You’ve booked interesting speakers, have lined up an impressive event agenda, and a strong brand for your event, but there’s another important element that you can’t forget when you’re planning ideas for your next corporate event, whether you’re launching a start-up, or hosting an awards dinner.
The entertainment that you decide to showcase at any corporate event can make or break the experience that your attendees have, and whether they feel engaged or feel your event was a waste of time. If your entertainment is a hit, it can win the hearts of your attendees and keep them talking about your event well after it’s finished.
But where do you start? There are some guiding principles that should be kept in mind when planning the entertainment for your next corporate event.
Tips For Planning Corporate Event Entertainment
Focus On Creating An Immersive Experience
Experiences are valued more than ever before in today’s world. Experiential marketing is booming. Think about the explosion of experiences like escape rooms, pop-ups and more. Most people would now prefer to spend money on experiences rather than on material things. People want to feel as though they are a part of the experience. Take advantage of this and leverage it into your event entertainment. This will make your event more buzz-worthy and will add value that your attendees are sure to appreciate.
Keep An Eye On The Budget
Entertainment can be expensive. Always create an event budget before you start booking any of your entertainment. Make sure you know the costs of the entertainers you’re considering and any supporting elements that they might need. For example, an aerial artist will charge a fee, but will also need a structure to perform from, lighting, and speakers. A live band needs a stage, lighting, and sound. A photo booth needs power. The supporting elements needed by the entertainer are not always provided by them, so always check what’s included when you book your entertainment. Always think about the whole picture when you hire entertainment so you can avoid any nasty surprises to your budget.
Stick To Your Event Goals
With entertainment, it can be easy to get carried away with the latest trends just to be trendy, but that doesn’t mean they’re always good ideas. Think about what the goals of your event are. Why are you having the event in the first place? Everything you choose, from the food to the entertainment should support the goals of your event. Just because an entertainment idea sounds trendy doesn’t mean it will fit into the concept of your event.
Remember Your Audience
When you’re planning your event’s entertainment, you need to think carefully about your audience. Find out what they’re doing before the entertainment is scheduled, and what your audience demographics look like. Send out pre-event surveys, and mine your event software to get analytics from your past events to start working out exactly what you attendees want.
If your attendees will be spending most of the whole working in breakout sessions, having them sit and watch an hour-long performance is probably not what your attendees want to be doing. Instead, they might enjoy something more interactive that will allow them to move around.
If your attendees will be spending the day training in the latest fitness techniques, then they will probably want to just sit down, relax, and enjoy a show. Keep in mind what you have on the event schedule before and after your entertainment, so you have a better chance of planning something successful.
Corporate Event Entertainment Ideas
Now you know how to choose the right entertainment, you need some ideas. Here are a range of ideas that are sure to go down well at your corporate event.
Escape Room
Escape rooms are very trendy right now. Why not take advantage of this trend and incorporate an escape room as part of your events entertainment? This has been done at events of all kinds. In 2018, South Park launched their new season with a Cartman themed escape room at San Diego Comic Con. Tailor the theme of the escape room to match the theme of your conference or your event. An escape room gives your attendees an interactive way to work together and bond as a team.
Put Your Attendees At The Centre
There might be entertainment opportunities waiting to be taken advantage of in the regular structure of your event. For example, you could shake up a classic Q&A session by bringing in a Catchbox. This throwable microphone adds some excitement and interest to Q&A sessions. Instead of people feeling bored while a microphone is passed around, the audience is able to interact and throw the microphone around the room, livening up the session.
Augmented Reality
Remember when everyone was playing Pokemon Go? Since the game’s enormous success, people have loved the idea of bringing fantasy into real surroundings. Take inspiration for your corporate event entertainment ideas from the concept. You can use augmented reality to create a scavenger hunt for different items, to boost excitement and engagement levels that you wouldn’t get if your attendees are left sitting the whole day. Look for someone who can make custom augmented reality app for your event.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality can be used to keep your guests entertained by completely immersing them in an activity. You can use entertainment like this for more engaging training sessions to allow your attendees to have a more hands-on training session, that they might not have been able to experience otherwise. This is especially popular in law enforcement, who are using virtual reality to give their officers hands-on experience in different situations before they go out in the field.
Live Band
This idea isn’t new, but a live band is a tried and tested entertainment source for a corporate event. A big name can generate a buzz, but it is easy to find great entertainment on a lower budget. Look into local bands if you’re on a tighter budget.
