One of the most intricate and customized events that Bright Ideas has recently produced was called ‘Christmas Around the World.’ It involved an incredible quantity and variety of suppliers, developing a rotating schedule of performances on multiple stages, creating mini-themes that were each completely different while remaining culturally authentic, and sourcing decor to suit each one. From that experience we identified four key factors for successful events featuring multiple embedded themes.
ONE: Choose mini-themes that will not compete with each other & do your research well
When we began planning for this Christmas Around the World event, we had a lot of input from our client regarding the cultures they wished to highlight. We researched the key elements of celebrating Christmas in each one and started scouting the talent pool in the Metro Vancouver area, to find out if these elements could be recreated in a realistic, yet show-stopping way! The result was a corporate Christmas event focusing on the holiday traditions of four countries. We chose these countries because we could see that each theme would be unique and distinctive from the others.
TWO: Remain focused on your vision for a particular mini-theme to keep it authentic and different from all other mini-themes
We realized very quickly that it could become a nightmare to plan four different feature food elements, four different musical performances, four different sets of authentic decor, etc. In order to keep a particular vision for a mini-theme clear in our minds, we literally, we created a ‘mind-map’ where we separated a sheet of paper into 4 boxes, each representing a country/room, and inserted subtitles: Food Item, Activity, Entertainment, Decor, Specialty Bar Details. Needless to say, this sheet became our bible and was coveted by everyone in the office! Completing each mini-theme separately, but keeping all the information summarized on the same paper allowed us to stay focused on a single vision – to ensure they were authentic and completely different from each other.
THREE: Create Flow
We wanted to create a steady flow of guests from one area of the event to another and thought the best way to achieve this was through curiosity. If a guest thought, “In the Russia room there was ceviche served on a walking buffet…I wonder what the Cuba room will have?” our mission was accomplished. This is pretty much exactly what happened. Throughout the evening guests meandered through the event and experienced everything.
To really drive this flow, however, we not only planned an entertainer for each room, we staggered performance times and posted the schedule around the venue. So guests who love traditional North American Christmas music would see that the Carollers in Canada were about to perform and made their way there. And others would notice that in thirty minutes the Cossack dancers would begin in Russia and begin moving that way. Both of these elements sparked curiosity and ensured guests participated in every room and then would tend toward ‘guests of like minds’ as they found themselves back in the room they like best!
FOUR: Ensure guests experience every culture
For Bright Ideas Events, it wasn’t enough that guests simply visit a room or take in a performance. We wanted to give guests a reason to visit each room and to participate in a typical activity of that mini-theme. We developed a challenge that went like this: each mini-theme contained one or more interactive components, which when completed entitled a guest to enter a ballot into a draw. In Russia, guests were challenged to restack a set of Babushka nesting dolls as quickly as possible. In Cuba, guests could either get a professional shoe shine and learn how to do it, or visit a cigar expert and learn what makes a premium cigar and how to roll one and so on.
This was a beautiful event and we would encourage other of our clients to consider this it. Such a great diversity in food, activities, decor & entertainment! To view more images of this event, please visit this gallery on our Bright Ideas website. If you would also like to see a video of this event click here. Call us today to discuss how you could incorporate this theme into your next event or Request a Quote.
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