Planning a Corporate Event Your Team Will Talk About

Most people have sat through a corporate event that felt like an obligation. The ones people actually remember tend to have a few things in common.

Start with a clear purpose

Is this a team celebration, a client-facing event, a conference, or a morale-boost after a hard quarter? The right entertainment and format changes depending on the answer — a client event calls for a different tone than an internal team party.

Ideas worth considering

• A guest speaker relevant to your industry or team's interests — motivational, business-focused, or even just genuinely entertaining.
• An interactive entertainer — a mentalist, close-up magician, or comedian who can work a room of colleagues who may not know each other well.
• A live band or DJ for the evening portion, if there is one — pitched appropriately for the crowd and venue.
• A host or emcee to keep the day moving, especially for larger events with multiple segments (awards, speeches, entertainment).

Details that make a difference

• Confirm AV requirements early — a great speaker or performer can be let down by bad sound.
• Think about dietary requirements and accessibility needs well before the day.
• Build in unstructured time — the best corporate events usually have some space for people to actually talk to each other, not just move from one scheduled segment to the next.

Whatever you're planning, book further ahead than you think you need to — good speakers and entertainers for corporate dates get booked up quickly, especially towards the end of the year.