Corporate Events: 20 ideas to inspire your colleagues

Bring corporate events to life

When it comes to corporate event planning – or any kind of event planning, really – it is important to design experiences that are interactive and engaging for its participants. If you’re stuck for ideas, we’ve come up with twenty tips and ideas for taking your upcoming corporate functions to the next level.

To start demonstrating ingenuity, relevance to the bottom line and improving organisational skills, take heed of the following gems of advice:

Planning corporate events

1. Allow more lead-time – planning as far ahead as possible is definitely preferable to the last-minute scramble.

2. Hash out some solid, clear objectives before sending out RFPs.

3. Once you’ve figured out your objectives, avoid making too many changes in the planning process, especially at the last minute.

4. Take the time and effort to protect your intellectual property and to respect the intellectual property of other people.

5. Make increased efforts to design events that are more environmentally friendly.

Getting the corporate event right

6. Brainstorm an experiment with event themes to reinforce core messages.

7. Hiring a marquee is a great way of providing shelter in case of bad weather.

8. Contact a local organisation to try and incorporate a component of the event that gives back to the community.

9. Try a pop-up event.

Improving business meetings

10. A quick game’s a good game: keep meetings focused and shorter.

11. Streamline agendas and attendee lists.

12. Mix it up at meetings and experiment with virtual and hybrid formats.

Team building

13. Boost morale by giving your events planning team a business-related or philanthropic project.

14. Focus on measuring R.O.I.

Social media

15. Social media is for giving, not just getting. Seek opportunities to engage with your audience as opposed to just sending them your company’s core messages – though this is important too.

16. Incorporate strategies that engage your senior management team on social media.

Catering and planning

17. Sydney is a city of food enthusiasts, so don’t skimp when it comes to catering – food from other cultures is fun and exciting, experiment!

18. Depending on the scale of the event, consider food truck at your event – they tend to have a huge following and are easy crowd pleasers.

19. Place great importance on designing appealing vegetarian and vegan options.

20. Do the same as above for options that cater to food allergies and special dietary needs such as gluten-free or dairy-free dishes.