Posts Tagged ‘corporate event entertainment’
10 Questions Your Boss Has About the Corporate Event Entertainment Vendor
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
So you’ve been assigned the unglamorous task of identifying options for the upcoming corporate event’s entertainment. Whether it’s an employee team building activity, holiday party, client entertainment function or brand awareness event, in the end it all boils down to you spending a lot of time asking friends and colleagues for recommendations, trolling through Google, and making a ton of telephone inquiries.
To help make this tedious process a bit easier, here are the 10 most important questions to answer about each vendor when conducting your research – the things your boss will want to know, so that he/she can make an informed decision:
1. Price – There’s no getting around this. Your boss surely has a budget range in mind for the event, and will need to have a general idea of what the vendor’s services will cost.
2. What’s Included – Obtain a complete list of services which will be provided, as well as additional options/fees.
3. What it Will Look Like – Is the entertainment, activity or act appropriate for the culture of the company, the intended audience or the tone of the function? That’s what your boss is concerned about – so find out.
4. Capacity – How many people can the vendor entertain? What is involved if you need flexibility on your numbers?
5. Duration – How long will the entertainment last? What are options for extending/shortening?
6. Lead Time – When do we have to decide by? Do we need to secure the vendor’s services right now, or is there flexibility to book closer to the date?
7. Special Requirements – Will this entertainment require us to rent any furniture or special equipment? Do we need a certain type of venue? Is this location-specific?
8. Restrictions – Will everyone be able to participate? Can this be done indoors as well as outdoors? How about day or night, winter or summer, rain or shine?
9. Reputation – Does the vendor have a solid client roster & glowing testimonials? Any positive/negative reviews posted online? Any firsthand knowledge from people we know?
10. Did You Get a Good Vibe? – Based on your communications, did the vendor seem polite, professional and trustworthy?
Depending on the type of event, your boss may have more detailed questions about vendors before committing to one. If nothing else, however, make sure you obtain the answers to the above, so that he/she may make a decision based on solid facts across a range of important variables.
What are some other questions you think your boss will have when collecting corporate entertainment vendor research?
How to Maximize Slim Budgets When Entertaining Employees
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
The recession isn’t over like we thought. As reported last week, only 18,000 US jobs were created last month, and unemployment is still over 9%. In this type of economy, 2 realities emerge: 1) employees aren’t as likely to leave the security of their jobs, and 2) they are going to be working harder for the privilege of keeping their jobs. Companies which value their employees naturally want to give economic and other incentives for this hard work, but in the current environment, raises and bonuses may not be feasible; how, then, can managers find the budget to provide employee entertainment activities designed to boost morale during challenging times?
Below are a few quick tips to stretch your allocated entertainment funds, in order to reward staff for their hard work:
1) Plan Your Event Early in the Week – This isn’t to avoid conflict with Friday happy hour; rather, most venues where you will hold your activity – bars, lounges, restaurants etc. – will be FAR more reasonable with their pricing if you bring your group on an “off” night, such as a Monday or Tuesday, when they are typically not as busy as they are later in the week or on weekends.
2) Bring As Many People as You Possibly Can – Most venues are thrilled to have a large group spend a couple of hours eating & drinking at their establishment. The more people you bring, the more flexible they are likely to be on pricing for food, drink and space use – guarantee a minimum spend, and you can likely get a private room at no fee (typically very expensive), as well as avoid committing to a hefty per-person arrangement, which may make a large group event untenable. Open the event to other departments, divisions or the entire company, to let as many people attend as possible.
3) Hold the Event in or Around Your Office – While a true “escape” from the office would ideally mean just that, there are plenty of options for arranging an employee staff party or professional team building activity within your workplace. However, if you’re adamant about doing something outside of the office, keep the options within walking distance, to save on transportation expenses.
4) Skip the Stuff That Doesn’t Matter – T-shirts, trophies, coffee mugs emblazoned with the company logo – all nice, but not necessary. Focus your limited funds on venue, food/drink and talent, to ensure that the group has the best experience possible.
5) Keep the Activity Simple – With a huge range of employee entertainment options out there, it’s tempting to want to give your group a real show. However, when your dollars are extremely tight, the goal should be to give staff a fun & memorable reward, not to completely blow their minds; find something which works for you and go with it (assuming the team building vendor has a good reputation, that is). If your budget basically allows for venue and not much more, you can even opt to develop your own activity: About.com has a nice resource for creating your own employee team building events.
I’m a big advocate for treating employees well, and in times such as this, I feel strongly that staff should be rewarded for their hard efforts. Do you have any thoughts, questions or suggestions for how to entertain employees on a tight budget? Please share below!
Which Era is Your Corporate Culture From?
Thursday, July 7th, 2011
My wife and I just saw the new Woody Allen film “Midnight in Paris” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Not to spoil it for those who haven’t already seen, but basically the premise is a guy goes to Paris, and finds himself inexplicably transported at the stroke of midnight to different eras of Parisian past, meeting historical characters along the way. The not-so-disguised theme of the film is that every generation yearns for bygone “golden eras” of the past, regardless of how impressive, interesting or compelling the present is. Relaxophobic that I am, I soon found my mind drifting about the theatre, eventually landing on the subject of workplace and office dynamics.
Building upon a previous post about matching corporate culture with employee entertainment, when it comes to team building activities, which era best matches your company’s culture? If you’re like me, the very first thing you think of when you hear the words “team building” is trust falls, ropes courses and obstacle challenges: time-tested fun! If your company is conservative and traditional, perhaps these Ronald Reagan-esque “good old days” activities of the 50s describe your corporate “era” best.
How about scavenger hunts? As a former scavenger hunt writer and producer, I think that these are terrific activities for companies which are young and competitive – just like the 80s corporate raiders of the movie “Wall Street.” Food events have also jumped into the team building mix, with companies throwing competitive cooking parties at custom-designed loft spaces. An introduction to food and cooking- makes me think of Julia Child, Emeril, Martha Stewart…definitely the TV eras of the 70s-00s.
When I think of my own live trivia activities, I tend to think that the era is both the present and near-distant past, since so many of the questions are about current events, yet also feature a certain “nostalgia” aspect relative to the attendee’s age. The companies who enjoy these events live at least part of the time in the past, but not too distant into the past that people don’t have a firsthand experiential recollection.
There are more, for sure – can you think of any? Share your thoughts, ideas and era recommendations below. Let’s make Woody Allen proud!
Why So Complicated? Less is More with Employee Entertainment Activities
Friday, June 24th, 2011
I’ve worked with many companies and corporate groups over the years, with the goal of developing customized employee entertainment in NYC and the surrounding areas. I don’t have to tell you how hard New Yorkers are working every day – especially since the economy tanked in 2009, and many people are doing twice as much work for little or no additional compensation. As a result, when it comes to NYC team building activities, the instinct of smart HR managers, recruiters, summer associate coordinators and other staffing professionals is to try and give staff the absolute blowout experience.
While the intent here is solid, in my experience less is actually more when creating events designed to boost employee morale and teamwork. Take scavenger hunts, for example. Before starting a professional trivia company, I had the incredible experience of creating adult scavenger hunts in NYC, primarily for corporate groups. As a naturally curious person with a knack for writing and an intense drive to create fun experiences for people, this was the perfect job; I would literally spend hours, days and even weeks creating customized scavenger hunts for individual companies, and loved every second of it. But was this hyper-detailed production really providing any additional value to our clients?
You see, for people doing a scavenger hunt (or trivia, or obstacle course, or competitive boat race, or cooking class or any other fun group activity) the experience itself is relatively short-lived, typically no more than an hour or two. Does the activity have to be so complex that the experience is muddled by the details? With scavenger hunts, I would become fixated on ensuring that the group got as much out of the event as possible: a fun and memorable experience, rolled into a social activity, with a hearty dose of culture and history education to boot. But you know what? People didn’t care about that so much as they did about winning, having fun memories, and often partying well into the night afterwards.
That’s not to say I don’t think detailed effort should go into trivia team building events – far from it. However, from the standpoint of creating experiences which will be fun and memorable for employees while simultaneously boosting morale, I think that overthinking the activity’s format and content is a waste of time. Keep things simple: events should be incredibly fun, completely different from the day-to-day office routine, incorporating customization to make them more memorable and leaving everyone feeling better about themselves, their colleagues and their work environment.
What do you think? Are you in charge of designing or commissioning staff entertainment activities for your company? What is your opinion on complexity vs. simplicity when assigning value to employee entertainment events?
7 Crucial Reads for Entertainment Event Professionals
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
I’ve been planning and producing events for ten years, most of which has been in the entertainment sector. While there is absolutely no substitute for experience, I still find it important to round out my knowledge of corporate event entertainment and employee team building activities by reading whatever I can get my hands on. Below are seven must-reads for event professionals who create entertainment events, be they concerts, performance art, stand-up comedy, scavenger hunts or (you guessed it) live trivia parties:
1) Entertainment Industry Economics (Harold L. Vogel) – When I was in graduate school studying music & entertainment industry management, this was the book which we were assured was on the shelf of every executive from Hollywood to Broadway. A comprehensive economic overview of each industry sector, this book provides a broad foundation of the market forces at play in creating entertainment events. It also has a significant portion devoted to the nature of leisure time, which I find to be very intriguing and useful.
2) This Business of Artist Management (Xavier M. Frascogna, Jr. & H. Lee Hetherington) – Part of the acclaimed BillboardBooks imprint, this is an essential guide to all aspects of working both around and directly with event talent, from contracts and “green M & M” type stuff to reputation management.
3) Guerrilla Publicity (Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Fishman & Jill Lubin) – A terrific resource for event professionals with limited PR experience or know-how, this extremely easy to follow book provides a comprehensive overview of how to get free publicity and exposure for your events in a variety of traditional media.
4) Concert Tour Production Management (John Vasey) – Even though this is a book specific to the concert industry, I often find myself referring to it because it’s such a simple and easy-to-use guide to event production, from tech stuff to dealing with unions to terminology.
5) The Power of a Positive No (William Ury) – From the co-author of the landmark negotiation book Getting to Yes, learn how to practice one of the most useful skills an entertainment industry professional can master: how to say no in a constructive, useful and productive way.
6) How to Work a Room (Susan RoAne) – The bestselling book by “mingling maven” RoAne remains popular for a reason: within its pages lie the secrets to how to socialize professionally, effectively and respectfully. An absolute must for those seeking to meet the right people when the opportunity rises.
7) Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) – Being the entertainment event organizer often means having to speak in public, be it for orientation/closing remarks, talent introduction or providing the “voice of god” announcements over the house PA system. This newer book provides a fresh and realistic approach to public speaking, covering everything from anxiety to attire.
Are you an industry professional with other book recommendations? We’d love to hear your suggestions, please feel free to leave some in the comments section below!
TrivWorks founder David Jacobson blogs daily on a wide range of topics relevant to corporate event entertainment, team building and live trivia. 
