Corporate Event Entertainment Ideas To Keep Your Guests Engaged

The best corporate events – the ones people truly enjoy and remember fondly – aren’t just informative and professional. They’re also fun. Including entertainment in your event lineup is a great way to ensure your attendees feel comfortable, stay engaged, and enjoy their experience. The right event entertainment can also reinforce your branding and messaging, educate your audience, and support team building.

Here are our top 10 corporate event entertainment ideas.

1. Ice Breakers

A common pitfall of corporate events is that they can feel stuffy or impersonal. One of the best ways to avoid this is to get the ball rolling with an ice breaker. Ice breakers are interactive activities designed to be fun and low-stress. They can also help attendees get to know each other. This can contribute to a relaxed atmosphere and facilitate networking opportunities.

Some popular ice breakers include:

     · Two truths and a lie

     · This or that

     · Casual surveys and polls

     · Ice breaker bingo

     · Guess who

2. Live Performances

Live performances are one of the simplest ways to incorporate entertainment into big corporate events that feature a main stage. You can hire a live band, DJ, or comedian to keep your audience entertained between speakers and presenters.

If you want to encourage audience participation, you could also consider hosting an illusionist or magician on stage. Depending on the type of event and the venue, having cultural or themed performances can also be fun.

3. Interactive Games

A good way to get your attendees engaged is to incorporate interactive games. A game can create some friendly competition and team-building opportunities. Seeing how guests approach these situations can also help you learn more about them both personally and professionally.

When choosing a game to include in your event, consider how much space you’ll need, how much planning is involved, and how much time you have to dedicate to this activity.

Here are some examples of fun and entertaining games to play at a corporate event:

     · Trivia

     · Pictionary

     · Charades

     · A scavenger hunt

     · An escape room

     · A scavenger hunt

     · An obstacle course

     · An arcade tournament

4. Virtual or Augmented Reality Experiences

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) displays are especially popular at trade shows, exhibitions, and product launches. You can set up a station where attendees can play VR games, engage in VR training sessions, or tour virtual showrooms.

5. Food and Drink Tastings

Refreshments are a necessity for any corporate event, so why not make the food part of the entertainment? A classic tasting of wine, beer, cheese, and other small snacks is always a hit. But you can also add a unique theme or surprise feature to your corporate food and drink tasting.

Here are a few ideas:

     · Create an “around-the-world tasting” that features dishes from different countries.

     · Invite an expert (such as a wine sommelier) to guide the tasting.

     · Work with local vendors to create a food-cart pod.

     · Offer a brief cooking demonstration or interactive lesson.

Keep in mind, if you decide to serve alcohol, you’ll need to approve this with the venue and encourage responsible drinking.

6. Roaming Entertainers

If you’re hosting an event that doesn’t have a center stage, it can be difficult to figure out how to incorporate entertainment into your plan. Roaming entertainers move around throughout the event space, interacting with attendees. They’re a fun addition to multi-day corporate events, adding an element of surprise and creating memorable experiences.

Examples of roaming entertainers include:

     · Living statues

     · Mimes

     · Magicians

     · Stilt walkers

     · Jugglers

     · LED light performers

     · Caricature artists

7. High-Tech Displays

Incorporating advanced technology into your event plan is a proven way to keep your audience engaged. High-tech displays aren’t just reserved for tech conferences and trade shows. They can be fun and immersive for audiences at just about any type of corporate event.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

     · Create a drone or laser light show.

     · Use 3D projection mapping software to create interactive displays and light installations that react to movement.

     · Put on a hologram show.

     · Set up interactive touchscreens.

     · Create a stunning LED wall.

8. Talent Competitions

Talent competitions allow attendees or special guests to express their creativity in a relaxed and light-hearted way. It also gives everyone an opportunity to learn about each other and discover some hidden talents.

Be sure to advertise the talent show ahead of time and include a sign-up sheet so you know how many participants to expect. It’s also a good idea to set up some basic parameters, including content guidelines and act lengths.

9. Photo Booths

Encourage your attendees to create lasting memories by featuring a pop-up photo booth. Consider offering some fun backdrops, funny props and wigs, or some AR filters. You can also include a hashtag to encourage people to share their photos on social media.

10. Charity Events

Incorporating charitable giving into your corporate event is a great way to demonstrate your values, engage your audience in positivity, and contribute to a good cause. It can also give you a chance to network with non-profit organizations.

But you can also make the charity portion of your event fun and entertaining for guests. Here are a few ideas:

     · Sell raffle tickets to raise money for a good cause and offer prizes to winners.

     · Set up a craft table where attendees can create items to donate to charity.

     · Host a live auction, with proceeds going to a charitable organization.

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Entertain Your Guests With Cutting-Edge AV Planning and Technology

Adding entertainment to your event lineup can help ensure your guests enjoy themselves and leave the venue with positive memories. But whether you’re hiring a comedian, setting up a VR gaming station, or hosting live trivia during your event, it’s important to use high-quality technology.

At Catalyst, we provide advanced AV solutions and event production services to help our clients put on a great show and achieve their specific goals. We’ll help ensure your entire event – including the entertainment – is a success!