Posted by Tom Ball
Tom Ball’s guide to Christmas parties (and why they are more important than ever before)
Tis the season to ... cancel Christmas parties? Many people seem to be cutting back in these times. At Cognac we understand the logic but believe there has never been a better time to have a slap up party! To coin a phrase, R.O.B. is at an all time high – but more on that later…
I completely understand the need to be sensitive at these times – making half a team redundant and buying the other half a slap up dinner is not exactly an understanding thing to do. But why have a Christmas party in the first place? ‘The Office’ portrays such affairs (pun intended) as drunken excuses to muck up your career with inappropriate photocopier usage. Apparently just 29% of men make it home from the office party – with 40% getting too drunk to even remember what happened that night.
So why bother? Or to quote Anna, our marketing manager: “So ,why exactly are we thinking about spending loads of money on a big party?!” – a good question!
We analysed our marketing spending a while ago – Where does our revenue come from? Where do we spend our money? Surprise, surprise, we spend a fortune winning new accounts – but what about the value of word of mouth referrals? That’s where parties are a chance to say thank you – and it seems to work. Everyone likes to be thanked - and what better way to meet new people than over a beer. Our greatest R.O.I. is R.O.B.
R.O.B. It’s my favourite new acronym. Return On Beer. In the ‘good old days’ – everyone would happily buy their own beer – but now most of us are concerned and spending less. So if someone else buys you a beer, it means more. This effect is increased because most people have stopped doing it. So whatever R.O.B. was, it is now higher. If it made sense before, it makes even more sense today. Anna was convinced – and I hope you will be too!
So what size party do you have? Ten people? Thirty? A hundred? A thousand? Smaller is more intimate – but risks conversation turning back to work! We decided that we wanted to have a party party! A night that people would enjoy, – and think of as fun not work. We have gone for big joint parties.
It all started three years ago; four like-minded entrepreneurs having a beer, realising that an entire week of identical parties lay ahead! We all knew largely the same people, worked with many of the same clients and talked about similar things. The answer seemed obvious: One big, joint party ... so December 2005, two hundred of us had a party in the Gardening Club in Covent Garden. Three years on, there are now twelve parties-within-a-party and about a thousand guests – this year with singers, dancers and hosts to make sure no-one gets lost!
Six parties later, (we soon decided that having a party once a year was not quite enough!) we have learned a lot. Our top tips are:
- Use online RSVP (eg. www.eventbrite.com ) - don’t drown in a barrage of email responses
- Have ‘hosts’ to welcome people and show them through to you – guests are more relaxed once they have located their host and you don’t miss out on seeing everyone
- Work with great suppliers (ideally known to you) who have as much interest as you in making it a great night!
- Team up with other likeminded companies – if your database contains lots of the same people then make it easy for guests and for you by sharing a party
- Get an interesting venue - people will be excited and intrigued to attend
- Spend some of the budget on entertainment – it creates a focus and encourages mingling
- Have a theme, especially around Christmas this helps your party stand out from the others
- Make it clear to everyone that it’s a PARTY not a selling opportunity! If everyone has fun and remembers it with a smile, you’ve succeeded!
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