How to Make Different Types of Corporate Events More Interesting and Fun
Darryl Scotti 1 March 2019
What are corporate events? A corporate event has many different definitions, but it is often thought to be an event organized by a business for its staff and/or stakeholders. Corporate events can range from holiday parties to appreciation events, from conferences to team-building events.
One thing that employees generally don’t like about corporate events is that they are mostly predictable and stale. But, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. A bit of imagination is all it takes for avoiding bland catering, conventional setting, and awkward speeches. So, in today’s post, we are going to talk about how you can make different types of corporate events more interesting and fun.
1. Internal Meetings
Internal meetings are corporate events that usually involve discussions between company management and staff or management and stakeholders of the company. Event planning expertise is required to pull off a successful internal meeting. How do you make an internal meeting interesting and engaging for your staff or stakeholders? We have some ideas for you:
- Keep it Short
No one likes attending long meetings during office hours. Therefore, you should try to keep your meetings short and focused to ensure that your staff stays engaged throughout the meeting. Focus on highlighting the most important points of the meeting and keep your discussion focused.
- Start with a Story or Use Metaphors
You may be able to capture the attention of attendees by starting the meeting with a story that relates to your business. Once you have captured their attention, you can discuss the agenda and important points of the meeting. Whenever possible, try to make your discussion more relatable by using creative metaphors, case studies, and real-life examples.
- Hire Performers
If you can’t keep the meeting short and it is going to last for hours, it is best to break the meetings into two sessions. Give a break of about twenty minutes after the first meeting session is over and hire performers to entertain the attendees during this period. This will freshen up the minds of the attendees and they would be able to stay active during the second session.
2. Conferences
When you host a conference, the reputation of your company is on the line. A conference gives you the opportunity to present your brand in front of the industry leaders and showcase your expertise in the niche. Moreover, you can bring together speakers and provide value to attendees.
Registration prices of this corporate event are usually high. Therefore, you need to provide an experience that is worth the attendees’ investment. Here is how you can make a conference entertaining and valuable for the attendees.
- Find Good Speakers
Conferences-goes often travel far distances just to listen to the speakers. Therefore, it is essential that you find and secure great speakers for your conferences. If the speakers for the event aren’t good, your conference will be a mess.
- Rent a Photo Booth
If you want to make your conference entertaining and interesting for the attendees, rent a photo booth. Your attendees would love to capture unique photos of themselves and take the photos with them as a reminder of your event.
- Interactive Food Stations
You should get creative with catering too. Instead of planning a simple buffet dinner, offer interactive food stations that will not just feed attendees, but wow them as well. Customized cocktail bar, a donut wall, and a live barbeque station are a few examples of interactive food stations that you could offer to your conference attendees.
3. Product Launches
Product launch corporate events are extremely important for a company. They should be planned months before the date of the event to ensure that all the arrangements can be made on time. In this type of corporate event, investors, employees, competitors and members of the press come together under one roof. Therefore, it is crucial to plan an interesting and entertaining product launch. Here are a few ideas to plan a successful product launch event:
- Use a Theme
The theme of your product launch will set the tone for the whole event driving all the planning decisions. Choose a unique theme for the launch and make all the arrangements accordingly.
- Use Virtual Reality or Augment Reality
If you have the budget, then we suggest you allow people to experience your new product with VR or AR. These technologies are becoming popular nowadays and it will allow people to see what your product is all about and experience it in a virtual environment.
- Offer Unusual Food
If you want to provide a unique experience to the attendees of your product launch event, then offer unusual food choices. There are plenty of unique dishes you can choose from to present something that your attendees might not have ever tasted before.
4. Training Workshops
Organizing training workshops for employees that they would actually want to attend isn’t easy. Many employees aren’t excited about these workshops especially if the topic of the training is dry like security issues. But, there are a few ways you can make training workshops more interesting for your employees.
- Change the Layout
Trainings can be boring when the layout of the room is too mainstream. Surprise your employees by changing the layout of the room. Instead of chairs, provide beanbags and decorate the room in such a way that it relates to the topic of the training.
- Offer Networking Opportunity
Whether you are organizing an internal training event or an external one, give some time to the attendees to interact with each other. This way they will be able to discuss what they have learned and won’t get tired from continuous learning.
- Encourage Participation
There is no point in holding a training session where employees are not encouraged to participate. Give them an opportunity to ask questions and request them to provide feedback after the training workshop is over. This way you’ll be able to determine the areas where improvement is required.
5. Holiday Parties
Many companies throw holiday parties to show appreciation for their customers or clients and reward the employees for their hard work. These types of corporate events are more lighthearted than other events, but they still require careful planning.
You need to make a holiday party as fun as possible while maintaining a professional look. Here’s how you can organize an interesting and fun holiday party:
- Hire Entertainers
Since a holiday party is all about fun and entertainment, you should hire some entertainers like fire performers, magicians, or comedians to perform at your event. They would be able to keep the attendees entertained during the evening.
- Casino Games
Rent some casino tables to offer a Las Vegas experience to your guests. Casino games are loved by many people and they can bring any event to life. Hire professional dealers as well to ensure that the games run smooth.
- Contests
A friendly competition can liven up a corporate holiday party in no time. Some ideas include a caption contest, scavenger hunt or a trivia game with questions related to Hollywood movies.
- Social Photo Booth
Nowadays people love taking photo booth selfies. A social photo booth allows them to take photos and upload it to their favorite social media channels in no time. Rent a social photo booth so that your party guests can keep memories of your event with them.
6. Seminars
Seminars are usually used by a company to showcase its expertise on a certain topic or to provide its employees with learning opportunities. In this type of corporate event, audience members are usually allowed to ask questions from the speaker. To make your seminar more interesting, consider these tips:
- Use a Non-Traditional Venue
You don’t have to organize a seminar in a large ballroom. There are many non-traditional venues that you could use for your seminar. Search for unique venues in your area that are big enough to accommodate all your guests.
- Plan an Activity for the Break Time:
Instead of a tea or coffee break, consider adding a unique activity into that period. For example, informal chat sessions can energize the attendees and freshen up their minds allowing them to focus when they return after the break.
- Use Technology
Don’t just use PowerPoint presentations in your seminar. Instead, come up with something unique to interact with your audience. It can be an interactive app or even a chatbot – use your imagination to think of something that would make your seminar more interesting.
Final Thoughts
We have provided you various ideas on how to make different types of corporate events more interesting and fun. Now the next time you are given the responsibility of planning any kind of corporate event, you certainly won’t find yourself short on ideas. If you need a professional’s help to pull off a successful corporate event, reach out to The Great Event. Our professional event planners will use their extensive experience to plan an interesting and fun corporate event for you.