Planning the event
Christmas Corporate Parties are just around the corner and a lot of Marketing, Communication and Human Resources Departments are already thinking about how to surprise their employees and managers with a unique and unforgettable event.
How about transforming a dull social engagement into a special party that nobody in the Company would like to miss? Christmas has detractors but the secret lies in transforming the party into an excuse of celebrating the corporative spirit in an original way and even with a surprise ingredient.
Repasaremos, en dos entregas, diez pasos imprescindibles para preparar y celebrar una fiesta de Navidad de empresa inolvidable. Hoy nos centraremos en la planificación:
We will revise, in two deliveries, ten essential steps to prepare and celebrate an unforgettable Corporate Christmas party. Today we will focus on the planning:
1. Plans, budget and space:
Step number one is deciding the day on which the event will take place and the kind of celebration. (It is recommended to save a date at least one month in advance).
In this stage it is essential to design the theme of the event. It is needed to determinate the planning, budget, resources and the necessary space and locations.
Once we have fixed the concept it is needed to program the different parts of the party (beginning and finishing time, development of each part, climax and resources and the necessary equipment to complete the stage). This is why it is recommendable to rely on professionals from the Event sector, as they are experts and know the environment and the city where they work, therefore they will be able to offer you a lot of options to be able to make out of each event an unforgettable experience.
2. Make your employees (to endorse the Corporate party) be the focus of the party
In many cases Corporate Christmas parties are an unavoidable compromise, that’s why it is important that the employees feel they are part of it from very beginning, since we start planning so that they will become the leading role of the party.
If the party is for the employees, it is logical to ask them how they would like to celebrate Christmas with their friends. Offering different options, different formats, timetables, gastronomic alternatives (especially if the staff is multicultural or if there are people concerned about healthy diets. By doing this you are growing the expectative to assist.
There are a lot of online tools that allows to create easy surveys like, SurveyMonkey o Doodle (if it is a big company). If it is a Pymes, employees can send an email to the organizers of the party with their election. In that sense, it is important to connect the corporative culture of the Company and think if the party will be open to the family or maybe more formal. Get to know if the employees would like to come accompanied by their couples or not.
3. Choose a theme and let your imagination fly:
Choosing the subject is a key decision. With a low budget, the best option is to choose a classic and modest theme. Light colours will make us think about the winter and the snow (decoration will be simple and cheaper). If the objective is to make a more exclusive party or if it has to coincide with any other corporative event, Corporative Christmas parties can adopt different forms: costume parties, classical themes from any movie or series with distinct aesthetic (like Mad Men, 50s style Swing dances, Rebel Without a Cause, The Godfather, or even a Hollywood Awards Ceremony, as Volvo did). Another option is to propose to the guests to adhere to a particular colour or outfit (for example, a blue party, or ask guests to wear hats).
The choice of the topic will determinate not only the decorations and the catering but also animation and the complementary activities and can generate many hours of enjoyment and conversation, all of them key to the success of a Company Christmas party.
An amazing sample of decoration, more in http://www.inout-home.hu/blog/inspiracio/karacsonyi-dekoracio-feherben/
4. Create expectation with the invitations:
Once we have chosen the topic, it is important to create expectation around it, using original invitations (Social media and multimedia tools offer a lot of possibilities to save money and surprise) and teasers to give successive tracks about how and where the party will take place, what will the dress code be and what surprises will come out during the party. A traditional teaser is holding a gift exchange between the colleagues, activity that works well in teas not too large, as long as you fix a minimum and maximum price for the final gift, and exchange small presents (sweets, or fun and minor details) during the days before Christmas Corporate party. Remember to be consistent with the theme, so that attention to the celebration does not stop growing.
5. Celebrate the Company identity:
It is important that the corporative image is present in the Christmas celebration, this is why it is necessary to combine with ability and elegance the theme of the party with the corporative colours and logos. For example, if the corporative colour of the company is the yellow, you can choose a theme related with the Astros (for example, under the stars), in which yellow colour will be present in the decoration (with stars and constellations), in the catering and in the souvenirs. The key is in maintaining a balanced and delicate presence of the corporative image and combine it with the Christmas and the topic chosen.
This Christmas party from Google is an example of how to use corporative colours in a delicate, elegant way, with amazing results. More pictures in http://www.donohuemarquees.com/corporate_events/event/google_christmas_party/
Now that you have probably come up with an idea for your Corporate Christmas party, it is time to put it all in practice and celebrate the event. In the next delivery we will review the execution of the party and we will give to you some advices to achieve so that your celebration will be really original.
