Dreamteam’s First Nightmare

Howard Universities Dreamteam is one of the biggest party promotion and hosting groups on campus. They are known for their sold out venues and incredible DJ. Dreamteam, whose founding members are of the graduating class of 2012, just recently added a selected few of freshmen class of 2015 to their crew. The group had never dealt with any issues in terms of pleasing fans and customers until their first party of the Spring 2012 semester entitled “#3peat”, but who is there to blame?

On Sunday, January 15th, 2012, The Dreamteam presented “#3peat” as a welcome back party for the students of Howard University. This party had been promoted for over a month. Pre-sale tickets were going for $10 for general admission and $20 for V.I.P., which included no wait in line. On the day of the event, they had been selling the tickets online which included an extra online fee roughly $2. The event was being held at The District located in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Adams Morgan is a neighborhood full of night clubs, bars and restaurants geared toward smaller groups of the age 21 and up. The big turnout of college students was not what the venue had intended. A large number of students were not admitted into the venue and the police were called. It was the issue of the students taking up a lot of the sidewalk space and over populating the small street. A lot of the students were angry and were demanding refunds. The disappointing outcome of the event led many to students to vent on social networks. Some students panicked while some looked for a solution. One freshman student named Jasmine Roberson said, “I was able to call Chase bank and have the charge reversed after explaining what happened. The operator was young, so she understood completely. It’s like I didn’t even pay for the party.” Other students that were not as lucky are still in livid about the situation.

Dreamteam responded with a press release the day after the party sincerely apologizing and stating that they will be hosting a “free event” to make up for the disappointment. The press released stated, “For those who were unable to get inside the venue that paid for our services we are making our best effort to re-pay all of you.” Many students expressed confusion about Dreamteam’s claim to refund money and host a free party. When speaking with one of the members of Dreamteam, they were certain on the topic of the “free event”; however, when mentioning the refunding of students’ money, the member’s responses were filled with uncertainty.

My concern, as a student and onlooker of the situation, is the lack of concern from Dreamteam as a whole. While the press release was delivered under the name of the group as a whole, there seemed to be only certain members who publicized it. This event begs the question, if the

veterans of the group cannot be efficient in handling classic party promoting problems, how can they act as teachers to the new class?