Great news! Your company has a vaccination policy in place, testing is more broadly available, COVID cases are going down, and you have senior leadership support to plan an in-person holiday party. As an event professional, it feels good to have the green light to plan in-person gathering. Am I right? But how do you make sure that your remote team members feel included?

Having fun at in-person company events felt easy, didn't it? A few drinks, some delicious food, and boom! You've got a party. That's why, for even the most experienced company event planners, virtual events have thrown a bit of a curve ball. But don't worry! This is not our first virtual holiday season... we've got all the pro tips you need to make sure yours is a smashing success.

With company holiday party planning in full swing, we decided to share some of our trade secrets. Looking for ideas for this year's company virtual holiday party? Look no further. We've got your back!

It's not time to pull out the garland and start decorating. It's not time to start shopping for holiday gifts for your friends and family. But trust us, there is one thing that you should start holiday planning now: your company holiday party. Here's why.

Your team has been working hard all year, meeting their numbers, hitting their deadlines, taking care of their clients, launching their products. So as the company thinks ahead to a proper holiday party, how do you ensure that the event lives up to their expectations and how great everyone has been. In other words, how do you make sure the pomp meets the circumstance? 

Luckily, we know what employees are looking for in their virtual company holiday parties. Here's what they want.

“Hi All! I’m here, just having a video-off day!” This is how a Zoom call started with an external partner last week.  

In that moment, as I was finishing up my lunch, struggling to hide the piles of giveaway clothing behind me, and trying to not let my 11-month-old daughter crawl over my computer plug, a video-off day sounded quite nice. It got me thinking: What if we all had video-off days?  

We know how it goes. Your boss suggested you plan your company's virtual holiday party in-house. Your boss thinks it will be easy and fun for you, not necessarily thinking about everything else on your plate or how much time it takes to organize and execute a great virtual event. There's a lot more to it than just sending out a Zoom link!

Here are 3 good reasons to outsource to a trusted virtual event planning partner.

I know it sounds crazy, but now that September is in full swing, it's time to start thinking about your company holiday party. No, you don't need to start your holiday shopping, a company event requires planning to make it special. So we invite you to join us on Monday September 10th for our Virtual Holiday Party Showcase — a fun, stress-free way to help you kickstart your planning process.

Burgers. Hot dogs. Barbecues. The unofficial end of summer. Labor Day means a lot to us in how we think about and celebrate it. But where did it come from? And what does it mean? As we roll into the weekend, here are 5 fun facts about Labor Day.

Think back to when you first started at your job. You were probably nervous, not just about the workload, but about how you'd fit in with the people you work with. Whether working remotely or in the same workplace, those relationships are important to feeling accepted, and feeling like a real member of the team.

No, you don't have to be best friends with everyone you work with, but it is very important that colleagues know each other beyond just the work you do. We've got 3 great tips to help your team connect more smoothly and easily.

At face value, sure, work is about productivity. But to think that's the only thing that drives a business or motivates employees is an antiquated, utilitarian nightmare. Because when you really get down to it, work is much more than that. It's often about fulfilling a company's core mission and fulfilling employees' professional goals. And that is one of the many reasons that fun is such an important aspect of work culture.

Plenty of companies have held off as long as they could, delaying from planning company events, in hopes that the whole team would be back together in the office soon...

But then the Delta variant arrived. So, now it's time to face facts. Virtual events foster virtual connection. And in today's workplace, virtual connections are every bit as real as in-person.

With COVID case numbers increasing due to the Delta variant, we've noticed some trends amongst our clients. We know there's a lot of uncertainty and that you may be trying to suss out what's happening so that you can make the best decisions for your own company. Here's what we're seeing in the market.

So, your company has employees in multiple time zones, across the country or across the globe. And you want them to feel together and united, even if they're working remotely or from different offices. You want to plan and execute a global event that is fun, fresh, and focused. Well, we're here to tell you how to make it happen.

At work, we spend most of our time creating fun events for our clients. But these events are not JUST intended for fun. They have the much bigger, broader, and more important goal of helping companies build a stronger, more positive company culture. How do we do it?