Planning a Party
If you are put in charge of planning a party, there are a number of things to keep in mind. The main thing to remember is that all parties have some things in common. What you know about these common elements will help you plan.
Let’s look at them.
Purpose. Why are you having a party?
Is the emphasis on project/programme purpose, or on just having a good time?
Is it someone’s birthday? A holiday season? Are you celebrating a promotion? Saying goodbye to someone, or welcoming someone new? Is it the organization’s 50th anniversary? Are you introducing a new product line? Does the party have a formal theme? Are they trying to impress investors? The purpose will define the tone.
What’s your budget?
Is the organization or a specific department paying for all or any part of this? What about an employee club or group?
Do the attendees pick up the tab for this themselves? If so, does the organization have a fund so that money is available up front and the fund repaid out of ticket sales?
Who is coming?
Is this a party for all employees? Is it limited to one department of section? Will they bring their spouses or dates? What about children? Will the various organizational levels mix at the party?
Could it be a party for the people you do project/programme purpose with; either the people you buy from or the ones you sell to—maybe even both?
How many are coming?
Is it a team, section, department, or division party, or is it organization wide? What about family members or others from outside the organization?
Will there be more than 10 people? 50, 100? 500? 1,000?
Do you want to hire a professional party planner?
If this is going to be a major function, do you and your staff really have the time and expertise to do it all yourself? Do you want to do it all yourself?
A professional party planner can handle everything from invitations and setting a theme to catering and bartending.
Planners can also help you determine what is appropriate, how much food, snacks, drinks—both alcoholic and non-alcoholic—you will need, and also help you deal with caterers, entertainers, and everyone and everything else that needs to be taken care of for the event. They can also handle the clean-up. The bigger the event, the more time, care, and planning are involved.
Deciding to use a party planner is just like to deciding to use any other outside consultant. You are looking for expertise, and are willing to pay for it in order to save you and your staff time while ensuring that the party will be exactly what you, your staff, and your superiors expect.
The party might be for only one afternoon or evening, but people will be talking about it for months afterwards—maybe even years.
Where will you hold it?
If it is at the organization, where exactly will it be? In a conference room? The factory floor? The auditorium? Will it spread across one floor, or the entire organization, from the reception desk to the various offices and supply room?
If it is being held offsite, will it be in someone’s home, a hall, hotel, a restaurant, or will it be at some special “party” facility, such as an aquarium, museum, theme park, sightseeing boat, or rodeo ranch? Will it be a daytime or nighttime event?
Will you be feeding people?
If you are, will it be a formal sit-down dinner, a buffet line, or just snacks? Will the attendees be responsible for paying for the food, or is the organization buying? Who will be preparing and serving the food?
If it is to be offsite, will the site’s owners take care of preparing and serving it?
If it is to be onsite, will employees do it? Or a caterer? Will there be enough food? Few things spoil a party more than going home hungry.
Will alcohol be served?
Whenever alcohol is to be served, a certain amount of extra thought and planning is required. Does the organization have a formal policy about drinking? If so, you might want to remind people about it before the party.
If alcohol is to be served, will it be free? Or, will people pay for their own drinks? Will it be wine only? Beer? Spirits? All three? Will there be adequate refreshments for non-drinkers, such as soft drinks, juices, and coffee—both regular and decaffeinated?
Will there be speeches?
Will anyone from the organization have anything to say at the party? If so, will it
be brief welcoming remarks, or will it be a formal speech or presentation? Will there be
more than one speaker?
In any case, where will they speak from? The center of the room, a stage, or formal dais? Will they need any sort of technical support for slides, charts, video clips, or anything else they will be using? Will they need a microphone?
How much time will the speaking take up?
Will it take place before the party starts? During the party? After dinner?
If alcohol is being served, there are a number of other questions to look at.
How long will people have been drinking before the speaking starts?
Will the bar be closed during the speaking? Will it re-open when it is done?
What will the speech or speeches be about? Look at what you can expect to be said, and then ask yourself, is there a chance that someone in the audience will have had too much to drink by the time the speeches start and say something inappropriate, or interrupt the speaker?
What, if anything, will follow the speakers?
If the party is going to continue after the speeches, will an audience that has been drinking get impatient with the speakers?
We all know that drinking and driving don’t mix. What too many people find out the hard way is that drinking doesn’t mix to well with public speaking, or parties, either.
Will there be entertainment?
There is a wide range of options when it comes to providing entertainment at a party, ranging from free and amateurish all the way to highly professional and very expensive.
In many organizations, employees provide their own entertainment; music, stand-up comedy, comic sketches, magic acts, and so on.
If professionals are to be brought in, the first thing you have to determine is the type of entertainment you want, and how much you can afford to spend on it. If you want dancing, you can hire a DJ, or go all the way up to a full orchestra. Other types of entertainment include comics, clowns, singers and dancers, magicians, and professional after-dinner speakers.
You might want to have background entertainment—a string ensemble, or maybe a guitarist, harpist, or pianist playing as people talk and mill about.
Once again, if alcohol is part of the party, extra attention has to be paid to how it might affect the entertainment, and vice versa. This is especially true if you plan to mix alcohol, entertainment, and organization speeches.
The location of the party can also be a major factor in the type of entertainment you can get. It’s hard to fit a full orchestra into a conference room, and most performers will want some sort of stage as well as a good sound system.
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10. Manners
When you are at a organizational party, you want to be on your best behavior. You
want to dress and act appropriately. However, just what does the term “best behavior”
mean in the 21st century, in this era of changing standards, gender roles, and dress
codes, especially when applied to a organization function?
If you call your supervisors Ms Pirelli and Mr. Gordon at work, what do you call
them when you are seated across the dinner table from them, and you are there with your
date or your spouse? For that matter, what does you spouse or date call your supervisor?
What do you call your supervisor’s spouse or date?
While we’re on the subject, what do the people you manage call you when they
are not working? What do they call your spouse or your date?
If the organization president, your boss’s boss’s boss, or a board member,
tell you to call them by their first names after three drinks at the organization holiday
party, do you continue to call them by their first names when you are back at work on
Monday? Of course in some organizational cultures, everyone is on a first name basis. In
others, no one is.
Every culture has its own set of manners. Belching at the dinner table is rude in
some societies. In others, it is rude not to belch after a good meal.
organizational cultures also differ from organization to organization. Some CEOs show up in jeans
and a sweatshirt, and spend their days dealing with subordinates in suits.
If you don’t know what “proper” behavior is where you work, ask a friend or your supervisor. Remember, it is less embarrassing to ask a question in advance about what is considered “proper” than it is to “assume” you know what you’re doing—and be wrong.