EVENT PLANNING

Sign Up For An

ONLINE ACCOUNT

Become A

PROVIDER PARTNER

Corporate Event Planning

TIPS FOR EVENT PLANNING

Creative Corporate Catering’s corporate events make it simple to plan and bring events to your office. To ensure that your next event is a big hit, we suggest the following tips:

1. Take time to understand the make-up of your audience.
Make entertainment and food choices to match the needs and desires of your demographic. A buffet can serve the need of a talking head while a sit down dinner may more properly fit the needs of an event that requires AV.

2. Consider different dietary preferences.
Account for Vegetarian, Vegan and high protein diets in planning.

3. Forward thinking
If planning an event in the dead of a Minnesotan winter provide a little relieve with a spring/summer type event. Offer an ice cream sundae bar; bring in a reggae style band. For in-house company events, go to the next level with your theme and order decorations.

4. Make it sensory.
In the vein of thinking thematically - bring in elements that reinforce the theme. For a end of year holiday party keep in mind a lush desert cart that is eye, scent and flavor pleasing. For an outdoor picnic event, make sure to arrange for cotton candy and fresh popped popcorn to bring back memories and create new ones.

5. Kick it up a notch!
Beverages can be so much more than ice tea or coffee - offer a fruit smoothie to shake things up. Flavored teas are not that hard to come by and can match the theme of the event. A full service coffee bar with shaved chocolate, whip cream (they now make chocolate whip cream!) and espresso beans make custom mochas a good way to end an evening.

6. Restroom upgrades.
Bring back a little civility without having to pay for the attendant. Mouthwash with small disposable cups, premium hand lotion, mints, branded combs all show attention to detail that is often over looked.

7. The party lives on.
Make strategic decisions on trinkets that meeting attendees can take home with them. You can do branded pens on many price points. A unique offering is to have a professional photographer set up an on-site digital studio in the corner of an event and have them choose a background or create a template that will place the meeting attendee on the cover of a magazine or walking on the moon. That memento is one that they can walk away with and will not end up in the back of a desk drawer.

8. Variety is the spice of life.
Check into a wide range of food options. Add a higher level of excitement over the buffet line by offering Mexican, Chinese and Minnesotan comfort food next to each other. One downside is a slight cost increase. You should always order more food, so you will not run out of a favored dish. For example if you had a party of 100 and were only serving ribs - you would order for 100. If you had 3-4, genres that you are ordering from you would need to order for 120. Consider the enjoyment, buzz you create, and variety that you offer, in the planning and budgets. These valuable intangibles will off set the cost difference.

9. The center of influence.
If your company event includes spouses and children, make sure to market to the most appropriate end user and send an invitation to the home address. That is the best way to ensure the invite ends up on the refrigerator or on the family calendar, instead of stuck in a desk drawer.

10. Exceed expectations.
Consider prioritizing food over location so you have more in your budget to get exceptional food. Transforming a conference room or cafeteria with simple decorations and then feeding your guests a meal that they would want to order out at a nice restaurant but never do..is a gift that respects the attendee and sets your event apart from just another meeting.

Contact one of our catering specialists for more info:

Phone: (763) 512-1212   /   Fax: (763) 512-1222
Email: customerservice@meetingmeals.com