If you do, can you tell me exactly how the evening will unfold? Even down to predicting the layout of the room; the food you’ll be served and the songs the band or DJ will play? I bet you can.
Sounds like you are stuck. Stuck in a ‘party’ rut.
And that’s the best way to describe it. Because someone has to be strong enough to get you out.
There’s the dilemma. When tasked with organising an event for your colleagues do you stick with the familiar, the ‘normal’ or do you push for a change?
If you’re looking for something different, talk to us, we’ll take care of everything for you.
A new client came to us recently. She had been handed the reins of the ‘Christmas Party’. I say ‘reins’ but she saw it more as being given a ‘poisoned chalice’. She’s an accountant, not an event planner. The company had done the same-old, same-old ‘hotel package’ Christmas party for years. Everyone was used to it. Everyone had an OK time. There was nothing wrong with it. But she recognised that there was nothing right with it either.
Even when the design of an event looks great (and I mean really great…we went all out 1920s, think Prohibition and Speakeasy; cocktails in Martini glasses and champagne flutes; wine in brown paper bags; long dining tables to be more sociable, more inclusive; a Swing band playing modern tunes in a twenties’ style and an optional 1920s dress code – I think you’re getting my drift) you are still worried no one will like it. Will anyone dress up? Will anyone get into the spirit of it?
However, you don’t need to leave your ‘rut’ at high speed. Take it steady. Get everyone excited with a great invitation; send hints of how the evening will unfold and the excitement of a new event will be carefully underpinned with points of ‘comfort’.
How? If you build the company’s personality and their work into an event, and we’re not talking stamping a few logos around the place, then you create familiarity in a new evening.
For this event we created their own cocktail menu (as they were finance folk it’s just simple changes like ‘Between the Spreadsheets’ was a twist on the classic ‘Between the Sheets’; a ‘Prohibit-Iain Smash’ (after Iain, the boss man); we put the company Directors in the ‘Wanted’ gangster posters (everywhere – the toilets are still part of an event venue, so the back of the toilet doors is a great place to keep a theme running!) and we also sent all guests our Pinterest board on easy ways to create the 1920s look.
Did they get into the spirit of it? Absolutely. Even though it was optional, everyone, and I mean everyone, came in 1920s outfits.
The result? They absolutely loved it. We couldn’t get anyone to leave when the party ended at midnight.
Our client was inundated with praise. Colleagues wrote to thank her for an amazing evening – something that had never, ever been done before.
Need help getting out of your rut? Get in touch.