It is easy to repeat the same office party every year, according to Angelee Rathor of Group Se7en Events. You can eat the same three-course meal with the same people followed by the same disco. But you want more. The monotony does little for boosting staff morale and improving working relationships, which are conventionally the aims of corporate social events.
With co-workers who share few interests outside their work, departments that barely know each other and diversity across the company in terms of age and culture, the pressures of planning a large corporate party can approach those of planning a wedding. Whether you want to throw a champagne reception or a trapeze artist into the mix, a few golden rules will go a long way in planning your party.
Give yourself a lot of time
Time needs to be dedicated to viewing venues. Angelee says: “It’s all very well seeing images online, but you need to see that space to imagine your event in there. Only by physically visiting the venue can you visualise where every section of the party will fit.”
One Se7en Events client chooses its Christmas party venue in April, having begun the search in February, and books in September. Desirable venues go quickly, especially for popular dates.
Time is dependent on the size of the guest list. Parties of 250 or more would need to take the April route. Smaller companies interested in joining others to create parties of 50 within a venue of 300 are able to leave less time.
Have a clear event schedule
It can be tempting to think that the running order will sort itself out on the night, but for people to move seamlessly from food to entertainment requires co-ordination. Angelee suggests that you don’t attempt to do it yourself. Give your coordinator a clear objective and let them make sure that everyone has the same timetable to work from. For instance, if you’re planning a Christmas and end-of-year party combined, then decide when you want any speeches to take place. Angelee says: “When people decide to make do with in-house staff they can utilise on the day, I've seen that go horrifically wrong.”
Image: Trapeze artist at party organised by Se7en Events - photo by Se7en Events
