In your company, are you responsible for booking venues, facilities, restaurants and organizing transportation for meetings and events?
| Employing the Best for Successful Events |
Variations on a Theme
A theme can go a long way toward creating some lighthearted fun. It’s easy to incorporate whimsy or entertaining aspects into an event’s theme or purpose through décor elements or even more subtly through targeted lighting design. Quirky or delightful displays, themed table dressings, room arrangements and even uniformed staff quickly can make an event something special to smile about. You even can employ the theme in the food and drink offerings with references that reflect the event’s purpose.
Specialty Catering Add-Ons
In addition to, or instead of, having a standard meal or buffet, add entertainment and fun to the event in the food. Consider hiring fruit carvers or dessert stylists to create dramatic food displays that are not only beautiful but edible. Also, don’t underestimate the entertainment of make-your-own food stations, such as ice cream-sundae or fresh pasta bars.
Games and Challenges
Even for the most discerning clientele or sophisticated corporate group, games or challenges can add an easy form of entertainment during an event. Tailored properly to the event, its purpose and the nature of the attendees, a little friendly competition or fun task to complete can be memorable and diverting, and better yet, also can serve as an icebreaker or team-building activity.
Pampering Services
Nowadays, many corporate events are providing “extras” for those who attend, and Houston has a variety of ways to do this; for example, consider hiring professionals to give chair massages as a stress-relieving bonus.
Raffles and Silent Auctions
People always will participate enthusiastically when there’s something to win or take home with them through a raffle or silent auction because it gives attendees something extra to anticipate. Plus, proceeds can help offset the event’s budget or, better yet, can be donated to a worthy charity, often as a tax deduction.
Goodie Bags
If tailored well to the group, tabletop favors or gift-bag takeaways can add a dimension of fun and guarantee that all guests can leave with something to commemorate the event. This also doubles as an excellent branding opportunity for keeping the company’s name in front of clients, or it simply can be a way to thank employees for their efforts.
A Bit of a Spectacle
There’s something utterly engaging and fun about a flashy, fantastic display that is out of the ordinary. Be it fireworks or a laser-light show, a bit of the spectacular can impress attendees and leave a positive lasting mood that they will take away from the event and talk about in the future.
Music
Music is an easy way to provide entertainment, and it can be as simple as hiring a DJ or live musicians to provide any genre of music for dinner ambiance or dancing. There are also musician groups in Houston that offer an interactive, music-by-request dimension that can engage your guests as they create their own event soundtrack. Even outgoing attendees can be the musical entertainment themselves; just rent a karaoke system. Find the perfect musicians for your event at websites like www.gigmasters.com.
Mingling Entertainers and Diversions
Houston has a world-class theater district, so there is no shortage of spectacular, and often unusual, entertainers for hire that can enhance the entertainment aspect of the event without being a central focus. Mingling entertainers and “sideshow” diversions are popular and can be many things. Some possibilities include magicians, fire performers, planted character actors, ice-sculpting demonstrations, dancers of all kinds, living statues or even life-size robots.
Focal-Point Entertainers
Of course all of the “diverting” entertainers mentioned also can be focal-point entertainers that draw attention from the entire crowd as a whole for part of the event. This also can include celebrity speakers and appearances (or celebrity impersonators) that definitely can draw a lot of attention and make it memorable.
Videography
Not only can videographers simply document your event for promotional materials, the service also can be employed as an entertaining element. You can arrange for the videographer to “interview” attendees briefly about something pertaining to the company or the event itself. This directly engages the attendees in a fun and personalized manner. Later the footage can be edited together as another promotional tool or just fun memories of the event.
Photography
Photography can be entertainment as well, whether it’s a roving photographer or guests using tabletop cameras to capture candid shots or a formal backdrop for taking portraits at the entrance. One popular way to integrate photography into an event is renting a photo booth. Various Houston companies, such as Houston Party Booths, lease photo booths to events of all kinds. The attendees can adorn odd costumes and strike funny poses with colleagues or clients in the booth to create fabulous photo memories. Best of all, the photos can be branded and printed on the spot for the guests to take memories of the event with them when they go.
A theme can go a long way toward creating some lighthearted fun. It’s easy to incorporate whimsy or entertaining aspects into an event’s theme or purpose through décor elements or even more subtly through targeted lighting design. Quirky or delightful displays, themed table dressings, room arrangements and even uniformed staff quickly can make an event something special to smile about. You even can employ the theme in the food and drink offerings with references that reflect the event’s purpose.
Specialty Catering Add-Ons
In addition to, or instead of, having a standard meal or buffet, add entertainment and fun to the event in the food. Consider hiring fruit carvers or dessert stylists to create dramatic food displays that are not only beautiful but edible. Also, don’t underestimate the entertainment of make-your-own food stations, such as ice cream-sundae or fresh pasta bars.
Games and Challenges
Even for the most discerning clientele or sophisticated corporate group, games or challenges can add an easy form of entertainment during an event. Tailored properly to the event, its purpose and the nature of the attendees, a little friendly competition or fun task to complete can be memorable and diverting, and better yet, also can serve as an icebreaker or team-building activity.
Pampering Services
Nowadays, many corporate events are providing “extras” for those who attend, and Houston has a variety of ways to do this; for example, consider hiring professionals to give chair massages as a stress-relieving bonus.
Raffles and Silent Auctions
People always will participate enthusiastically when there’s something to win or take home with them through a raffle or silent auction because it gives attendees something extra to anticipate. Plus, proceeds can help offset the event’s budget or, better yet, can be donated to a worthy charity, often as a tax deduction.
Goodie Bags
If tailored well to the group, tabletop favors or gift-bag takeaways can add a dimension of fun and guarantee that all guests can leave with something to commemorate the event. This also doubles as an excellent branding opportunity for keeping the company’s name in front of clients, or it simply can be a way to thank employees for their efforts.
A Bit of a Spectacle
There’s something utterly engaging and fun about a flashy, fantastic display that is out of the ordinary. Be it fireworks or a laser-light show, a bit of the spectacular can impress attendees and leave a positive lasting mood that they will take away from the event and talk about in the future.
Music
Music is an easy way to provide entertainment, and it can be as simple as hiring a DJ or live musicians to provide any genre of music for dinner ambiance or dancing. There are also musician groups in Houston that offer an interactive, music-by-request dimension that can engage your guests as they create their own event soundtrack. Even outgoing attendees can be the musical entertainment themselves; just rent a karaoke system. Find the perfect musicians for your event at websites like www.gigmasters.com.
Mingling Entertainers and Diversions
Houston has a world-class theater district, so there is no shortage of spectacular, and often unusual, entertainers for hire that can enhance the entertainment aspect of the event without being a central focus. Mingling entertainers and “sideshow” diversions are popular and can be many things. Some possibilities include magicians, fire performers, planted character actors, ice-sculpting demonstrations, dancers of all kinds, living statues or even life-size robots.
Focal-Point Entertainers
Of course all of the “diverting” entertainers mentioned also can be focal-point entertainers that draw attention from the entire crowd as a whole for part of the event. This also can include celebrity speakers and appearances (or celebrity impersonators) that definitely can draw a lot of attention and make it memorable.
Videography
Not only can videographers simply document your event for promotional materials, the service also can be employed as an entertaining element. You can arrange for the videographer to “interview” attendees briefly about something pertaining to the company or the event itself. This directly engages the attendees in a fun and personalized manner. Later the footage can be edited together as another promotional tool or just fun memories of the event.
Photography
Photography can be entertainment as well, whether it’s a roving photographer or guests using tabletop cameras to capture candid shots or a formal backdrop for taking portraits at the entrance. One popular way to integrate photography into an event is renting a photo booth. Various Houston companies, such as Houston Party Booths, lease photo booths to events of all kinds. The attendees can adorn odd costumes and strike funny poses with colleagues or clients in the booth to create fabulous photo memories. Best of all, the photos can be branded and printed on the spot for the guests to take memories of the event with them when they go.
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editorial@MeetingPlannerResources.org. We will contact you if your submission is chosen.