Xmas Party Planning – Tip 2
September 23, 2009 by Christine.Kerr · 1 Comment
Getting more for your event dollar!
This year will be remembered as the year of the economic downturn and despite the fact that the global economy shows signs of recovery, most businesses and individuals are still feeling the effects. For event planners this has been an interesting year. Business knows the value of events; for everything from marketing to team building, but with budgets having to be stretched further and further, events are often the area to first feel cutbacks.
Creative event managers report no slowing down in work and the fact is, a good event manager can help a business achieve its event goals within budget. Working to a budget is one of the key skills a good event manager should possess. Earlier this year I was involved in a National Conference as part of my role with AAWEP. This year the Conference budget was heavily cut but the event had to be delivered regardless. As the event manager my role was to produce the event with the funds I had and this means finding creative solutions. Whilst this can be challenging, I actually find the task more stimulating than is often the case when you have a large pool of resources to work with.
Sometimes the answer to delivering a budget friendly event lies in demanding more from your event. In other words, designing events that tick more than one box for the business. For example, VictorsFood of Sydney have designed a MasterChef Challenge which recreates the excitement of the Masterchef kitchen and pits teams against each other in a competition where they have to prepare eight dishes within a set time.
This concept is one an event planner could easily reproduce and as many restaurants are also feeling the pinch it is one that would be easily sold to them. The concept is also one that has enough fun within in to be used as a celebratory event, whilst still being a great means to build the relationships between your team members.
If you have some other creative ideas for how an event can be both a celebration and a team-building exercise let us know by posting a comment below.
Hi. Jim here from VictorsFood. We are flattered that you like our concept for the MasterChef challenge. Of course, I’d caution your readers about reproducing this with a local restaurant or cafe. It seems these days that everyone with a kitchen is advertising or willing to try cooking as team building, so a bit of care is well advised. You don’t want your local “Gordon Ramsay” reducing your client to tears. Ultimately you need to be confident your client will have a good time. These events are really best done with a partner company that takes a professional approach to team building, like VictorsFood!