Mia
Organizing and managing a corporate event can be a high-pressure situation. You have a massive group of people with different interests, needs, and perspectives on the company, and you want them all to have fun and get excited about the next season of work they have coming up. The following will explore a few ideas you might want to look into that can add a little energy and wonder to your corporate events. Of course, it’s always a good idea to have a firm grasp of the company culture before you start making plans. You want to ensure that you’re reflecting back on the vibe that the staff is comfortable with.
Feed People Lots (More Than You Think You Need To)
You probably already have a plan for providing some food for everyone, but people get cranky when they’re hungry, so you want to be sure that there’s something edible available every few hours. Not only that, but you want to be sure that you’re meeting everyone’s dietary restrictions: there should be dairy-free options, gluten-free options, and vegetarian options. You also might want to look up the most common allergies. This will give you a good idea of the most problematic foods there are. You can, of course, include them, but be sure that there are alternatives available that didn’t come in contact with the allergen foods.
If you’re serving alcohol at any point throughout the event, you need to have food continuously available. Eating is the only thing that can actually help sober a person up or settle their stomach if they end up drinking a little too much.
Get Creative With Performances
Most corporate events will have some sort of performance involved. Choosing a musical act is a common route but often one of the easiest to mess up as not everyone likes the same music. Why not get a little outside the box? Seek out unique performances in your area. Things like magicians, mentalists, and circus performances tend to go over really well with large groups of people. If you’re located in London, why not look to hire a magician in London? Seeking a performance from your area can often help you save a little bit of money as there won’t be so much travel involved for the performer(s). It also reduces the risk of bad weather delaying their arrival or resulting in cancellations.
Make It Photo Friendly
Nowadays, social media is an integral part of life. Having photo booths or installation art that is fantastic to take photos with can be a massive hit. A room full of lanterns or floral sculptures or a ceiling covered in balloons can make just physically being at the event something spectacular. Some installations the event planning team can install themselves. Others might require local artists. Something like an indoor swing makes the perfect photo opportunity and forever sticks in your attendees’ minds.
Unusual Activities
When you start looking for odd or interesting activities, you’ll be shocked by how many options there are. You can plan a company-wide paintball match against actors dressed as zombies. Yes. This is a real thing you can plan and do. You could have the event also be a renaissance fair. Axe throwing is an option. Falconry is an option.
Nostalgia And Throwbacks
Depending on the generation many employees are part of, it might be really easy to amp up everyone’s experience with some nostalgic themes. It’s all too easy to include Pokemon for millennials or 80s movies for generation x. Take some time to think about what were the beloved parts of your staffs’ childhoods and see if there’s a way to incorporate them.
Consider Volunteer Work
Nothing makes people feel better than helping others. Again and again, studies have found the fastest route to happiness involves altruism. You can plan company events around charities or volunteer work, meaning not only will staff have fun together outside of the work environment, but they’ll also be helping others and feeling good about themselves and the world. Even rare volunteer work can reduce feelings of depression among people. In turn, less depression means better productivity and stronger workplace creativity. Everyone wins.
The above list should give you an idea of some of the things you can do to help add a little magic or spice to your corporate event. Again, it is crucial that you understand your company’s culture before you start planning. If you are unsure of what you want to do, you can always brainstorm with an event planning company and break down the vibe and energy of your staff. Likely the event planners have encountered tons of ideas that worked well in your area and some that didn’t.
