6AM GROUP

Jia Wang of 6AM Group

Having gone to 6AM Group Events, I have become enamored by the promotion , production and management of these events. Grateful to be able to learn from the experienced Jia Wang, I am equally pleased to be able to share the knowledge I received during this interview. 

To begin the interview, what inspired Jia to start event management? 

The early beginnings were raves during the mid 2000s to 2009 especially noting EDC at the NOS Center. Furthermore Jia's prior college experience, a grassroots event promoter, selling tickets to frat parties guided him to a nomination onto the social chair of Delta Kai in Virginia. 

What personality traits, skills, and education do you think all event planners must have? 

Jia believes that all event planners regardless of personality type ,introvert or extrovert, should be comfortable putting themselves out there. Being able to handle the pressure and / or absorb it is a key skill. Having an education in marketing and event planning, and promotion will be beneficial of course. Furthermore Jia emphasizes that time management and communication are key pillars to success for event planners/promoters.

Why Techno Events?

Jia excitedly recounts his musical journey in chronological order: trance , electro-house, EDM, tech-house, techno!

He relates to the vibes techno gives him, an outward happiness and the isolated dark internal feeling.

What event software or tools do you use and why?

Google Suite of course for versatility such as GMAIL, Docs and spreadsheets.

Task Manager: ASANA recommended by WU nightclub of Japan , 

which jia considers a game changer for delegation and communicating effectively to his team.

Lastly Slack for interaction

What do you envision for 6am group 10 - 15 years from now?

Jia exclaimed that his team would find this amusing since Year 15 is 2023.

The overarching goal for 6 AM is to become " The Global Community for all HOUSE+TECHNO"

Having launched a website, shop, music podcast, the biggest goal for the platform is to sustain the vibe, convert and impact more people. 

What makes an event successful and how do you measure that success?

Even if you have an event with less than 5 guests your number one key performance indicator is "the vibe of the party". The energy of the promoter sets the vibe, and with good energy referrals will come. The intangible metrics are the most important measures for success. Internally, 

staff learning and growth ; for company culture these intangibles are valuable for internal satisfaction.

The money metric is always a great metric for success however its just extra cheese. Did the DJ have a good time thats also an extra for measuring success. Once salaries or fixed wages become a dedicated expense then money begins to matter. Attendance drives revenue.

What was your most successful event(s) since this interview?

Reform Festival and EIF in guam.

Reform's vibe and attendance was a major win, whereas EIF created a major loss for 6AM that shook the core of 6AM.

How do you manage your budget?

Overestimate how much you're going to spend and stay under budget.

How would you handle an event going over budget? 

What can we learn from the experience, how to avoid it in the future, and decide which PRIMARY expenses cannot be avoided!

Pay for it if its worth it and figure out what you can cut out!

Jia essentially describes here a cost-benefit analysis.

What tactics do you use to negotiate a budget with third parties (vendors, sponsors, etc.)?

Remember that last minute desperation will cost more! 

Live up to your words! LEVERAGE your position in the industry. Utilize working relationships or referrals. Let them know you have a long term vision they will be more willing to work out a deal with you as a "repeat" customer. Be empathetic, what value do we bring them. How do you talk to them based on this.

What would you do when you feel stressed out during the event planning process?

Stay Ready, Don't React, Meditate, Gym, give yourself white space, have a solutions mindset

What would you do about something you had to do but did not have all the answers?

March 2008, 6am had a blogspot and its still up today. Nobody had a blog like this doing interviews and I was in this exact position not having all the answers. Figure it out or Fail and Learn, its a win-win scenario. Embrace Failure and just do.

You’ve just been given a new event to plan. How do you prepare for the kickoff meeting?

Schedule Time, Must have an agenda, prioritize, Venue, reverse engineer the game planned based on the date, keeping the momentum going.

Have you ever planned more than one event at a time and were they all a success? Why or why not?

Aug 13 was the rinzen show at 800 attendance and Guams EIF at 2800 attendance.

Again the KPI here are vibe and attendance both being a success for both events.

The success was entirely due to an amazing team and having no ego. 

How do you prioritize competing project deadline?

Divide and conquer, we prioritize the team to each project since each event is equally important. 

Did you run into any obstacles or mistakes before, during or after the event?

Solve the problem and find a better solution. Some issues that we could get into that is under-hiring or not having enough inventory. We have meetings post event to plan better, such as what have we learned and how can we create plan b, c , d. Where the final contingencies usually involves either myself, marco or one of the managers.

How do you stay motivated when things go wrong?

Jia knows that his drive and professionalism created the mentality that what needs to get done , get it done.

Do the job, and reassess what happened later post rave meeting. 

Dealing with difficult ,third parties, vendors, etc. How were they difficult and how did you handle it?

What was discussed is not in the contract. A lot of contracts weren't honored due to the pandemic!

Stand firm. Have integrity and hold the industry accountable.

If the principle is violated stand firm.

Being honest and empathetic to the artist, vendors etc.. about punctuality, etc.

Dealing with various vendors that don't understand the techno community.

When values don't align between us and the vendor, the goal is to explain the value and principles we operate by.

Whats the best way to choose a venue?

Context of the party.

Is it Underground make sure theres a private alley,

Open air, keep in mind the position of the sun. 

keep in mind occupancy, parking and physical distance to the party.

Where are the majority of your tickets coming from?

Who's the venue manager? If they are on your side its smooth.

If the venue manager, is strict it can cause conflict and there is enough to worry about.

Which event type is more exciting to plan?

Underground warehouse raves are more enjoyable, it's where more memories are built.

Open air festivals, have the same feeling but a different format. For example guam electric island is super small but the value it brings is what gets me pumped and excited.

What general steps to start planning a techno event?

1. Build Community, first and last job of a promoter.

2. Find Event Partner, You won't feel lonely and having a shoulder to lean on will help for mental health.        and getting a different perspective. Their personality can be different from your own but have the same     values, and principles.

3. Save Money, Save capital for an event. If an event will cost $5000 make sure it means nothing to you.

    As long as the party vibe is good it doesn't matter if you lost money.

What are your top priorities when planning an event?

Vibe and Experience is created through production and energy.

Attendance is promotion and marketing.

What do you consider your style of leadership?

Playing sports growing up , I take the sports coach approach.

I definitely take the basketball captain approach with tough love.

My approach is different though with the same mentality. You can't talk to adults who work very hard for you like a sports coach. There is the coach mentality but there needs to be empathy and I make time and hold importance for anyone whose lifted a finger for me. Gary Vee is an influence for my leadership style.

How many events per year?

It was warehouse parties couple times a year to 30-40 events a year easily.

From LA, Detroit and Guam. Every other week, two a month. Afterparties in detroit and the guam festival. 

First time expenses?

We rent a lot. Depending where you are, you don't need to buy anything.

Backline is the recommended purchase i.e. CDJ and Mixer.

Strobes/lighting and smoke machine for the vibe.

Speakers are a whole different beast, and that equipment is better off renting for production.

Historically, people get into promotion because they thought they wanted to be a promoter to just end up playing with the lights and sound production aspect. In that case don't bother promoting we can just rent from you. 

Don't be afraid to ask for advice.

If you really want something push through and get it.

Thank you so much for all this great wisdom Jia. 

I know I've certainly learned a lot about production, promotion and the what it takes to create a vibe.

I can't wait for 6AM group's next compound event!

Links:

 

www.6amgroup.com 

IG 

music @6amgroup

merch @shopby6am