December is perhaps the busiest month. Reports, results, plans, and behind all this you must not forget about the upcoming holiday! Relax - reports are reports, and spending the old year and meeting the new one in your own team is no less important. To make the holiday a success, it is not enough to buy provisions and alcohol. You need to take care of the New Year's surroundings: hang garlands and rain in the office, bring funny hats and caps, and maybe even dress up the boss as Santa Claus, and his secretary or chief accountant as the Snow Maiden.
And the most important thing in a New Year's party with colleagues is not even the surroundings, not drinking and not food, but fun! To ensure it, try to entertain everyone with games and contests. In our selection you will find some fun and unusual ideas:
Alphabet
To begin with - so to speak, to "warm up" - arrange a contest of wishes. Let each of those gathered at the table, starting with the boss, say his brief wish to the employees, starting with a certain letter of the alphabet. For example: A - Astronomical earnings, the next one speaks B - Great pleasure from work, then comes C - High performance, D - great health, and so on. The funniest thing will begin when you get to the letters Zh, S, as well as hard and soft signs.
The hottest
Give everyone an identical ice cube from the freezer. The winner of the competition is the one who, without improvised means, melts his piece in the palms of his hands the fastest.
The most accurate
Cut out a cardboard ring in advance. It will need to be thrown onto bottles of alcoholic beverages standing in a row. Determine the distance from which it is difficult to hit, but possible, and let them compete. The winner gets a bottle of their choice!
The most sensual
Let the ladies sit on chairs on which a certain (various!) Number of walnuts is folded in advance, covered with a newspaper. The winner is the one who can, without looking, determine the number of nuts under her.
Hussars, forward!
Poured on the next one? So it's time for another competition. You need to drink a glass for a reason, but according to certain rules - prepare pieces of paper with these rules, let everyone pull out their task and complete:
1. Drink a glass from the hand of a neighbor.
2. Through a straw.
3. Eat a crust of bread.
4. From the back of the hand.
5. Brotherhood with a neighbor.
6. Teaspoon.
7. Drink a glass of vodka.
8. Drink mineral water.
Russian roulette
It is very important that none of those present knew in advance the essence of the competition. Prepare chicken eggs according to the number of male participants. Take them out in a box and announce: let the men line up, take turns taking an egg from the box and breaking it on their own foreheads! Each of the participants does all this in honor of their “Beautiful Lady”, so it’s impossible to be. At the same time, be sure to say that all the eggs in the box are boiled, and only one is raw: who is lucky. The excitement will be serious. The catch is that there are no raw eggs in the box - not a single one, but this will become clear only after everyone, dying, tries their luck at Russian roulette.
Happy Holidays!
Olga Moiseeva for the Women's magazine "Charm"
See also "Corporate celebration of the New Year"
The scenario includes a variant with a banquet hall, the number of employees is 20 people. If your event is designed for more people, then just add a few .
Characters: Santa Claus, Snegurochka (they are also leading), employees.
Props: gifts for participation in the competition, scissors, colored ribbons, rain, adhesive tape, colored cardboard, marker, 4 scrapers, 3-4 hard-boiled eggs, cards with dance names and song names, auction lots, men's shirts, men's gloves, glass jars , coins.
Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden enter the hall to the music.
Father Frost :
We have come to you today
We will have fun with you
I wish all my friends
Smile and drink!
Snow Maiden :
Grandpa is joking, out of the way,
Looks like the old man is tired
Good evening dear ones,
The hour of miracles is now!
Father Frost :
The most important, the first toast,
Your leader will say
He brought you gifts
The most important leader!
(The director of the organization pronounces the first toast, with which he opens the holiday)
Snow Maiden :
They say the year of the rooster
It will be bright and perky,
Are you waiting for his friends?
Is the gift house full?
Father Frost :
I'm waiting for this year
Maybe I'll find my grandmother
Maybe someone younger
I will take and love!
Snow Maiden :
I, too, dream here,
To replace grandfather
So that with the young on a holiday,
Come by my hand!
In general, I wish everyone
So that your dreams come true
Accept my congratulations
We are starting the holiday!
Father Frost :
And let's start with you
From menu selection to table,
You compose it
Well, I'll help you eat!
Competition "New Year's Menu".
3 participants are selected. Everyone should name as many New Year's dishes as possible for a given letter of the leader. For repetition - departure. The winner will receive a prize.
Snow Maiden :
So, we decided on the menu,
We need to raise a glass
And now the accountant will be,
Congratulations to your team!
(Accountant says)
Father Frost :
This is what I thought, my dear Snow Maiden, how do you look at the fact that I will give you my New Year's gift in 2018?
Snow Maiden :
I didn’t understand something, what does it mean, I have to walk in an old fur coat for another year?
Father Frost :
But what difference does it make, what, you are not valued for a fur coat!
Snow Maiden :
Maybe not for a fur coat, but this does not mean that a new one is not needed! And although, as you know, I’m going to lead the next corporate party naked, but what’s the difference?
Father Frost :
Don't boil, or you'll melt! There will be a coat!
Snow Maiden :
Why did you start the conversation?
Father Frost :
Yes, just to keep the conversation going! Something we digress.
Snow Maiden :
So, we have decided on the menu, it's time to decide on the alcohol that will be on the festive table! But, the whole difficulty is that in order for us to put it, we need to guess the riddle.
(Alcohol riddles. Whoever gives the most correct answers will win a prize)
Riddle options:
1. Folk drink of all time,
Passed through copper pipes
Often cooked on the stove
Well, you name him.
(moonshine)
2. Burns the mouth and throat,
But at the same time they drink together,
Usually served in glasses
But they also drink from glasses.
(vodka)
3. Delicate fragrance, what a bouquet,
Beautiful color and astringency, sweetness,
It has been in barrels for many years,
Well, have you already guessed?
(wine)
4. Sometimes ladies drink a drink,
Adding juice and ice
And in the composition like grass,
Hits in the head sometimes.
(vermouth)
5. Quenches thirst, gives a belly,
Goes well with fish
Everyone understands perfectly
Malt will be included
(beer)
7. They often drink it with cola,
They also pour it into barrels,
The most important for pirates,
It is sometimes rich.
(rum)
8. Goes great with tonic.
The taste is sometimes unusual,
Drink with lemon and ice
No friends, I'm not talking about rum
(gin)
9. Rich flavor and color,
And we don't have him dearer,
It plays so easily in a glass
And the stars always shine
(cognac)
10. Bubbles and gaziki,
They play in a glass
We are like aristocrats
Well, who's to guess
(champagne)
(Riddle options may vary)
Father Frost :
And now, your congratulations,
Friends will read to us
Those who are also in leadership
And you can't do without them!
(Toasts are made by department heads, or one on behalf of all)
Snow Maiden :
Stand up together, stand around
Hold hands all of you
In the round dance you are friends,
Spin around in a moment!
Competition "Moon walker round dance".
All participants stand in a circle. One is chosen and becomes round. The task of the participant in the circle is to squat down and while everyone will dance, move and repeat: “I am a little moonwalker.” Whoever laughs first will take a place in the center of the circle.
(The hosts announce a musical break, lasting 10-15 minutes)
Snow Maiden :
And now, I give you my word,
To all employees now
We want to hear a toast from you
At this moment and at this hour!
(Employees read out)
Father Frost :
There were poems and dances,
And now we have a show
The most fashionable, New Year's,
Who is ready friends of you?
Competition "New Year's dressing rooms".
3-4 participants are selected. Each is given the same set: scissors, colored ribbons, rain, adhesive tape, colored cardboard, marker, 4 scrapers. The task is to make a rooster costume from a set and defile in it. Runtime 3 minutes. The best costume will receive a prize.
You will need: scissors, colored ribbons, rain, adhesive tape, colored cardboard, marker, 4 scrapers.
Snow Maiden :
Let's drink to the coming year
For everything to be fine with us
So that the year was previous,
So that we are lucky in all matters!
Father Frost :
To have a lot of money in our house,
For caviar to stand on the tables,
To be the envy of all the neighbors,
From the failures, only ashes remained!
Snow Maiden :
So that you glow with happiness
So that love lives in the soul,
For all wishes to come true
For this, we drink friends to the bottom!
Father Frost :
Oh, how I feel good, now I'll sing!
Competition "I sing on cotton".
The task is as follows, all the guests at the table together begin to sing on cotton, any New Year's song. At the second clap, they stop singing, but continue to sing to themselves, at the next clap they sing aloud. It will turn out very funny, as many simply will not fall into the rhythm.
Snow Maiden :
I think it's time for us to dance
Let's set the rhythm now
There will be hot rock and roll
Let's start burning now!
(The Snow Maiden announces a musical break for 15-20 minutes. A dance competition can be held before the musical break)
Dance competition for girls "I dance everything in the world".
Cards with the names of dances are prepared in advance. 3-4 participants are selected. Each of them draws a card with the name of the dance. You have 2 minutes to prepare. All dances are performed to Russian hits of the 80s and 90s. For the best performance - a prize.
Dance options for cards: hopak, Russian folk, salsa, lambada, cha-cha, cancan, striptease. Variants of musical compositions (write on a separate card): N. Koroleva “Little Country”, E. Belousov “Girl, Girl”, E. Osin “The Girl Crying in the Machine”, A. Varum “Winter Cherry”, Combination “Ksyusha, Ksyusha ”, Na-na “Faina”, A. Apina “The knot will be tied”.
You will need: cards with the names of dances and the name of the songs.
Father Frost :
Do you know who is the coolest in your team? So I don't know, I suggest you find out!
Competition "No Cooler".
Only men participate in the competition. Of all the participants, 3-4 people are selected. A plate with hard-boiled eggs is placed on the table (according to the number of participants). The host announces that one of the eggs is raw (although it is not). Participants must take turns breaking their egg on their foreheads. The tension grows with each egg, and the audience's mood rises.
Required: 3-4 hard boiled eggs.
Snow Maiden :
As this competition showed
That in the team everyone is equal,
For equality we drink to the bottom,
You are all awesome, well done!
Father Frost :
And now the auction
Let's do it for you friends
We will distribute gifts
You can't miss the moment!
Announced " New Year's auction».
The host shows the lot and sells it for the highest price. Each lot may have its own price and not always monetary.
You will need: lots.
Lot options (may be different):
1. A bottle of champagne with the inscription "Corporate 2018. Thank you for being with us." (Starting price from 50 rubles)
2. Day off in the middle of the week. (Starting price from 150 rubles)
3. The right to be in the role of director. (Starting price from 250 rubles)
4. Not going to work after the winter holidays. (Starting price from 500 rubles, or the fulfillment of the host's desire)
5. Ability to leave 2 hours early from work.
6. Possibility to be late for work for 2 hours. (Starting price from 200 rubles)
7. 3 days off during the week. (Starting price from 600 rubles)
8. Daily praise from the director throughout the week. (Starting price from 700 rubles)
9. Dinner at the expense of the director in any restaurant. (Starting price from 1000 rubles)
(Similar lots need to be coordinated with higher management)
Snow Maiden :
Who knows how the Rooster cries?
(She is answered)
Snow Maiden :
Excellent. Let's all play together! Since the year of the rooster, you still need to respect the bird, please!
Competition "I'll sing, dance, I can do anything".
3-4 participants are selected. The task is to crow a given song and at the same time walk like a rooster. Whoever fails will receive a prize.
(After that, a musical pause is announced. 20-25 minutes)
Father Frost :
I propose to drink for the New Year,
Let him bring with him
Joy, happiness and luck,
All loot and mood!
Snow Maiden :
All fun, passion, affection,
Let it bring wealth
Let's drink with you, we are friends,
So that luck comes to the house!
Father Frost :
But I wonder how smart guys work in this company?
Snow Maiden :
And now we'll check it out!
Competition "Nimble fingers".
3 pairs are selected (man, woman). Men wear a men's shirt, and women are given men's gloves. The women's task is to button up the shirt with gloves. Time to complete 1 minute. The one who does it faster will win a prize.
You will need: men's shirts, men's gloves.
Father Frost :
Let's drink to dexterity, friends,
We all need her all the time!
Snow Maiden :
Team spirit is always valuable
Check it out gentlemen.
Please gather all of you together
It's time to prove unity!
Game "Coin".
Participants are divided into several teams. Each team receives a glass jar and coins (according to the number of participants). The task is to throw your coin without the help of hands and mouth. The team with the most coins will win. Banks put at a distance of 2 meters.
You will need: glass jars, coins.
Snow Maiden :
I propose to drink for you,
You are so friendly, so interesting,
May miracles fill every hour
Always work together!
(A musical pause is announced in which a music competition can be held. For example, a “Touch” competition can be held. The conditions are simple. When there is a pause, the host says what to touch. For example, touch the nose, tree, leg, green, etc. .)
Father Frost :
Our holiday is coming to an end
It's time for us to part
I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart,
Happy Year of the Bird - Rooster!
Snow Maiden :
Finally, you need to drink
To consolidate the desire
For the Rooster to bring good luck
For us to live well!
It is important to remember that the roles need to be played, and the hall decorated in accordance with the theme of the holiday, and that thoughtful musical accompaniment is the key to a fun holiday.
Welcome dear guests!
Just yesterday, they said on the radio that this year many companies cut the budget for the celebration of the New Year, and some even announced: if you want a New Year's corporate party, do it yourself and at your own expense.
Of course, it's good when the company itself organizes corporate holidays, it's even better when professionals are hired and they don't think about this topic anymore. But what to do, the crisis ...
That's what happened at my job, they didn't give me any money at all. We really, really wanted to celebrate the holiday with the team, sat down to think and decided to make a New Year's corporate party in the office on our own.
They began to consider how much it would cost us and I’ll say that many took their heads - it’s a little expensive, especially since before the New Year there are already big expenses on gifts for loved ones and New Year’s treats. The way out was found: to spend as little as possible on food, to make the holiday fun as much as possible due to the entertainment program.
I took over the whole organization, but with the condition that all the employees will help me, do everything that I say and not refuse.
All people are different, one likes it, the other does not, whims begin: I don’t eat it, I don’t drink it. And it’s even worse when it’s like this: I didn’t drink / eat it - I won’t pay. For many years of work, we have developed the rules for holding office corporate parties:
- Everyone buys alcohol for himself or they are combined into groups by type;
- If you don’t like the food on the table, don’t eat, but hand over the money;
- If everything and everything annoys you - do not go at all;
“If you don’t like how the organization of the holiday is going, just tell me, next time you will do everything yourself.
A plan for organizing a New Year's corporate party in the office is inexpensive and fun.
You need to set a date. I recommend doing corporate parties on Thursday, I will explain why. If you do it on Friday, then you can go on a walk so much that then you lie down all weekend, and before the New Year there are a lot of things to do at home. And if on Thursday, then everyone understands that tomorrow they have to work, then the bosses are more loyal to being late in the morning, or even they can even give a day off. And how good it is to discuss all the details of yesterday's corporate party, to laugh, to look at the pictures. Then, it is necessary to clean up the office after the holiday. Imagine what will happen by Monday.
Conduct a survey among employees and determine the number. You can send an e-mail that there will be a corporate party on such and such a date, please give an answer before such and such a deadline. If someone is not satisfied with the date, see the rules of paragraph 3.
Determine the venue for the New Year's corporate party in the office and decorate it. Ask employees to bring garlands, a Christmas tree, toys, masks, tinsel from home. Everyone has enough of this goodness, which seems to be unnecessary, but it's a pity to throw it away. Choose employees who are not very active, ask them to cut paper snowflakes or something else to decorate the office.
Think over food and snacks for the New Year's corporate table. Like it or not, this is a working day and by the evening everyone is hungry. Moreover, we plan to drink strong alcoholic beverages. Ask employees to bring some canned food from home for free: pickles, tomatoes, sauerkraut, lecho, salads, mushrooms, and more. If there is jam - great, you can dilute it with water and do without expensive juice. In extreme cases, you can buy syrup.
There are enough 3 types of salads, for example, you can make “Herring under a fur coat”, from crab meat based on Chinese cabbage and a traditional meat salad with sausage. As you can see, salads are inexpensive, but satisfying. Take a look, you might find something for yourself.
Fruits: apples, oranges at the rate of 1 pc per 3 people, 2-3 pcs of lemons, choose small tangerines, there will be more of them, at the rate of 2 pcs per person.
We ordered hot at the nearest canteen, they prepared a large piece of baked meat with boiled potatoes for us, something about 180 rubles. it was worth it (2013). Warmed up in the microwave.
I will say that there were no frills, but no one was left hungry either. We managed perfectly without caviar and expensive salads. At meetings with employees, no one ever remembers what was on the table that New Year, but the Snow Maiden will be remembered for a long time.
We bought disposable tablecloths and dishes for the tables, do not forget to include this in the shopping list, as well as large garbage bags, napkins.
It is necessary to think over the musical design of the New Year's corporate party. I spent a lot of time preparing musical accompaniment, all this is not difficult, but long. And I really wanted to make the holiday fun, music plays an important role in this matter. While the tables were moving, I turned on the assembly of New Year's songs, all this sets the team in the right mood, you see, someone sings, and someone even dances. In addition, if a lot of people are expected, as we had, then microphones are needed.
I prepared the entertainment program myself, enlisting the support of people about whom I knew that they would not refuse me. The first thing you need is to get the costumes of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. I was lucky, one employee's mother works in a kindergarten and they gave us a Santa Claus suit for one evening, this particular employee was Santa Claus. But you can also make yourself out of an old velor robe, sheathe it with tinsel, and there are a lot of inexpensive hats with a beard sold in stores, make a staff and put on felt boots. I made the Snow Maiden costume myself and I decided to dress the most active man in it, it also turned out that Santa Claus is shorter than the Snow Maiden, that’s still a joke. Until the very last moment, I did not tell him that he would be the Snow Maiden, he would immediately refuse, despite the promise to help me. The suddenness and the strong alcohol he drank worked, but I thought of deceit - to dress him in nylon tights. The main costume was made from old tulle.
I asked one lady to prepare the role of a gypsy, she made a costume for herself, found some funny fortune-telling and predictions, it turned out very well.
For many years, at the New Year's corporate party, the whole team carried out such a lottery: we copy all the employees on the sheets and then each in turn draws out a sheet with the name of the person to whom he will give a gift. Who pulled out whom we keep a secret, we create intrigue, so to speak. We agree in advance that the value of the gift cannot be lower, for example, 150 rubles, and higher - please, as the master-master says. Before the start of the feast, we hold a type of ceremonial part, the director begins, congratulates everyone and gives a gift to the one he pulled out. Then this employee also congratulates everyone and gives a gift, and so on in turn. It turns out that everyone is with gifts, everyone is happy, everyone is in a good mood, and it cost 150 rubles. There was a curious case, one lady pulled out the same man for 3 years in a row, and we have a lot of employees ... well, how can you not mock this, it’s good that people are humorous. In general, all our employees were generally very cheerful, friendly with each other. It is a pleasure to do corporate events with such people and it is a pity that our company was closed.
I also announced to everyone that there would be a “hat competition”, so that everyone would come in hats, this is a prerequisite. Scream! Who in what! But it was fun beyond words.
So, at the appointed time, the table is set, everyone gathered and put on their hats, took their gifts, the solemn part begins with congratulations. After that, I chose three employees who had the coolest hats: the symbol of the year (our director), the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and Mr. X. Each participant told why he put on such a hat and then voted with applause: whoever clapped harder, he won. And won, oddly enough, the rabbit.
It's time to refresh myself, I put everyone at the table, I give the official word to the bosses on the downstream, just 4 toasts. We drank, relaxed a little, I begin to prepare for the competitions. Below I will write a list of what you need to cook and buy.
I was sure that at least someone would come to the hat competition in a cowboy hat, and I was not mistaken. The first competition I'm holding is "Cowboys". See description. I managed to find only 2 boat pumps, but I also had two participants, if there were more people, I would do it in stages, i.e. 2 times 2, revealed the winners in each pair, then they compete again. I give a prize to the winner, lollipops to the losers.
After the competition, everyone sits down at the table, and I prepare the gypsy's exit. As soon as it is ready, I turn on the music from the film "The camp goes to the sky." It is necessary to warn the actress so that she does not leave immediately, but after 15 seconds. This is necessary so that the employees, having heard the music, understand that some kind of action is beginning, stop talking and get ready to watch.
Then the exit of the gypsy. My colleague prepared herself, and her performance was also a surprise for me. What if no one agrees to be a disguised guest? Prepare everything yourself, a suit, words on a piece of paper (in large print) and simply choose the most active employee during the corporate party. In a good cheerful mood, but with a drunk stack or two, few will refuse.
The next competition I will hold a competition with stockings, see. Music can not be turned on, it is not heard because of Homeric laughter.
After I prepare the performance of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. As I wrote above, my assistant for the role of Santa Claus knew everything in advance, even learned the words by heart. I printed the text of the Snow Maiden in large print. The man I chose for the role of the Snow Maiden was pulled out of the table by deceit and sent to the dressing room. When he saw what kind of costume I had prepared for him, he, of course, immediately began to doubt, maybe I'm not in my right mind, offering him such a thing. Having reminded him of my promise to help me in everything, I dispelled his doubts about my mental abilities with just one phrase: “Next year you will receive the last salary!” Cursing and swearing, he began to put on pantyhose, and I, laughing at my good joke, thrust a piece of paper with the text into him and went to get ready for the exit of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. It was necessary to gather everyone and put them at the table. By this time, the employees are already well tipsy.
There are a lot of scenarios on the Internet, you can choose for yourself what you want, but I did not count on a long action, the evening is short, there is not enough time, but I still wanted to dance. Therefore, I limited myself to short poems of heroes, and the appearance of the Snow Maiden made a splash, everyone rushed to take pictures with her and Santa Claus.
First, to warm up, I say that I will ask questions, and the employees should answer yes or no in unison.
“Santa Claus is a great man?
Will he drink half a bucket of Stolichnaya?
Is he carrying a bag from the warehouse?
Give us two salaries?
Likes jokes, anecdotes?
What about work Saturdays?
Santa Claus sings ditties?
Does Grandpa have girlfriends?
We call together Santa Claus.
Santa Claus enters, all upset, confused, sad, nervous.
"What should I do? That's the trouble, so the Snow Maiden let me down,
He writes a telegram that he won’t come to the holiday
You see, she has a date - a meeting with Lel in a restaurant
Don't care about grandpa! All in Spring, vigorous mother!
That, damn it, is also a flirt, she would always flutter in love
Not the hostess - grief - just! Dirt everywhere - but she doesn't care!
Well, what should I do now? What's the deal without the Snow Maiden
In the New Year let everyone down! Holiday, Lord, forgive!
What should I do? What do i do? On a mobile, why call?
I answer:
Well, you whined, old grandfather, are you tired? And no more strength?
We will find the Snow Maiden, we will call together in chorus.
We call together the Snow Maiden
Beensi's screensaver "crazy_in_love" sounds and here it is - the Snow Maiden.
"Hello my dear,
Mature and young
Noisy and naughty
Happy and beautiful.
Married and single
Bald and Redheads,
Modest, shameless,
Thick, thin,
simple and business
Good and bad
Rich and poor,
Drinkers and snackers
Well, to the best of the subjects.
Happy New Year!"
Then the dancing begins. I wanted to hold another dance competition before the dances, I even prepared a cut for him, but I couldn’t do it. To be honest, I myself was already tired by that time, I also wanted to relax and have fun with everyone. I spent it later on my husband's anniversary, you can see how.
I have prepared 55 musical hits for dancing, everyone dances to this music. If you want to receive them, then subscribe using the link below, you will receive access to the mail cloud at the specified address, where you can view and download. In the same place, the very first number is a cut for a dance competition held by me on my husband's anniversary.
At 22:00, I invite everyone to go outside to watch the fireworks, which I bought from the general money.
No matter how it all goes, be sure to thank for the help, say how well done everyone is, how well they helped and all that.
My to-do list for a corporate party in the office.
Find boat pumps for the Cowboys competition, prepare scarves, see photos.
Prepare musical backgrounds
balloons for the competition;
the cheapest pantyhose, 3 pcs of the smallest size, 1 pc of the largest size;
Chupa Chups for the losing contestants;
Souvenirs for the Gypsy, Santa Claus, Snow Maiden, as well as for the winners of the cap and cowboy competitions;
Fireworks.
Another thing is important for corporate events in the office.
Check the availability of dishes, and also ask the women to bring boards, knives and some cloth napkins (rags) from home. Everyone will be busy and cook food faster.
I plan to write a lot of articles, I will tell you how we did theme parties with friends and colleagues, how we relax and what we do in nature, subscribe, you will be the first to know, if interested, of course.
DJ, organizer, projectionist, manager - anyone, if only not among colleagues. Because there is nothing more helpless, irresponsible and spoiled than drunk co-workers and a boss.
As for me, something is wrong with the traditional Russian corporate party. It should raise team spirit and benefit the company. But in practice, it kills health and gives rise to gossip.
In two months, the country will choke on New Year's corporate parties. I want them not to be ashamed this year. I call for help Alexey Gromov, founder of the Chili Peppers event studio, and Maria Ershova- event director of the company. Alexey and Maria told how to organize a good corporate party without ruining it.
An article for managers, HR directors and those golden people who are assigned by these people to take care of corporate events.
Target
Typically, a corporate event is held to increase motivation, create emotional capital and build employee loyalty. There are also more exotic targets, but more on them later.
To increase motivation, the employee must feel good: creative, skillful and in demand. The corporate party starts a chain reaction: the employee did something good at the corporate party → felt cool → again shows his best side, but already in a working environment. After a good corporate party, employees are emotionally turned on and want new achievements at work.
CORPORATE PARTY STARTS A CHAIN REACTION
Emotional capital, in its simplest form, is the emotions, beliefs, and experiences that help you cope with difficulties at work. This is a margin of safety, thanks to which the employee does more than is provided for in the instructions - for example, temporarily takes on additional responsibilities. Without emotional capital, an employee folds in any incomprehensible situation. A well-organized corporate party creates the necessary margin of safety.
Loyalty helps an employee not to go to competitors for a higher salary. “Yes, they will pay more there, but here they appreciate me, here I am needed.” At a good corporate party, an employee should feel his value.
More exotic destinations- evaluate employees, identify future leaders, shake up the team. You can help employees formulate new goals. You can resolve the emerging conflict, lay the foundation for the development of new skills. A good event company helps to realize all these tasks. Unfortunately, few people know that this is possible. But now you know.
A good corporate party can make you fall in love with a company, change your attitude to work, infect people with new ideas; evoke a sense of belonging to a big and important cause. And a couple of times a year there is a great reason for this. It would be foolish to exchange all these opportunities for a banal banquet.
Chaos
Chaos begins when the holiday has no unifying idea and no one controls it. At a corporate party for 20 people, the boss or one of the colleagues will manage. This is a cozy event for a close company. You can add a cultural program: some agencies and venues are able to organize small events.
A good idea for a small event is to invite everyone to an unusual place: to a cooking class, to an art workshop or to nature. But remember that cooking dinner or painting a picture is not a goal, but only a tool. Formulate for yourself why you will organize this holiday, and let the organizer come up with an interesting content for your purpose.
When you are 100-200-500 people, an organizer is a must. Large corporate events are whole festivals: they rent a large venue, create "stations": shooting galleries, buffets, trampolines, labyrinths, creative workshops. The organizers think over how the employees will pass these stations, what will motivate them. Plots are created, participants are divided into teams, game and role-playing mechanics are invented. From the outside, it seems that it’s just a festival in front of you, but thanks to a well-thought-out structure, a person is interested in this festival.
It is important that all this be subordinated to the goal: not just to put trampolines and soap factories in an open field, but to organize them in such a way that employees receive the necessary emotional experience. Thinking it through is the job of the organizers. Without structure, the celebration will turn into chaos, money will be wasted.
Corporate regatta for a construction company. facebook
Formalism
Formalism is when neither the management, nor the organizers, nor the employees understand why they need this corporate party. This happens in international network companies. From the "center" they give the command to organize a corporate party for the development of "team values". But what this means, why they need team values and how to develop them, no one knows. And the tortured creativity begins:
Let's do a tug of war, shall we? It's a team game
Yes, but we need to implement our values! Let's all pull the rope, but at the same time sing the anthem of our company?
Great idea! Just need to compose an anthem
And let our employees compose it, and so that they use the words “team”, “work” and “team”!
Super! And then we will hold a creative competition "What is teamwork for me ..."
When there is no purpose and values, the holiday turns into a farce. Employees, as it were, play all these tug-of-wars, and then in the smoking room they say, “Well, nonsense.” Money wasted.
If your company does not have goals and values, you do not need to force yourself to be creative. Order food, organize a movie screening or have a disco. Let people just rest.
Creation
Creativity is a universal component of a corporate event. Acting out a scene, making artistic soap, making a pie, taking part in a photo shoot, making a video clip, showing superhero abilities - all this is safe, fun, versatile and, with the right approach, helps to solve most personnel tasks.
The leader tries on the image of the hero in the Chili Peppers photo project. 13 more images on facebook
Employees love creativity because creativity makes you feel good, smart and skilled. It's great when creativity is woven into the overall plot:
you are not just folding origami, but making part of a large art object that will be exhibited in the lobby of the central office;
you do not just dress up in a superhero costume, but get a secret task in which you need to show superpowers;
you are not just making a pie, but preparing treats for children from the orphanage.
Socially significant initiatives work well, for example, subbotniks. Employees spend several hours planting trees, beautifying part of the park, or assembling birdhouses. All this is organized, with music, refreshments and photographs. Employees feel that they are doing something useful and important. Being involved in something bigger is a powerful motivator.
Assembly of birdhouses in the eco-section of the Seasons design clean-up event (organized by the Chili Peppers for Volkswagen). facebook
Man tends to love what he has created. Therefore, employees will be photographed next to their paper figures, show photos to friends, be proud of themselves and their company. This is a good effect, even if you did not originally plan it.
Novelty
Like everything else in the world, there is a fashion for corporate parties. In the early 2000s, everyone was crazy about soap making and dance classes. Now in Moscow they prefer interactive quests using smartphones, tablets and augmented reality. In 2 years there will be something new in fashion. The job of an event company is precisely to find and come up with new ideas and connect them with the goals of the companies.
The most boring corporate events are obtained by client briefs - when the responsible employee unilaterally comes up with what kind of entertainment to order and offers the agencies to set the lowest price. Such corporate events are a celebration of banality and a meager budget.
Advice: even if you have a small budget, contact the event studio for at least free advice. With due perseverance, many ideas can be implemented on their own, but it is better to take the ideas themselves from those who are professionally involved in this.
Interesting corporate parties are obtained when a client comes to the agency with a clearly conscious goal, and they jointly figure out how to realize this goal.
The bank has taken a leading position thanks to new products and technologies. But lately he has started to lose ground, because over the past year he has not created a single breakthrough idea. The personnel audit showed that employees feel like market leaders and rest on their laurels. The goal is to shake up the team, infect them with the excitement of struggle and innovation.
The event agency offered to hold corporate games to launch breakthrough internal projects: employees are divided into teams, come up with a project idea, receive help from mentors from the desired industry and a launch site. At the end of the year - a presentation of projects in front of the whole company, which ends with the awarding of the winners and a big holiday with summing up. The agency came up with the mechanics of the games, ways to motivate employees, a powerful brand for the competition, and all the accompanying presentation.
As a result, the New Year's corporate party was entirely devoted to leaders and innovators who set a new tone for work. In two months of corporate gaming, the New Projects department received more viable proposals than in the previous two years.
Money
A good corporate party does not come cheap, because behind every detail of the holiday there is a huge invisible infrastructure.
The client wants to have a picnic. Among other things, he is offered a station with fresh berries. Price - 1000 rubles per person. “Are you out of your mind?! - the client is indignant, - I will buy each employee a bucket of berries for 1000 rubles. But when he says this, he doesn't think that:
The berries will be beautifully packaged in individual baskets, washed and ready to eat. If necessary, they will be accompanied by napkins and disposable forks that will look like silverware;
The berries will be fresh because they will be bought on the same day early in the morning; they will be whole, not crushed and sour;
Berries will be handed out by two spectacular girls in costumes, they will have a luxurious rustic-style stand in front of them, and a banner with the company's logo on top. The girls will smile and invite you to taste the berries, and the sound of their voice will be sweeter than those berries;
somewhere there will be a trash can hidden from view, where all the waste will fall, and after the Event this bucket, along with the waste, will magically disappear somewhere, it will be clean;
On a hot day, a supply of berries for 100 people will be stored in a refrigerator hidden from view, to which electricity will be supplied from a generator, which will also be hidden from view;
All this will be brought by truck, assembled, installed, monitored for safety, and then dismantled, put in a truck, taken away and cleaned up after themselves.
Now imagine what will happen if the client decides to just buy 100 buckets of berries.
Turning to the agency, you pay not for props, products and costumes, but for a comprehensive service. If you're having an outdoor picnic and suddenly it starts to rain, a good event studio will have a gazelle full of big beautiful umbrellas, tents, blankets and burners in stock.
If the agency has counted your holiday too expensive, it is better to reduce the “coverage”: remove some stations and attractions. Better one good stand with berries than a whole park of boring second-rate attractions that get wet in the rain. And then clean up after them.
Mobile fruit station at an event in Gorky Park
Little holiday
Corporate events don't have to be huge. Small but regular events are no less enjoyable. For example, congratulate an employee on their first year of work or on their birthday. A person comes to the workplace, and a small congratulation and a gift are already waiting for him. For this, it is not necessary to hire an agency - you can also entrust one of the employees.
From time to time, a fruit salad bar or a fresh juice station may appear in the office. It's great when unusual objects appear in the office for a short time - a Soviet slot machine, a soda machine, a large mirror with the inscription "You look great", a mobile photo studio, a "Dandy" prefix or something like that. When an object appears for a short time, employees appreciate it more, and it does not have time to get bored.
Flower master class in "STS-Media".
There is very little time left before the New Year holidays. I am sure that many are now tormented by the question - how to organize an interesting holiday for colleagues. And so I bring to your attention a story about how I did it last year. I hope the idea is useful to someone. All you need to implement it is a little time and imagination. Good luck!
Preparing for New Year's Eve
So, the New Year, 2004, was approaching. And heated discussions of New Year's plans - outfits, menus, gifts were confidently added to the usual final annual park at work. I must say that our department is small, very friendly and mostly young. And, as it often happens, almost completely feminine (5 girls aged 24-27, a female boss who is ready to support all our crazy undertakings, and a boss, a guy of 28 years old, with whom we have experienced so much together that we can almost consider him almost a friend). Every year, on the last New Year's Eve working day, we arrange gatherings. The rooms are decorated with snowflakes, multi-colored congratulatory inscriptions, a huge cactus is dressed up as a Christmas tree, music, delicious treats and always some kind of entertainment (joking, riddles, toasts). Everything is fine, but the soul demanded something completely unusual. The idea came when I accidentally stumbled upon the game "Heroes of Might and Magic" installed in my computer (inherited from the boss :). To be honest, I didn’t even try to play it, but there is one very interesting function there - the ability to create the area on which the action takes place. What if....
New Year's quest
And now, for a whole week, in fits and starts, carefully closing the computer screen from prying eyes, convulsively folding the "non-working" screen when the girls approach, I draw my department. We have at our disposal as many as 3 rooms along a long corridor + a room with a copier - there is where to turn around! Mountains - walls, houses - desktops, caves - built-in wardrobes, turrets - safes, a partition - a bridge .... Every little bit noticeable object has found its place on the map. We transfer the map to any graphics editor. Rooms, various objects have been assigned their own "characteristic" names, we think over where we will hide small souvenirs for each employee of the department, mark them on the map, next to each - the name of the person to whom it will be intended. We print the map on a color printer. It's interesting, what's next?
Let's say the map will need to be assembled in parts, and the parts must be found! So a letter from Santa Claus appears, which says that, alas, he does not have time to come to us, but he hid gifts for everyone in the department in advance, and the card was stolen, torn, and again - hidden by evil trolls. You can, they say, unravel the clues and collect pieces of the map - you will find gifts, but if not, you will not receive anything. Along with the letter - the first clue.
Hints indicate the location where the next clue and a new piece of the map are hidden. And, of course, only "our" person can understand them. For example: "Maybe the treasure is buried under a flowering maple tree?" (the hint is glued under the window sill under a flower, the leaves of which are really very similar to maple) or "Our secret is guarded by the one that stands in the far corner, long, skinny, horned" (a hanger with a hollow stand, into which tips rolled into a tube are lowered on a thread and a piece of the map). There are 10 hints in total. We print the card again, on a b / w printer, having previously closed the sign-pointers with white rectangles, cut it into 10 pieces. Phew, you're all set.
In the evening on the eve of the holiday with a smart look (oh, I still need to finish this summary ... but you don’t wait for me, I can handle it myself ...) I stay at work. According to the plan, I hide clues with pieces of the map and small gifts.
About them a separate word. Of course, in this pre-holiday hype, there is usually neither time nor money left for something sensible and useful. No problem! Of course, everyone will be happy to receive a small postcard addressed to him from Santa Claus and, say, a mini-chocolate. I made the postcards with my own hands: I embroidered small New Year's motifs in advance and pasted them on rectangles cut out of glossy business card. Instead of purchased wrapping paper - lilac corrugated paper painted with gold and silver pens, each gift is tied with gold and silver threads. Surprises are tiny, easy to hide, but nice to receive: The whole next day there was only one thought in my head - if only no one noticed anything prematurely!
New Year's Eve with colleagues
And here we are at the festive table. Naturally, beautifully served, decorated with white snowflakes and golden stars, in the center is a wonderful New Year's composition with a burning candle (oh, how we all did it together! We had fun, we had so much fun!). The first toasts were said, the first worm was frozen, there was talk about this and that .... I get that very letter from Santa Claus. And now all seven people, led by the authorities, are running around the offices in search of pieces of the map. Laughter, screams, the first difficulties with prompts and the wild joy of solving the problem. When all the pieces are found, they must be folded. Finally the "puzzle" is completed. Instead of scraps of a black-and-white map, I take out a color one, with signatures and indexes. What to do with it is not immediately clear. New task.
But the inscriptions are read, the map is carefully examined, and it becomes clear to everyone that this is our department, that the names are pointers to gifts, and that all that is left is to find them. And again, seven people with a huge unfolded map in their hands rush through the offices and look for gifts, almost turning over the safes and not moving the furniture, and rejoicing at the found chocolates, like gold bars...
Talking about this game, impressions lasted for several months, gratitude - perhaps enough for the rest of my life. After almost a whole year, only one question torments me - what else would be so new and interesting to come up with for the next holiday ?!
Smirnova Olga (sova)
