General office parties are useful for building morale and celebrating accomplishments!

Hosting an Office Party

Whether you plan to host a lavish or modest holiday party this year, keep these points in mind: 

• Be as generous as your budget allows. Employees have been dedicated team members working hard for you all year and they are looking for a show of appreciation.
   
• You can make your event memorable by choosing an unusual location or creating a theme event. Florida Aquarium, Museum of Fine Arts, Dinner boats, Tampa Zoo, The beaches, Polo Grounds are among the many different sites you can choose. 

• Think about hiring my service to help break the ice. It can be just my DJ service, DJ and Band combination or anything else which can cover for those awkward silences which are bound to occur at the beginning of the party. 

• Have enough food. I've seen how fast a party will end if the food runs out prematurely. A hungry stomach leads to a cranky employee.

• Don't assume your staff knows how to party sensibly. Show your concern and Publish your policy on drinking, in advance, to avoid any misunderstandings. Don't be shy to call taxis.

• Well-chosen party props will extend the good feelings after the last balloon has popped. 

• If your concerned with wasting production time of your staff in the planning of the big event. consider my professional party planning service.

• The most important advice is hire a team of vendors you don't have to baby-sit. You will be more effective if you Mingle, mingle, and mingle. All of that positive employee relations is the added benefit of throwing a company bash.

From 50 to 500 I've been the disc jockey for enough office parties throughout the years to testify that they are not easy events to plan or attend. It's not so much the physical effort required to prepare for the event, since most businesses use some kind of professional vendor. 

The problem starts when you mix the bosses and coworkers into a social situation such as an office party, no one knows how to act. All you have to do is read the comic strip in any Tampa newspaper called Dilbert on a daily basis to see the problem. Most employees act differently in front of their peers, supervisors and subordinates. Add spouses and dates to the picture, mix together different departments, and you have a recipe for boredom at best, and disaster at worst. And since our government has become stricter about drinking and driving laws educating individuals of the danger of such actions, the days of employees drinking themselves under the table to loosen up quickly is history. It had better be a pretty good party to overcome the odds.

ICEBREAKERS

I will mention Icebreakers often which are little activities and games designed to help people get to know and feel comfortable around one another. Some are silly, others are a little embarrassing, and others are merely informative in a light-hearted way. If chosen correctly, icebreakers can be a very powerful tool that facilitates the success of your group. 

For small office office parties choosing an icebreaker for your gathering you need to think about the personality of your group and its ultimate purpose.

Here a just a few basic ideas for icebreakers that I've used in the past that work effectively.

At a business function, ask participants to pair up with someone they don't know and learn as much as they can about the other person in five minutes. Then have them introduce that person to the whole group.

Break people into small groups and give each person a penny. Ask them to introduce themselves to the group and talk about what they were doing during the year on the coin.

Tape the name of a famous person on everyone's back. As people socialize, they can ask for clues about their famous person. The first person to guess the name on his or her back wins a prize.
 
If you have a Trivial Pursuit game, put out the cards where guests will see them. Guests automatically read the questions to one another, thus beginning conversations. 

CALL TODAY TO DISCUSS THE DETAILS OF YOUR OFFICE PARTY

With the majority of my corporate clients booking a year in advance, the most popular dates book up early. Call me for your date as soon as possible!