Planning company parties – to make them unforgettable!
That’s exactly what it’s all about: planning an unforgettable event! You can ‘test’ it on yourself: what do you remember (especially if you’ve been with your employer for quite some time)? Coordination meeting number 24? Or the company parties where you could finally have a bit of a chat with colleagues and managers in a more relaxed setting and have a great time?
Although company parties play such an important role in a professional career, the planning of such an event often tends to be done on the side. The immense tasks involved must therefore be carried out alongside the day-to-day workload, which is a shame, because, as mentioned, company parties can become real milestones in a company’s history. But some things cannot be changed; what you can change, however, is to carry out the planning efficiently and, ideally, avoid making the mistakes that others have made before. That’s where our article on planning corporate events comes in!
Type of celebration – what are we actually celebrating?!
This question may seem trivial, but it’s a sound starting point for successful planning. Is it a company anniversary, a product launch, a team-building event or the annual Christmas party? What exactly are we celebrating? Depending on the answer, key decisions can be made, such as the venue and the number of participants. For team-building events, for example, it’s often good to ‘just get out of the office’ – after all, thinking outside the box doesn’t always work when you’re right in the middle of the box, i.e. your own office or company premises. If, for example, employees’ families are also to be invited, you’ll simply need more space for activities; a product launch, however, can also be celebrated on your own premises with a bit of preparation and creativity.
Who’s celebrating with whom?
Depending on the occasion, you can start drawing up the guest list. This should be done in close consultation with all parties involved – because nothing is more embarrassing than simply forgetting certain staff members, i.e. failing to invite them. Should only internal staff take part in the celebrations, or external guests as well? For example, business clients or the families of staff members? The venue can be chosen depending on the number of attendees.
How do we celebrate?
People often think that a few glasses, plates and some small nibbles will do the trick – after all, people just want to get together and celebrate. For such a setup to result in a successful celebration, you’d probably need a very experienced ‘party crew’ – in other words, it only works in the rarest of cases… It’s better to plan big and then trim down the list of activities. Don’t leave any ideas out and, above all, give your creativity free rein:
- Slogan?
- DJ / live music?
- Stage performances?
- Comedians/presenters/motivational speakers?
- Culinary delights?
- Event venue?
- Features & range?
Perhaps we could even turn this into a public holiday with:
- a guided tour of, say, a brewery
- working together on, say, a soapbox race
- A day’s walk with special challenges
- Joint cooking event
Think very carefully about what sort of entertainment programme suits your guests. It’s best to discuss with the relevant team leaders what is suitable for which staff members. If you’re planning for external guests, you should also consider what would be appropriate. In short: anything is possible, at least until the budgetary limits have been set (which is why we’ve deliberately placed this ‘disruptive factor’ at the end of this article – as a bit of a downer, so to speak).
Invite, invite, invite
Whilst almost everyone is presumably looking forward to the Christmas party – meaning it’s a fixed annual fixture – for special ‘one-off’ events, you need to dig a little deeper into your communication toolbox. Here, too, it depends on exactly what is being celebrated. For example, a beautifully designed invitation sent by post can lend a product launch a more formal air. For a team-building event, an email, a meeting invitation and a notice displayed in a prominent spot in the office, the factory floor or the coffee kitchen might be sufficient.
How do I organise all of this?
This brings us to what is actually the most difficult part – or rather, the part that most organisers probably dread the most: the actual planning! Here’s a good tip, though it can also be a bad one: perhaps there are colleagues who have previously been entrusted with planning company parties, have already gained experience in doing so, and can pass this on. You don’t have to start from scratch, so to speak. But that’s also the downside of the whole thing, because you shouldn’t simply reuse old planning templates exactly as they are. New ideas can breathe fresh life into the celebrations – if, for example, the same venue has been chosen for the umpteenth time, perhaps it’s time for something new?
It can also be well worth asking around internally to see if there are any keen volunteers. Often, it is precisely those colleagues you least expect who suddenly rise to the challenge and, with tremendous dedication, plan, organise, execute and make the celebration unforgettable.
‘Sticking point’: budget
Ultimately, of course, the budget is also a decisive factor in the planning. So if you can only afford to book the stand-up comedian, but there’s no money left for food or Christmas presents, the budget might have been allocated incorrectly – and your colleagues will almost certainly be frustrated (unless the stand-up comedian is genuinely very entertaining). Consulting with the finance department can provide clarity as well as potential savings – are parts of the celebration, or perhaps the entire event, tax-deductible?
All in all, good preparation can save time, which can then be put straight towards the enjoyable aspects of planning: letting your ideas and creativity run wild, and reaping all the credit and praise as the organiser!
