Most people have seen a flash mob. Many have participated in them. From funny viral videos online to amazing choreographed dances in community spaces across the globe, these seemingly spontaneous events require planning and some dedicated mobbers who are ready for fun.
If you've never participated in one but you've always wanted to, it’s time to grab a few of your favorite ladies and get to flash mobbing.
So, what’s the purpose of a flash mob? “A flash mob is a seemingly spontaneous public happening with music, dance, singing, and other artistic expression,” said Egan Orion, executive producer of One Degree Events, a flash mob and mass performance agency.
Also known as “elaborate pranks” or “self-organized entertainment,” flash mobs appear to occur on the spur of the moment, but they actually take a lot of planning and organization, according to Dr. Judith Nicholson, assistant professor of communication studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada.
Careful organization and exciting details lead to events that express joy, draw attention to a cause and simply bring people together. Flash mobs entertain or surprise the public, but most of all, they offer a surprising way to entertain yourself and your friends.
What better way to create memorable moments with your friends than to spend time together organizing, planning and flash mobbing? Follow the steps below for quality time with your gal pals and an incredible exploit you'll talk about for years.
June 2003: “The Love Rug," often referred to as the first flash mob. One hundred people piled into Manhattan’s Macy’s department store to question sales people about a “love rug” they wanted to buy for their imaginary free-love commune.
September 2009: “The Oprah Flash Mob.” To kick off the 24th season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in Chicago, the Black Eyed Peas — along with 20,000 guests — surprised Oprah with a flash mob performance of “I Gotta Feeling.”
March 2011: “Recycle a Bottle.” In what Dr. Judith Nicholson, assistant professor of communication studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, calls a “reverse flash mob,” an empty bottle was left on the floor of a shopping mall food court. A group of flash mobbers sat inconspicuously around the area. When someone finally stopped to pick up the bottle and recycle it, the entire mob broke out in a huge round of applause.
Choosing an idea that you and your friends like is the most essential aspect of the planning process. Orion said the first step in planning a flash mob is coming up with a unique concept that appeals to a mass audience. “This will help with recruiting people to join with you in the flash mob, but also will help draw people to the mob both in person and online," he said.
Whether you want to belt out a Lady Gaga hit in the middle of the Las Vegas strip or break out in a Beyoncé routine in a shopping mall food court, make sure you’re picking a song, dance or other piece of performance that people recognize and love.
It’s also fun to pick a neat location or occasion at which to perform the flash mob.
“Weddings are an especially fun place to throw a flash mob because you can involve key people from the wedding party to be in on the secret," Orion said, "and it’s an expression of love for the couple getting married.”
To make it an all-girls event, try breaking out a flash mob for a friend’s bachelorette party or birthday celebration.
Once you’ve figured out what you want to do, it’s time to work on the logistics. First up: Spreading the message.
You and your friends need to know the location, time and date on which you want to pull off the flash mob, but this may not be as simple as it sounds. Flash mobs are full-scale productions that can take weeks or even months to pull off, according to Staci Lawrence and Conroe Brooks, co-founders of Flash Mob America, an organization that plans and performs flash mobs around the country.
People organizing flash mobs need to consider how they’ll get permits to perform at a certain location, Lawrence and Brooks said, especially if a massive amount of people will be part of the flash mob.
Consult with the proper official at your location of choice to ensure that he or she is willing to let you use the space for your flash mob. Once you’ve made arrangements, start getting people involved. If you’re putting a flash mob together yourself, Lawrence and Brooks recommend rallying your friends and family through social media and having them in turn rally their friends and family to get on board.
Create a Facebook page for the event or send out an email containing the essential flash mob information but not every detail, Orion advises. Keep some details within your group. “Date, time and song are enough," he said. "Don’t give away your location until the last minute. It’s good to be secretive. People like being part of a secret event if they’re the first to be privy to the secret.”
Now that the word is out, you’re ready to start choreographing and rehearsing the number your flash mob will perform. No matter what your flash mob chooses to do — whether it’s singing a song, acting out a scene, or doing a dance — make sure the performance is brief, said Nicholson, who recommends using a 10-minute maximum as a rule.
It’s also important to make sure you have a competent choreographer, voice teacher, or stage director to help you plan and execute your flash mob, Orion said. “Planning a flash mob takes time, creative energy, and people who have some experience with music, dance, or theater," he said.
Once you have the performance or activity planned out, you need to make sure everyone who is participating in the event knows the routine. “Create videos for practice, do in-person rehearsals, rent a PA system and make sure you have regular communication with your mobbers,” Orion advised.
Request that the flash mob participants spend enough time practicing on their own so they can show up prepared when it comes time for rehearsals, Lawrence and Brooks advise. This together-time is perfect for a group of friends. It's an excuse to meet on a regular basis.
Being prepared is key, Lawrence and Brooks assert, because then you can spend the few minutes you have to perform really being present and taking in all the awesome reactions, not worrying about what dance move comes next.
However, also keep in mind that you don't have to choreograph an event that requires dancing, singing or other specific skills. You may plan more simple performances like the urban prankster network, Improv Everywhere, which is known for exploits like "No Pants Day" "Black Tie Beach," and "Frozen Grand Central," where 200 participants froze in place within the train station's main concourse at a coordinated time for five minutes. The Improv Agents stood in place at the same time — to the second. Careful timing like this creates cohesion, making the event more memorable and fun for a mob.
After days, weeks, or months of preparation, it’s finally time to get your flash mob on.
“Once you’ve done all the work, let the final product be whatever it’s meant to be,” Orion said. “It’s often not exactly what you intended, but the magic of bringing together a group of people from various backgrounds in some sort of spontaneous public performance has an intrinsic beauty to it.”
Have fun with it and enjoy the moment with your friends and the reactions of those around you. And, remember: When the routine or activity comes to an end, there’s one important rule to follow: “When it’s over, disappear into the crowd like it never happened,” Orion instructs. This will further reinforce the idea that the performance was an "out-of-the-blue" event.
Another important thing to remember is to make sure you’ve got an audience, Nicholson said.
“Some people seem to think that it’s the size of the mob that makes the difference. I actually think it’s the visibility by the audience that makes a difference,” she explained.
“It’s that old cliché: If a tree falls in the forest and nobody’s there to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, if there’s a flash mob and nobody shows up to see, has it really happened?”
While this is a good point, in the end, if you and your friends have a good time, it's a mob well done.