"Golden rules" of the New Year's corporate party
It is no secret that the company traditionally experiences several corporate events a year. As a rule, these are events dedicated to calendar holidays, as well as important milestones in the history of the company. For example, March 8 and February 23 are often held in a combined mode and are held mainly in the office in the form of a thematic rally or surprise. The second corporate event of the year is a summer trip, which is often combined with a company anniversary or a professional holiday. At summer events, in 70% of cases, it is supposed to organize not entertainment, but team-building events - teambuildings. However, some companies do share summer outings and anniversaries. Summer trips are less pretentious and have, rather, a picnic history. And the anniversary, in turn, is an important, beautiful and strict holiday. Its obligatory component is summing up the results over the years of work, rewarding the oldest, a rich show program and, of course, an enchanting anniversary finale in the format of a flash mob or fireworks.
Of course, the New Year's corporate party is the most awaited corporate party of the year.
Without exception, all employees are waiting for this holiday. And it is not surprising: the anticipation of an upcoming weekend, New Year's mood, the opportunity (especially for girls) to "go out" make this event the most desirable and enjoyable. When preparing such magic, we advise our clients a number of "golden rules", thanks to which the holiday will become an important and bright event in the life of the company.
- A helpful start and an effective ending.
It has long been noticed by the eventors that in any event the beginning and the end of the holiday are always remembered. We have slightly expanded this rule and developed a certain formula for success. The beginning should be useful - warm words from the management of the company with a "declaration of love" to employees, a summary summing up in figures, plans for the next year, and, undoubtedly, honoring the best. It is important not to forget that brevity is the sister of talent. The guests gathered for a celebration, not a conference. Such a beginning gives an excellent charge of New Year's mood and, which is important, allows each employee to realize their importance. It is this moment that is the finest hour for management, when there is an opportunity to draw attention to important moments in the past, plans for the future, and also to increase loyalty from subordinates. The bright finale is the enchanting ending of the program, designed to unite the team. It is achieved by special effects, the use of modern technologies (3d projection, mapping), script production. The most important, effective and inexpensive way to end the celebration with a well-thought-out flash mob, which will unite in a single action all the guests, and the activity of each will lead the program to the desired bright point.
- You can't have a lot of food, but you can save on alcohol.
By stocking up on alcohol immensely, you give an excellent chance to doubt that the team is working for the development of a promising company. In addition, few of the employees in the future looking through "spree" photos from a corporate party will be proud of the place in which he works. On the contrary, with food, saving is inappropriate. Food, as you know, is on the first step of Maslow's pyramid, and there can be no spectacles without bread.
- The concept is for the people, not the director.
One of the most important, in our opinion, rules, which are not always observed.When deciding on the choice of a creative concept for the event, the organizers on behalf of the company are often guided by the taste and wishes of the management (of course, it also allocates money). And at first glance, a harmless choice of a concept "incomprehensible" for the majority does not lead to anything bad. But if we talk about an event “working” for the development of the company, then the wrong concept is a waste of money, a pleasure for the top five from the company. In our practice, there was a case of organizing an event based on Verde's operas for a warehouse storage company. Already 20 minutes after the start of the beautifully arranged musical program, 80% of the audience was lost in the adjacent hall with an open bar and the absence of opera parties.
- The mood created before the project.
We advise all our clients to warm up their interest in the event in advance. This can be achieved with simple things - posters in the office, small quests "get an invitation", letters with video or audio plots in the corporate mail, small role-playing dating tasks. Such "tricks" are not difficult to implement. In addition, with their help, you can achieve a vivid effect - increase internal communications, raise the general corporate spirit during the period of annual reports, and even re-acquaint distant parts of the office. Warming up the mood, a ready audience comes to the event.
- The right atmosphere.
Prepare and think about the atmosphere. At any corporate event, the balance of its various components is important. Beautiful design (if there is no budget), the choice of a restaurant with a pleasant interior, tasty and convenient catering (for example, it is inconvenient to eat game on the bone in an evening dress, and even standing), music with the right mood and comfortable for communication, subdued warm light, subtly selected scents, such as Christmas trees and tangerines. Remember, the main goal of the event is to create a comfortable area for communication.
"Cheap, fast, cheerful", or Party in the office
This is the most democratic type of celebration. They move the tables, cut the sausage together and uncork the champagne, at the end of the feast "The reeds rustled …" and the showdown in the smoking room is possible …
A plus: minimum effort is required from employees. No need to run home to change clothes, puzzle over who to leave the children with, take the dearest half with you or not.
Minus: to be honest, you won't be able to create a New Year's mood - so, an ordinary birthday in the office …
"In the Greek hall, in the Greek hall …", or Banquet in the restaurant
According to pre-New Year polls, 38 percent of Ukrainian companies organize corporate New Year celebrations in cafes and restaurants. In some companies, it is customary to treat important clients and top managers separately, and arrange a more democratic and cheap party for the rest of the team. And in order not to oppose the holidays for the "rich" and "poor", events are clearly separated in time and space.
A plus: elegant dresses, suits with ties, music, waiters … All this pleasantly excites the blood, forcing to see charming ladies and gallant gentlemen in their usual colleagues. A festive mood is guaranteed by the setting itself.
Minus: ordering a room in a restaurant - what could be simpler and … more boring? A few hours of fun in a stuffy room can spark an increased interest in strong drinks among the people. Therefore, the main emphasis has to be placed on the festive program, which requires additional financial investments, inventions and nerves.
A certain company celebrated the New Year in … a small but cozy palace-museum near Kiev. Songs of carols, traditional Ukrainian Christmas dishes, riding in troikas in a snow-covered park …
"Under the blue sky …", or Exotic New Year
The most exotic options for celebrating the corporate New Year include going out into the countryside, to a country club or even to a foreign resort.
A plus: what can I say, memories will last for a long time!
A large St. Petersburg corporation celebrated last year's winter holidays right on the ice of the Gulf of Finland. Ice tables were set in the open air, exquisite light snacks were pleasing to the eye on ice plates, and waiters in livery and powdered wigs served hot dishes on silver platters …
Minus: an off-site celebration implies a walk “with children and household members,” and even many large companies find it financially difficult to arrange a holiday for a large number of people.
Who will help the office mass-entertainer?
According to employees of specialized firms organizing corporate events, the days of amateur performance are long gone. As a rule, for a fairly moderate fee, you can get everything: from the "New Year in the Tropics", performed by the professionals of show business, to "The Last Hero", painted for the employees of your company.
At the New Year's celebration of a certain company, a Russian folk tale "About the turnip" was played. First, the "grandfather" (CEO) planted a "turnip" (firm). She grew up big, very big. "Grandfather" pulls, pulls, cannot pull. He called "grandma" - an accountant. Then - "Zhuchk" - the sales department. Then "Murku in a leather jacket" - the security service. Then the "mouse" - the advertising department. In a word, they pulled out the "turnip". And in memory of such a significant event, each employee could be photographed in the cheerful company of the funny bosses!
Any holiday is boring without folk talents. So what if Kristina Orbakaite sang you live or was Ilya Noyabrev presented with a souvenir? After all, we see them on TV not so rarely. But native accounting, performing in an orderly manner (regardless of age and body size) the dance of little swans, can disrupt such applause that other stars have never dreamed of.
In addition, having talent can sometimes help out great. In a small firm, a negligent secretary, constantly on the verge of dismissal, saved herself by sincerely singing to the guitar. Only she was once again going to be calculated, there was a birthday or a corporate holiday … In general, she was fired only when she lost her bills.
And the New Year's menu is so serious that, as a rule, special so-called catering companies are engaged in it. According to their employees, today there are three types of festive meals: a buffet table, a "Russian table" and a gala banquet. The well-known buffet table (light drinks plus light snacks) is most often chosen by foreign companies: a corporate holiday abroad is a symbolic union of the bosses with the work collective, and not a free abundant meal. “Russian table” (this is, as an employee of a catering company put it, “when the tablecloth is not visible under the snacks”) is held in high esteem by large companies: they both drank and ate, and talked, and not for long. The gala banquet often requires from the participants such etiquette that in terms of the degree of nervousness it can be compared with a diplomatic reception. It is ordered, as a rule, for respectable corporate clients and top management of the company.
Are we leaving "on the edge"?
"What to do with my wife (husband)?" - this question is increasingly faced by many employees of successful companies, where, in addition to the New Year, it is customary to celebrate the company's birthday, summer and winter solstices, Easter holidays and other great events marked in the calendars. There are two polar opinions on this score.
Some argue that corporate holidays exist to rally a motley team into "almost a family." Therefore, outsiders (wives and husbands) are clearly superfluous at this celebration of life.Young, long-legged and unmarried young people support this point of view especially zealously …
On the other hand, celebrating with spouses is much more interesting: you can boast of both your weight in your own team, and your soul mate. Sometimes, having met at a corporate event with his wife's colleagues, husbands begin to relate much more calmly to her evening rush at work. And the husband of a familiar business woman, after a joint celebration of the corporate New Year, goes fishing with her boss.
"Where was I yesterday …". 6 bad advice
So, the holiday is just around the corner, the restaurant has been booked, colleagues are excitedly discussing New Year's toilets … If you want you to wake up in a cold sweat from memories and in anticipation of dismissal the next morning after a corporate party, do the following:
- Throw away all "mustn't" and "mustn't" along with the boring office suit. New Year is a great occasion for frank conversation and natural behavior. In a word, do, speak and behave the way you want! But…
Do not forget that even during the most carefree holiday, you are at work. And next to you there are not only devoted friends and soulmates … So it is better to let off steam among old acquaintances at the disco, and not in the “terrarium of colleagues”.
- Don't go to this stupid party at all! You are a respectable specialist, and such a “children's squeal on the lawn” should not interest you at all. But…
During a corporate party, it is easy to learn new information, get to know colleagues from neighboring departments, find out who the boss sympathizes with and who annoys him. And you yourself can draw attention to yourself with a good joke or a toast. The main thing is not to prop up the wall with a sour face - the party was organized for everyone to have fun.
- Eat everything to your heart's content! Do not hesitate to resolutely push aside those who are blocking your approach to an appetizing canapé with caviar or a salad with crab. It’s a pity that there’s no room at all on your plate … By the way, a few exotic cocktails help you to relax. But…
At corporate parties, eating with gusto is not accepted. Drink too. Ideally, business ladies should parade around the hall all evening with a single glass of champagne. And they are supposed to have a snack with a leaf of lettuce … Are you disappointed? These are the unwritten rules …
- Flirt briskly with bosses, colleagues, driver, security guard … After all, light coquetry strengthens business ties in the best way possible! You can also leave in front of everyone to "continue the banquet" together with a nice (and, if possible, married) colleague to his office … But …
As a rule, this is what is then discussed with relish by the whole family. And when the emotions of the outraged colleagues begin to go off-scale, the bosses will sigh and make "organizational conclusions." And it is possible that you will celebrate the next corporate New Year in a completely different company …
- Finally, have a heart-to-heart talk with the chef! Invite him to dance until you drop, or try to sit down next to the table. The main thing is not to get away from your boss for a minute and talk, talk, talk. But…
The chef is also a person … Therefore, remember: it is strictly forbidden to talk about work, to repent of one's own official miscalculations, to discuss colleagues or persistently spread about one's brilliant ideas.
- Show what you are capable of! Start dancing and drag shy programmers into the circle. Laugh out loud (with a slight squeal). Sing along to the artists. Juggle with oranges. Dance the cancan on the table. But…
If you're lucky, they'll call you a taxi. If not - an ambulance, police and firemen …
