Planning Company Holiday Parties

It seems almost unfair. Employees work hard for a whole year, and they get only three or four hours to kick back and relax at the holiday office party before starting the process all over again. Smart meeting planners recognize how critical the holiday party is to an organizations morale, productivity and sanity, and make sure its treated internally as an important business function, rather than just a party. Here are a few tips on how to make the event a productive, cost-effective function.

A. Call it a Holiday Party, not a Christmas Party.

Play it safe and keep religion out of the office. By the same token, try to avoid any specific religious imagery, and if you must, try to be balanced (e.g. if you have a Christmas tree, also have a Menorah, etc.)

B. Plan Early.

Book early and get your pick of the best venues and dates.

C. Clarify Event Goals.

It may sound silly to have a goal for your holiday party, but doing so cost-justifies the event and your role in planning it. Communicate the importance of those goals to senior management when establishing budgets for the party, and again when submitting requests for deposits. Try these goals: 1. Increase Productivity. In this era of doing more with less, employees tend to burn out faster. Giving them a party as a reward for a year of hard work also allows them to blow off steam and recharge their batteries. 2. Improve Employee Retention. In today's business environment, employees assume the worst. Layoffs are on the way. Salary cuts are coming. Bankruptcy looms. You don't want them thinking they're on a sinking ship. Since the company Holiday Party is one of the few times the entire organization or department is present together, its an ideal opportunity to reassure the troops that the sky is not falling down. 3. Communicate Goals. The end of the year is a very cathartic time, as people mentally close the book on the past year and are ready to begin another. Use the Holiday Party as a platform for the CEO to communicate company goals for the upcoming year.

D. Get Out of the Office.

Hold your event at a hotel, restaurant, nightclub or any other type of off-premise venue. Here's why: A. If employees are in a different environment, it's much easier for them to shift from work mode to party mode. It also will foster better mingling among employees across departments and cliques. B. Off-premise events get better attendance. When your event is on site, workers tend to linger at their desks after the parties started. C. In-office parties risk damage to the office. Even if your event is in a company cafeteria, people still wander the halls and offices with drinks and food. Keep it clean and go off site.

E. Tight Budget Alternatives.

If you're concerned that going off-premise will be too expensive, consider these options. 1. Rent out a bowling alley and have a bowling party.
2. Rent out a movie theater and screen one of the many new films that are released in December. Especially if its in the afternoon, the price can be very affordable. A good device is to have a small reception afterward with soft drinks, popcorn (served in bags with your company logo on them) and candy.
3. Rent out a family style Italian or Chinese restaurant.
4. Book your space for an afternoon instead of an evening to get a better price. Or, consider holding the event in January when prices have a tendency to come down considerably.
5. Finally, if you must hold the function in your office, change the ambience. Here are some ideas.
a. Put votive candles everywhere.
b. Arrange for a local wine store to set up a wine tasting area.
c. Bring in interactive entertainment, such as a palm or tarot card reader, caricaturist, roving magician, origami maker, etc.

F. Force the CEO to Speak.

A key part of achieving the events goals entails the boss rallying the troops. Employees are looking for leadership, reassurance and motivation. The CEO (or division head, etc.) should:
1. Thank everyone for all their hard work during the past year.
2. Acknowledge any milestones the company reached.
4. Communicate goals for the following year.

G. Have Senior Management Interact with the Rank & File.

Were talking about the top two or three officers here. They know that their mere presence prevents many employees from letting loose. They want to bond with the troops, yet at the same time they feel the need to be . . . Presidential. Here are some ideas that are bound to win the hearts and minds of the work force. 1. Have the execs get on the dance floor. 2. Arrange for them to bartend for a short period of time. The less they know about bartending the better. (Just make sure professional bartenders shadow them so the drinks are drinkable.) 3. Have them greet guests at the front door. Don't underestimate the power of the CEO looking the company's employees in the eye, shaking their hands, and welcoming them. For some real comic relief, have them wear those peel and stick name tags that read "Hi, My Name is . . . " 4. Have the top brass take turns mixing records in the DJ booth.

H. Having a Party Even if You Laid Off Staff.

Employees understand that when times are good companies expand and add jobs. They also understand that when times are tough, companies often have to cut jobs to stay in business and continue to thrive. To not have a holiday party simply because it might look bad in light of job cuts is underestimate the intelligence of employees. The employees that remain with the company understand that business is business, and they need a holiday party after a tough year. The goal today is to have fewer people accomplish more, and a key strategy for sustaining that level of effort and productivity over the long haul is to have holiday parties, summer outings and other periodic events to pat them on the back, let them catch their breath, and decompress, if only for a few hours, from the frantic pace they've been put through. If you drive workers hard in this kind of environment without a periodic celebratory break, you risk revolt and a palace coup.

 

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