Icebreakers for Small Groups FREE GAME Included

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Anna

Icebreakers have been invented for a reason, they are there to motivate people, to give a sense of what’s coming and to set the mood to the event you are about to take part in. Mind you icebreakers can and should be used at the beginning, the middle and even at the end of any speech, lecture of even team-building event. Icebreakers for small groups are a little bit different than regular ice breakers and there are a few things you should be mindful of when bringing them to the table.

Warning: Icebreakers for Small Groups Ahead.

Icebreakers for small groups are different than regular ice breaker games for adults as they:
1. Should never concentrate on 1 or 2 people in the group.
2. Should be shorter than regular ice breakers.
3. Have to be well structured and timed.

Icebreakers for small groups are especially important, because small groups are often overlooked when it comes to compensation, attention and general team well being, icebreakers are a nice way of saying:

“Hi we know you are here and want to do something nice for you.”

As a manager, team leader or event planner you should always be looking for ways to improve team dynamic and create a more cohesive team. Since most of the time companies work in teams or groups between 3-12 people icebreakers for small groups can be used during team meeting and even during lunch hour to build stronger relationships and foster trust and cooperation between team members.

Free Game Alert! Tribal Rhythm.

In fact an Icebreaker is one form of team building activities that is easy to arrange and can be easily tested for success.

Amount of people: up to 10 sitting in a circle.

Objective: create a positive atmosphere of listening, interdependence and team work.

Overview: The idea is to create a flow of rhythm within the circle without breaking the beat, if one person makes a mistake everyone starts from the beginning. The end result is the entire circle engaged in an action where each person contributed something but also listened to all the others to be able to maintain a flow.

How it works: The first person begins with an action or a beat and repeats it 5 times. For example: a clap, repeated 5 times.
When he is finished with the first beat, the person sitting next to him in the circle repeats the action of the person that just finished his action, while the first person begins another action and repeats it 5 times, for example: drumming on his stomach.

The second participant is now performing the drumming on the stomach and the third participant starts the clapping of the hands.

If someone in the circle gets it wrong – start again, when the game begins again the person who “got it wrong” is the one that begins.

Once everyone is successful in repeating all the movements then the person who began the circle now becomes a participant and the movements flow to each participant in the circle.

Short discussion: talk about how the success of the entire process depends on the willingness and ability of each member of the circle to participate and give their part accurately with concentration and dedication.

Icebreakers for small groups are a great way for releasing tensions and for finding a way out of the monotony and routine day to day workflow. Team building has proven to improve results and people’s satisfaction with their lives in general. So why not give it a try today?

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Original Corporate Party Ideas

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Anna

Corporate parties should not be reserved for holidays. There are lots of reasons to celebrate in the office on a day to day basis and you can do so without spending a fortune. More specifically here are 3 corporate party ideas that you can try in your office without breaking the bank.

Corporate Party Ideas You Haven’t Thought About
A Surprise Celebration: celebrate when no one expects it. It is important to show employees that you appreciate them even when they didn’t not do “anything special.” Having a catered breakfast for the team in the middle of a busy season or while an important project is going on is creative, it gives people the extra push they often need and it shows them that you support them even when you’re busy doing 101 other things and are only busy checking on their progress against a deadline.

A Simple Idea: start a tradition involving food that everyone loves, make sure to stick to it no matter what the circumstances are on a certain day and time. If people’s tastes change, change the food item everyone is bringing. Make sure to keep this your team’s “little secret” and give it a code-name to make things even more fun for everyone.

Office Party Games: party games are a tested and most successful of all corporate party ideas. Office party games are usually regular adult party games that have been modified or toned down for the office. The most successful games used at corporate events are ones that involve teams, use team building exercises and foster learning new skills as well as benefit those participating.

A Simple Idea: use this list of office party games to plan your next event. You will see how engaged and involved people become in games since people learn better by doing than listening you will be able to achieve greater results by incorporating it as one of your corporate party ideas.

Use Themes Right: you might think that themed parties are not exactly original and you will be right. But if done with the right intention they can open up an entire new world of possibilities. Don’t use a theme merely to celebrate your holiday office party. The corporate party ideas vault includes office party themes for a number of reasons. You can use a theme to emphasize something that’s happening in the team or to demonstrate a point.

You can also use a theme throughout a project and once it is finished organize a celebration around the theme of the project. Here you can get as geeky as possible and dig right into the industry you’re working in.

This will surely help you out with some ideas, read this office party themes post for new original ideas for themes.

A Bright Idea for A Corporate Party: The Element of Surprise. Send out an invite to everyone you’re planning to invite (team or company) to a company wide meeting to make sure everyone comes to the event. Instead of a company meeting have a fun day or morning for the employees. Make sure to incorporate:
Food: It is not by mistake that we mention food here all the time, people appreciate good food and are always happy when great food is served at any event they go to.
Entertainment: games, as mentioned above and icebreakers make a great entertainment component to any party. If you still haven’t check out this guide on icebreakers it is extremely useful for team meetings and events like office parties and presentations.

Using original corporate party ideas when planning events is important to make sure people feel that you have invested time and effort into making them happy. If you only celebrate people’s success at certain times of the year like Christmas, performance and company morale will suffer, however if you use corporate party ideas to add a little entertainment for your employees it will come a long way in terms of dedication and demonstration of skill.

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Fun Office Games Done Right

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Anna

If you are looking to bring some fun to the office or even spice up a party with something exciting do it with games. Fun office games planned OUR way are tactful, engaging and most importantly result oriented – the result being helping employees function better as a team.

Fun Office Games Are More Than Just Fun

If you want to “just have some fun” around the office then take everyone out for a lunch or after work drinks. You can reward them with something useful by doing a survey to find out what people really want. But if you are looking to change or encourage certain behavior then you should use fun office games (with the emphasis on FUN) to achieve the results you want. It has been proven that people learn better through active participation where the final goal of let’s say communication is not anywhere to be seen. Read on to find out exactly how to do that.

3 Common Challenges to Take On with Games

Focus on Team building
Team building is huge when it comes to organizing fun office games, you can play games, build together and even organize a fundraising event as a team. When people work together creating, building and organizing things that are outside of their sphere of expertise wonderful things begin to happen:

1) They discover challenges and problems that were under the surface all this time and are now coming up.

2) They come up with creative solutions by helping each other and seeing qualities in each other that they have never managed to see before.

Here’s a great list of team building games for the workplace which are of course in the form of fun office games that are easy to assemble and are ready to use.

Tips to build Great Team Building Activities for the Workplace:
Avoiding competition, encouraging listening, and involving surprised guests like family.

Focus on Communication
When it comes to communication challenges, the important thing to do is demonstrate the lack of communication within the team but what’s more important is to give a solution or a blueprint of how to overcome this challenge. There is no point pointing to the problem if you’re not going to try and solve it. This can be done easily through fun office games. You can play games that show the importance of communication in getting a task done, or demonstrate a story using participants who will be clearly “ruining” the story instead of contributing to it. The emphasis here is usually on words and written communication. But team building still plays a role as well.

Focus on Motivation
A lack of motivation usually appears within a team because of an idea that they cannot
accomplish something and usually follows an episode of a project that failed or not being able to bring in the desired results. This is a critical time where fun office games can stop and turn around a pattern that’s about to be formed and bring in new energy and new methods of coping to the team.

Any game that involves team building and completing assignments together will be great.The element of fun is especially important here so that team members don’t feel that they are being judged, evaluated or tested. Stress the importance of fun and the need for change before you begin.

Here are a few very good resources for ideas and examples of how you can get your employees motivated through fun office games:

Be careful, often games that are simply fun bring the intelligence level of the team to that of kindergartners. To avoid this mistake make sure to set clear objectives for yourself before you begin planning the games and tools you will be using to achieve your goals. Once you do that choose fun office games that do not insult the intelligence of your team and always show you in the light of bringing benefit to the team that is further than just improving the state of your business, in other words bring value to the participant far beyond the workplace. And that’s what fun office games should really be about, on top of the fun of course.

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How to Find the Perfect Event Planning Template

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Anna

Event Planning TemplateThe perfect event planning template is one that takes care of your event management needs time and time again. It doesn’t mean that you have to spend hundreds of dollars to purchase event planning software or project management kits but it does mean that you have to know exactly what you need to plan the perfect event.

Using the Right Event Planning Template:
Things really depend on how many events you plan, the size of your events and the type of event management you do (corporate event management or wedding planning for example.) Also I don’t believe that there is one perfect event planning template specifically because event planning covers so many aspects. Below you will find information of what event planning templates and event planning services are a must have and some examples of standard and custom made templates.

Event Management Tip: Take a look at big players like Microsoft and Google who offer standard templates for event planning and budgets but also do your research to find templates that are not as general and fit you and your planning needs.

Here are some event management tools and templates that should definitely be part of every event manager’s toolkit:

Event Planning Checklist – there are lots of checklists out there. You can find a checklist for everything: a venue inspection checklist, catering checklist, meeting checklist, keynote speaker checklist and on and on. But sometimes these detail oriented checklist will prevent you from seeing the big picture.

Event Planning TemplateIt’s important to have a general checklist that will give you a sense of the workload, give you direction and create focus in your work. Once your work is broken down into section there are different tools that you can use for each section to make sure the job is done right. If you don’t know where to start you can purchase a basic checklist and then modify it by adding or removing items to the list. Or you can find a free checklist online – just make sure that the checklist that you find reflects the type of event planning that you do. A corporate event manager’s checklist will look very different from an event planner organizing birthday parties. Here’s an example of an event planning checklist that has been created by the event organizers themselves.

Event Management Tip: add deadlines and estimated time for completion for each item on your checklist.

Event Budget Template – probably the most important event planning template but also one that isn’t as complicated as people make it out to be. It really depends on you and your ability to visualize numbers and understand where you are right now and where you are heading (and how fast.) This template usually comes as part of an event planning software like this one and comes in a package with balance sheets, invoice templates, budget proposal templates etc. Find or create a template that will present your event budget in a clear manner so that you are ready to pull it out at any moment and show it to your client…and of course so that you yourself know where you are in your budget at all times.

Event Management Tip: when working with your budget go from the most expensive items on your list (venue, transportation, speakers, catering etc) to the least expensive items. Here are some additional event management tips that I hope you find useful.

 

Event Review and Evaluation – event evaluation forms are extremely important because they bring closure to the event organizers, the event attendees and the service provides that were involves in the event production. My favorite way to evaluate an event is through online feedback forms or event evaluation templates. These can be created really easily using Google Forms and can also be printed out and handed out if there’s no way for you to reach your attendees online. What I like about Google Forms is that, with some forward thinking, you can arrange the feedback from the forms in spreadsheets and graphs really easily and with minimal efforts. This makes presenting this information and summarizing your work super easy and fun.

Here’s a great introductory video to using Google Forms:

Event E-mail Template – email and social media have become inseparable with event management. Although it seems that this sort of advertising should be done by marketing departments or a marketing agency, it often falls on the shoulders of the corporate event manager and event planners in general. If you still haven’t mastered the art of email marketing it’s time to do so. Evites, e-mail campaigns and online event invitations are a natural part of the event planning process just like food or keynote speakers and play a huge role in event registration and RSVP etiquette.

To Summarize: The main difference that you will notice about event planning templates is the price. Some are free, some are available through event planning websites and some cost a fortune. Keep in mind that usually one product doesn’t cover all bases, and that’s o.k because it’s better to shop and custom make your own event planning package that works for you, just make sure to spend some time doing your research and ask lots of questions.

Posted in Event Organization, Event Planning Software, Helpful Information | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Office Party Games

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Anna

Corporate parties can be dull, boring and full of awkward moments. But they don’t have to be, you can make them fun, memorable and classy. You can easily turn your party into a corporate wonderland by incorporating office party games. There are different office party games for different occasions; some are complex and need some preparation while others are super easy and all you need to play is a group of people.

What Are Office Party Games?
Office party games are usually regular adult party games that have been modified or toned down for the office. The most successful games used at corporate events are ones that involve teams, use team building exercises and foster learning new skills as well as benefit those participating. Team building activities for the workplace are now widely used at lunch events, corporate parties and even at regular meetings to engage employees and create team work.

How to Plan A Party:
Before we talk about corporate party games you can use, here are 4 aspects of party planning that you need to remember when you plan a party at home or in the office.
Music – using the right music combination and the right genre will set the tone of your party; music should be closely connected to your party theme. Sometimes an 80’s playlist will be just what you need instead of Mozart or Bach’s beautiful symphonies. Hire a DJ, a live Band, Make a few CD’s – whatever your budget allows you to do, but do some thinking and planning ahead of time to incorporate music into your party.
Food and Drink – what kind of event are you holding? Is there’s a sit down dinner component or will everyone grab some hors d’oeuvre with a drink? Think about how much time you can allocate to food consumption and plan your menu accordingly. Take the activities that you’re planning for your event into consideration. If you’re planning a scavenger hunt you might not have enough time for a sit down meal for example.
Entertainment – people come to a party to interact, show off their new shoes/or girlfriends, eat, and have fun. Create a plan and schedule for the entire party and include entertainment such as games, physical activities, picture taking, contests and if your budget allows some sort of paid entertainment – magicians, comedians, singers or speakers…depending on the mood of the party.
A Host – no matter how small or large your party is you should have a host. This should either be you – the person planning the party – or if you will be busy running the event behind the scenes someone who you trust and who is liked by the attendees. The host needs to know what is happening at all times, what comes next and be responsible for the progress of the party.

Party Game Ideas
Here are some entertaining and unique office party games that are easy to create and implement for your next party.

Shoe Shuffle
You are either thinking of a classic Sex and the City episode or you’re thinking about the odor from all those shoes. Well it’s neither actually b/c the only shoes you’ll be putting on are your own and this is a really fun team building game for any occasion. Here’s how it goes: ask everyone to take their shoes off and put them into a big pile at the end of the room. Break the crowd into two teams and line up the two teams on the other side of the room. The task is for each team member to find their shoes and then run (in their shoes) back for the next person in line to do the same until everyone is finished. The first team in which everyone finds their shoes wins. It’s important to have a good mix of men and women on each team to keep the game fair, after all let’s face it running in stilettos can be a little challenging.

Balderdash, Fictionary or Pictionary
These games are based on defining words and getting points; the wackier the words are the more fun the definitions become especially when you are trying to convince an intelligent group of co-workers that you know exactly what “gaberlunzie” means. Do you? You don’t have to be boring with games that everyone is familiar with, you can get creative and fun as long as you put a little effort and plan ahead.

2 Truths and a Lie
This game works exactly how it sounds, each person tells 2 truths and a lie about themselves while others try to guess which one is the lie. This is a great game to play when a group of people don’t know each other very well. It breaks down the ice and gives a chance for people to get to know each other quickly.

A Few More Party Ideas for Adults:
How about a scavenger hunt around town? It’s super easy to organize and is a great game if you’re holding an event outside. Click here for more info on how to organize a scavenger hunt and a few other party games for adults.

  • Why not plan an Office Family Feud? Click Here fore a list of questions and detailed instructions.
  • Charades is also a great game to play especially when you don’t have a lot of resources, all you need is a theme (movies for example) and a few ideas (movie titles)
  • Last but not least – Desk Robber, steal one item from each person’s desk during lunch time and present it at your party, others have to guess who the item belongs to, which makes for great laughter and elevated spirits.

Office party games are fun to plan and execute and are a great addition to any party, BBQ or corporate events. Whether you need to fill up a window of time or create focus in your event I recommend using office party games to make your event a success.

Posted in Corporate Event Ideas, Event Organization, Teambuilding | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

A Meeting Minutes Sample You Can Use

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Anna

I don’t know about you but I always keep my own meeting minutes. I don’t summarize the entire meeting but I always keep my own notes and have a meeting minutes sample that I want to share with you.

Why? Because once you find a meeting minute format that works for you, you can train your staff and coworkers to follow it as well, therefore synchronizing your efforts and saving a lot of time for everyone.

Meeting Minutes Sample
Before we get into meeting minutes check out this post on the proper meeting agenda format [yes there are free templates that you can download there too.]

A few things to remember before you start typing or writing away. Taking minutes is pretty much an art form. Remember the kids in college whose notes you used to photocopy ALL the time versus the “one photocopying stand” ones. Well minutes are kind of like really good lecture notes that are hard by come by.

Here’s a free meeting minutes sample that I use all the time.

How to Take Meeting Minutes

  • Be objective. Only write down the facts that were presented in the meeting, DON’T add your own take on things or draw any conclusions. Don’t write “we’re going to come over budget” if someone says “we spent an extra 5,000 on tablecloths”
  • Get organized. If the meeting is going in a thousand different directions break your notes into a couple of sections and add your notes into the appropriate section as the meeting progresses.
  • Work around the action items. People tend to be sidetracked, keep the minutes close to the action items to keep the minutes focused.
  • Don’t make it personal. Don’t use names if possible and don’t get into he said, she said. The minutes of a meeting should focus on the decisions that have been made and the tasks that have been assigned.
  • Writing meeting minutes is the perfect time to be boring, avoid personal observations especially if you have something to say about the person making a point and specifically if you disagree with that point.

Meeting Minutes Format:
These are the must have components of any meeting minutes

  • Date and time of the meeting
  • Meeting participants and who was absent
  • Action items – who is to complete them, by when (due dates)
  • Next meeting date and time
  • Here are a couple of tips additional items that should be on your list

Also see:
How to Conduct A Meeting

A Few More Meeting Minutes Tips:
Think about what you like to have on hand when going over your meeting minutes. For example, the presentation or report that was being presented at the meeting? Solution: Attach handouts and presentations electronically. A few templates from Microsoft that you can download and use.
Don’t forget to cross reference the meeting minutes with the agenda of the meeting, this will make sure that you didn’t forget anything and that all areas have been covered.
When you’re e-mailing the meeting minutes to the attendees (and those who missed the meeting but need to be filled in) write the action items in the body of the email. I find this to be a very proactive and helpful approach.

Finally don’t throw out or delete the draft of the meeting minutes that you’ve been working with at the meeting before you send out the meeting minutes and see the email and the file in your Sent Items. Check to see that the file opens and that it hasn’t been corrupted because if this was your only copy no great meeting minutes sample is going to save you now.

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Summer Party Themes

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Anna

How do you know that summer is almost here? The sun is shining, the birds are singing (that is if you can see and hear anything from your office window) and your calendar is suddenly getting crammed with events that have “year end” and “summer” in the title. Well then this is a perfect time to organize a summer party and I’m going to help you get started with a few fun summer party themes.

Easy Breezy Summer Party Themes

Let’s start with the more obvious summer party themes. Choose a movie, play, book that you and your friends or colleagues love and go with it.
For example: “Alice in Wonderland” “The Godfather” or “Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars” if you want to get real geeky.

Before choosing a summer party theme take these into consideration:

  • The age of the attendees: will there be children at the party?
  • Will the party be inside/outside: you can get really creative with the decorations if you’re holding the party outside without worrying about burning the house or office down.
  • The food: think about the food that you will be serving first and then modify it according to the party you are planning, this will help prevent putting a dent in your budget.
  • Music: here are some great movie scores to help you get into the mood of your summer party theme.

Summer Party Themes with a Statement
If you are looking for something a little more edgy for your summer party theme or if you’re entertaining a crowd that loves to support a cause or show appreciation for something then try: a “Red, White and Blue” party, do a “Christmas in July” theme (check out these tips from my “office Christmas party” post for inspiration) or choose your favorite baseball team and throw a “Red Sox” appreciation party.
The most important thing with these types of summer party ideas is to get extra creative. Think about simple ways in which you can substitute a real airshow by getting the kids to do a show of skills with their toy airplanes.
Make it feel like “it’s Christmas” by inviting Santa over with some presents or arranging for a picture taking corner with Santa.
Here are a few additional ideas that you will surely useful.

Other Summer Party Ideas
When looking at summer party themes you can always approach the problem through food, yes food. Take “Turkish Delight” as an example, you can make that the focus of your party and create a whole theme around foods from around the world, think of a beautiful Arabian Nights theme that you can try.
See Also:
A great birthday party checklist that you can use to plan any party.
If you’re looking for an event planning template here are some great ideas.

It’s important to remember that keeping an open mind and searching outside the box is the key element for searching through summer party themes, and if you can’t make up your mind between two party ideas, don’t worry since you’ll have plenty of time to experiment and try out new themes throughout the coming months.

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A Simple Birthday Party Checklist

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Anna

Checklists don’t need to be complicated, if they are it turns them into to do lists, which are a completely different deal. This is why keeping your birthday party checklist is important. It will help you stay organized and go through the party planning process in a jiffy.

Birthday Party Checklist

A a good party checklist is one that can be used for all kinds of events: birthday parties, office parties even baby-showers. All good parties have a few things in common and these are: good food, good entertainment and a good atmosphere. However you do need to keep track of the planning process and that’s why an event checklist template is an important tool to use. Here’s a short and general birthday party checklist that will get you started. Please note that this is a very general list and each point is later broken down into a detailed to do list depending on the type of party you are planning.

A Simple Party Planning Checklist:

  • Define your budget
  • Decide on a venue and book it
  • Make a guest list and send out invitations
  • Create a food & drink list of things you need to buy or order from a caterer
  • Create a decorations/party favors and a party supply list
  • Decide on entertainment and make a list of party games

Read this post on how to find the perfect event planning template to create your own birthday party checklist.

A Few Additions to Your Party Checklist
These are important points that always get overlooked and someone ends up scrambling last minute to purchase, create or organize these things which always puts a strain on your initial budget and adds to the stress of party planning.
Tip 1: leave a few extra dollars unspent for cases of emergency
Tip 2: Create a playlist, in case your entertainment plan fails
Tip 3: Have a designated coat-check or bag area
Tip 4: Buy lots of ice, you can always use it for another party
Tip 5: Prepare lots of party games for adults

Useful Resources for Your Party
Here is another great birthday party checklist and at the end you’ll find lots of useful tips for planning your birthday party so it’s definitely worth to check out.

If you have the additional resources and want to do something nice for your guests I recommend investing in some party favours, here’s a great list where you can get ideas for things you can purchase or DIY.

No matter what time of birthday party you are planning making it a success is relatively simple if you have the right tools and you set your mind to sticking to these tools. Use a birthday party checklist and stick to it, especially when you have a lot on your mind and very little time to get to it all. Start early and do one thing at a time and your party will be as enjoyable as you envision it to be.

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How to Achieve Your Goals

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Anna

Goals are the single most important aspect to make you successful in the corporate world. Actually goal setting is everywhere, we just call it different names. Crossing the street, negotiating a contract and making dinner all depend on being able to set and achieve goals. The question is, how to achieve your goals successfully and with minimal effort.

How to Achieve Your Goals – But Really Achieve Them

Most experts will tell you that to be able to achieve your goals you will need to do 3 things: Set goals correctly, follow through on the goals you set and evaluate your efforts. However there are a few “minor” aspect or qualities one must develop that are essential to be able to fulfill the 3 factors mentioned above.

Setting Goals or SMART Goal Setting

You’ve probably heard of setting “SMART goals” (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) Read about them here or on Wikipedia. Setting goals is like laying the foundation for your house, it must be solid and so should be you goals. On top of being SMART goals, you must also believe in your goals. The goals you set should also come from the heart, these should be things that you really want, or in other words you must have the understanding that you need them to succeed. The purpose of setting goals is to make sure that you take charge of the task or event that you are planning and on the greater scheme of things be able to take charge of your professional and personal life.

How to Achieve Your Goals or Getting Things Really Done

The question here is how to achieve your goals in practice, once all the smart words and tactics have been read and used. Here’s the keyword you need to remember: Persuasion. To achieve your goals you need to learn to persuade yourself and others and here are a few points to get you started:

  • People are more likely to believe and follow an expert. Meaning if you read something in a book you are more likely to believe and use it than if you heard the same thing from a friend. This is why self-help books are actually useful, even if you’re reading them consciously to help yourself understand how to achieve your goals. Use this knowledge when presenting or arguing, use facts and figures from experts instead of “gut feeling” explanations.
  • People don’t pursue their goals because they are afraid of failure, build your own confidence and persuade others to believe that you know what you’re talking about.
  • Use an active voice to set your goals and objectives. When trying to achieve something use action verbs at the beginning of your sentences.
  • Be persuasive, describe and demonstrate what success will look like once what your are arguing or negotiating for is achieved, paint a positive, beneficial and realistic picture for yourself and others.

Tip for event planners: Visit this page for additional skills for event contract negotiation strategies.

Evaluating Your Work

Set dates and deadlines for evaluating and reviewing your progress, how are you doing in terms of achieving your goals? Do an analysis of your progress, assess what and who is keeping you from achieving your goals. Look at your goals again and re-evaluate how to achieve your goals by first re-evaluating the goals themselves and then by looking at the ways in which you have been working towards actualizing them. An event evaluation form is one of the most important forms to use on a regular basis to evaluate progress.

Goal setting can be a very powerful and positive experience when done correctly, when you think about how to achieve your goals think outside the box, think about all the factors that will influence your goal setting process as well as the process in which you will engage on the way to achieve your goals. Don’t underestimate the influence of your environment on your ability to achieve your goals and focus on ways to influence those around you so that they are “working” to actually help you achieve your goals.

If you found this info useful and want to know more, i recommend checking out “How to be an Expert Persuader” by Michael Lee click here to find out more.

Posted in Education, Helpful Information | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Office Party Themes

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Anna

Although it’s still freezing outside most stores have already switched into spring and even summer mode, this put me in a real party mood and which means hat many companies are waking up from a long winter nap. What better way is there to wake up than throw a fun, budget sensitive office party?! Fresh office party themes is what you’re going to find below to help you plan and rejoice.

Office Party Now?
How do you know that it’s time for a party? Well usually we organize corporate parties for a few reasons: to motivate employees, celebrate success, announce changes, say goodbye or welcome someone to the team. But really things don’t always need to be so “structured.” Many companies use weekly meetings to “throw a party” to elevate moral in the office and to engage in some team building activities

If you notice any of the following symptoms:

  • office blues
  • employees coming in late
  • deadlines not being met
  • employees falling asleep at meetings…then it’s definitely time to think about how to motivate your employees and having an office party is an excellent choice.

3 Fun Office Party Themes:

Theme 1: A Chocolate Fiesta
Think Charlie at the Chocolate Factory meets Max Brenner or if you have no clue what I’m talking about here, think a chocolate explosion in a chocolate lab. Your main feature and decorations will be the food, i.e. chocolate.
Decorations: In terms of color palettes you can use browns, bubble gum pinks, blacks and whites. Here’s an example of using simple color and food to decorate and a few more hands on items for decorations.
Food: Ideas for food are really endless and it all depends on how much you can invest into the party. Here are a few ideas that you can make yourself or order from a caterer. Because chocolate is so powerful make sure to have lots of milk and water around to dilute all that sweetness. You can hang signs with “make your own drink” recipes that people can make from ingredients that are found around the party room, this will be a short and delicious game people can play.
Things to consider: although everyone loves chocolate not everyone can have it. Make sure to have a few sugar free items on the menu…actually there are delicious alternatives to chocolate made from carobs and lots of sugar free chocolate where you really can’t tell the difference from the real thing.

Christmas in July:
People love Christmas when Christmas is loooong gone because they can enjoy the idea of Christmas without all the chaos involved: visiting family, buying presents, cooking huge meals… This makes Christmas in July one of my favorite office party themes. You simply have to follow the rules of an office Christmas party.
Decorations: pull out the office Christmas decorations and use them all in one room, the more then better. Depending on your cleaning arrangements it would be great to use fake snow…if you’re having the party in the summer months, don’t use fake snow and don’t use this office party theme in March or April.
Things to consider: give each employee the assignments of buying a present that they will use for a gift exchange game at the party, however set very specific limits on how much money they can spend, usually the limit varies between 10-20$.

Back to the 80’s Party:
One of the many ‘s office party themes…you know 90’s, 20’s, 60’s. The theme should be decided based on the demographics of your organization. If most people listen to “way back playbacks” from the 80’s then this is the perfect theme for your company. However if most listen to Mozart and Julia Fischer then you might want to go with one of the other office party themes, here are a few other office party ideas that you can consider.
Decorations: I found this great story about an 80’s party which has some great decoration pictures as well, but basically the rule is to follow a theme with colors when decorating and to bring “back” everything that reminds you of the 80’s like this list.
Things to remember: if the majority of the company falls in the “appreciating the 80’s” category you should go for this office party theme and simply send out an 80’s guide for those who aren’t so familiar with the 80’s, they will be after your party.

The last thing to remember when deciding which one of these office party themes will be your theme is that hopefully you’ll be holding more than one party this year. You can ask all the participants to leave their feedback about the party at the end of the event or through an online survey and even ask them to suggest office party themes that they would like to see being utilized at the next corporate event.

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