM. 

Please watch the video below to see all the hightlights from this years event