Hosting a meal during a corporate evening is no easy task! While an evening and more specifically a dinner is the ideal opportunity to meet new colleagues, partners, clients or potential prospects, it can very quickly become a long and boring time. Culinary entertainment, table quizzes, dance or hypnosis demonstrations, so many activities to offer during your meal!
In order to help you in your organisation, here is a non-exhaustive list of the best entertainment to offer during your corporate meal and evening.
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1. What you need to know
Unlike a cocktail party or a dinner buffet, which assumes that the guests present eat standing up and serve themselves, a corporate meal places everyone in a fixed place, on specific tables. In this situation, it is important to be able to liven up this moment with attractive, fun entertainment that is able to capture the attention of the guests and create a pleasant atmosphere throughout the meal. In this regard, a little music is not enough and it is essential to present creative entertainment concepts to guarantee the success of your meal.
A sit-down dinner at a professional evening event is actually the ideal time to organise and schedule unique entertainment, games and original activities so that your employees, partners or clients have a good time and do not get bored while they wait for the different dishes to be served.
2. List of the best ideas of activities to propose during your dinner
A culinary entertainment
Offer culinary entertainment during the meal, such as a cocktail or cooking workshop, a trompe-l’oeil dish or even a spectacular service (service with flames around the plate, etc.). It is an original way to entertain your guests and allow the people sitting around the table to chat more. Indeed, it is well known that food brings people together! Similarly, you can, for example, organise a wine-tasting session at the beginning of the meal with several tests and quizzes with bottles to be won at the end of the meal. White, red, rosé and champagne wines, take your guests on a journey and discover your wine region.
A general knowledge quiz
Create a general knowledge quiz for employees if it is an internal company meal, or during a seminar, to make them work as a team and stimulate their thinking during it. The questions can cover various subjects such as history, geography, music, sports, and even… your company!
Musical blind test
In the same vein, you can organise a musical blind test by creating a playlist of well-known music on a very specific theme (80s, American or English music only…). Consider forming teams, preferably made up of people sitting around the same table.
The photobooth
Provide a photobooth so that your guests can take pictures of themselves with fun accessories to keep friendly memories. This is also an excellent opportunity to break the ice for new and recent arrivals in your company.
Karaoke
Karaoke is a classic but still very popular form of entertainment. Organise a karaoke session so that your guests can sing solo or in teams. It is a fun way to create a relaxed atmosphere and allow your guests to get to know each other better. Of course, you must have a place large enough and with all the necessary equipment to organise this entertainment.
Speed networking
Organise a speed networking as an introduction to your evening to encourage professional exchanges between guests, especially if your business meal brings together companies from the same sector, partners and sponsors or even regular or potential customers. Give each participant a few minutes to introduce themselves and exchange business cards.
A conference or round table
To create a surprise effect and mark a break during your meal, invite a speaker, a business leader, a well-known personality or even a comedian to give an inspiring and above all, entertaining talk. The theme can be related to your core business but without any direct connection to really change the minds of your guests.
This can also be an opportunity for you and your company to make a special and original announcement (launch of a new product, the recruitment of a new director, the departure of a former employee, the creation of a renowned partnership, etc.).
A stand-up comedy
Hire a comedian or artist to offer a stand-up show during the meal. Make sure that the content of the show is adapted to your audience and your meal in general. For example, you can perform this animation between the main course and the cheese to make a marked break for your guests.
For your professional dinner, use the online registration solution to know the number of participants in advance. If you are welcoming a large number of people, our access control solution will be useful to ensure the safety of your guests. And to contact them easily, opt for our marketing and CRM tool!
