How To Inject Fun Into Your Events!

Fun may not be appropriate for all events, especially some corporate events, but when it is, use these tips to take your event from drab to fab! Some of these tips work for corporate events too so don’t be afraid to use some ideas in the office as well.

Of course, be sure that you first have a clear understanding of the intended outcome of the meeting before deciding if adding an element of fun would be appropriate. The WHY of the event is a serious matter: learning, creating business opportunities, team building, money making. But, the event itself doesn’t need to be so serious.

At every conference, play is present. There could be humor, music, games, and entertainment, but play is not usually used as the context for the whole meeting. According to an article from Event Manager Blog, “Play is what we do ‘after hours’ when we are not engaged with the serious business of learning. However, when we look back we may notice that many of our best conversation, connections, and ideas happened during the ‘down time’ between sessions.”

It is encouraged to make play the context for the whole event rather than just an add-on for many reasons. Many attendees experience stress at conferences and may let a fear of failure get in the way of creating relationships or expressing ideas. Play creates a better state of mind for attendees and eliminates some of this fear and stress. Play can also help boost creativity and improve relationships and connections among attendees, creating opportunities for boosted learning and better networking.

Here are a few tips for meeting and conference planners:

1. Begin with a venue.

There are a plethora of unique venues to choose from these days, especially in metropolitan

areas like San Francisco. Some venues have rooftop terraces or rooms with spectacular views to add a real wow factor. Other venues have creative décor, interactive pieces, or themes. For example, San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences offers multiple unforgettable settings for events for up to 3,000 guests. Imagine your corporate event inside Steinhart Aquarium, an underwater wonderland with a living coral reef.

2. Food is fun.

There are many ways to have fun with food, from interactive food stations to cooking lessons from private chefs. With food, the possibilities are really endless and working with a caterer or chef is a great way to get some fantastic ideas. Allowing guests to create their own desserts from an interactive and deliciously designed dessert bar adds an element of fun to what would be just an ordinary dinner.

3. Game together.

Whether you have classic board games, app-powered games, or literally take attendees to a sporting event, games will most definitely boost the fun. Games are great to keep in mind,

especially when there are a lot of male attendees. AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants is open for any kind of corporate event. Whether it be on the field or in Club Level during a game, the park can handle it.

You can view more about trends in corporate event planning by visiting the Tips & Trends page. Click the link from the homepage!

Background Behind This Blog

I decided to write about this topic because I myself want to plan corporate events. More and more companies recognize the value of work-life balance and want to create a more fun, lively, and desirable atmosphere at their office. Instead of just hosting ordinary meetings or dinners, companies want to interject fun wherever they can to make coming to work their more appealing. As event planners, we need to stay on top of trends, so I chose this topic to explore what kind of venues, food options, and activities for meetings are popular right now in the bay area.

Plan for Generating Traffic

I will post this blog to Pinterest with an eye-grabbing picture and caption. I want to attract event planners looking to get ideas for their events. I want to be sure to add tags such as #corporateevents #meeting #conference so that readers understand I am talking about those kinds of events. Also, meeting and conference planners might be searching for articles and posts with those hashtags. I will also post to Twitter and Linkedin in order to drive traffic to my website in hopes of it being seen by a potential employer. Potential employers tend to hangout on Linkedin and Twitter, and use those sites to get news related to their industry or interests. I will post once a month for 3 months, so that more people have the chance of seeing it before it becomes too old to be relevant.

photo received from Calacademy.org

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