The event was last night. The playlist went over much better than I expected. It contained Latin influenced jazz, Latin covers of English pop songs and salsa music. The first hour of the event was my standard corporate background playlist while people gathered and ate. The company, I learned, was a non-profit. The guests included local officials, supporters, employees and several people I knew from Rotary. The second hour was for awards, a presentation, some fundraising and a mingling exercise. The playlist I generated the other night was for the last hour. During the first 30 minutes at least half the crowd said their goodbyes and left as expected. I kept the music playing while the stragglers were still mingling. I began packing away the things I no longer needed to finish the gig. With less than 30 minutes to go, a couple came up to dance to a salsa song. I figured this must be a special song for them and didn't think much more of it. By the end of the next song (also a salsa) about half the small remaining crowd was dancing. This was never supposed to be a dancing event, but people were really enjoying themselves. This could have turned into a nice little party if it wasn't for the hard stop that I had.
I really need to learn my Latin music better. I have had a cumbia playlist for years that has come in handy several times. Now I need to make a salsa only playlist. You never know when these lists will come in handy, especially here is SoCal.