Corporate entertainment is a great way for businesses to get a little publicity and impress prospective clients, and it also allows employees to make new contacts and socialise with their co-workers in order to get to know them better outside the more formal setting of the office, just as they’d do after work.
Business parties are also important to develop a strong corporate feel between your employees, as they can reveal shared interests and help the development and improvement of personal bonds and create friendships.
Choose the Result You Want
A corporate party should be memorable for all the right reasons, but that’s not possible if your guests find it difficult to speak to one another. Breaking the ice can be nerve-wracking for them, as it’s likely they don’t know everyone and find it hard to jump straight into conversation mode.
But in order for you to plan an icebreaking session, you should first think about what you want to achieve with it. Do you want people to get to know each other better? Do you want them to pay more attention to a speaker? Or would you like them to start collaborating right away? This is important because it will determine what kind of activities you should plan for.
An example would be if you wanted your guests to get to talk to each other straight away, in which case you can simply ask them to discuss a specific topic or to talk about their favourite things.
Games
People might feel too shy to speak in front of so many people at first, so you can help them along with games. For fun, have everyone write the most interesting jobs they ever had on a piece of paper, then place it in a bowl. Your guests pick a paper and then try to figure out who had that job. If games like poker are more up your alley, you can also host a poker night that will help people have a great time.
What to Say
If you prefer your guests to mingle and talk amongst one another instead, you might just nudge them in the right direction with a reminder to introduce themselves to people. Great ways to begin a conversation include commenting on the decorations or the entertainment, or even just asking people what they do in the company. This opens the door to more dialogue.
A corporate party is a sure way to get people talking about your business, so you should always try to impress your guests – a way to do this is to make sure they’re having fun and talking to each other! Get in touch with us on 0845 094 1162 if you’re looking for a live band to liven up your party, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
