Case Study in Inspiration: [the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative]
Event: A Christmas Carol Celebration
Objective: Create a warm, welcoming setting with traditional, festive aspects of Christmas.
Result: International multi award winning event
Overview
The theme, A Christmas Carol, was the inspiration behind the annual Holiday Staff Party because our client loved the movie and thought that it was a classic traditional Christmas story that exhibited compassion and forgiveness as Scrooge discovers the true meaning of Christmas.
In the movie, Ebenezer Scrooge, is an old miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. When three ghosts take penny-pinching Scrooge on an eye-opening journey, he discovers the true meaning of Christmas – but he must act on it before it’s too late. Much of the movie illustrates the shortcomings of Scrooge, but in the end he is transformed into a kinder, gentler man. This transformation towards kindness was the inspirational message from the movie that our client wanted to focus on.
With 20,000 square feet of available event space, we designed and custom built our own European Village to support the theme.
Focusing on the traditional aspects of Christmas such as family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games and a festive generosity of spirit, Bright Ideas produced this highly creative event by never losing focus of our key event objective – “teammates get treated like family”.
Our client wanted the event to highlight on the traditional aspects of Christmas and we found inspiration and wove them into our seating plan, décor design, menu planning, activities and entertainment. Each decision was carefully scrutinized to ensure that it was in line with the festive generosity of the spirit of Christmas.
Inspiration Objective #1
This event incorporated a theme carefully chosen by our client for his annual Holiday Staff Party which included several event objectives that were clearly set out. However, there was one main objective that took precedent over the others, and this was that the guests needed to feel as if the boss was inviting them into his home, therefore reaffirming their core principle values of “Teammates get treated like family. Be better together. A true team is a group of people who trust each other, just like a family”.
It was very important that we create a warm, inviting setting that made guests feel welcome, valued and relaxed as soon as they entered the venue. To accomplish this, we designed a village complete with courtyard where guests could gather, greet one another and get acquainted with the layout of the event.
Inspiration Objective #2
Another objective was to include traditional, festive aspects of Christmas. We placed the tables close together and in groups, as with family gatherings, so guests could easily kibitz throughout the evening. Keeping with the family ‘must haves’ at Christmas, we included culinary favorites such as a turkey dinner, minced pies, and offered mulled wine and rum and eggnog at the bar.
Inspiration Objective #3
A third objective was to encourage guests to mingle. The space was divided into three sections with different food stations and different theme activities in each section, so that it guaranteed an element of movement. Once we had designed the floorplan and menu around our main objectives, we created activities and entertainment to support the theme.
Inspiration Objective #4
And lastly, we wanted to keep guests engaged during the event, so we created the ‘Spirit of Christmas Challenge’ which was a contest spearheaded by the actors, encouraging guests to visit all sections of the village and win prizes. It worked splendidly, as there was participation all night long!
Conclusion
We established our event design incorporating the important elements of the event goals, and then set about delivering it in a way that was fun, imaginative and inviting, so that guests would be drawn into exploring all sections of the village. Scrooge and his flock of actors, perfectly added just the right touches of the movie entwined with Christmas traditions and woven together with core values from our client. It was perfect. We had created a warm and welcoming atmosphere for the guests so that they really did feel like they were in a friend’s living room at Christmas.
The movie’s core message was inspirational and a major component of our event design. We achieved all of our objectives and surpassed expectations with A Christmas Carol Celebration. Our approach to every aspect of the event; from designing an innovating theme and including creative themed activities to setting a new record attendance for the event, our coordination efforts were highly praised and appreciated. Bright Ideas produced this extremely creative event by never losing focus of our key event objective – “teammates get treated like family”.
Event Documentation
