Author: Seb

Southampton is known for its maritime heritage and is now developing a reputation for good food and good nightlife. Hence the attraction as a location for a work celebration. Anyone searching Christmas parties in Southampton will have a good selection to choose from, whether waterfront restaurants, large hotels or other venues. Here’s how to make the most of it.

The first things to agree with your colleagues is the size of the party (how many will attend?), the cost (how much can we spend per head?), and what kind of party do they want (a quiet dinner, or a noisy party?) Knowing this means you can have more effective conversations with venues and do a fair comparison between the quotes you’ll receive. You should also ask about partners (spouses/significant others), as their attendance can alter the numbers and costs significantly.

There are basically two types of bookings. The first is a shared party. This means your party attends a larger event (along with other companies). Often there is a meal, music and entertainment provided for you. The atmosphere is usually fairly boisterous. This can work well for smaller companies that don’t want to organise the party themselves. An exclusive party, as the name implies, means you’re the only company to book a venue, giving you more control over the food and drinks and entertainment, if desired. This can work well for larger companies that want to include presentations, if they so choose.

Being easily accessible from London, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Winchester and Southampton via the train and with direct roads along the south coast, Southampton is a useful meeting point for colleagues working in different offices. Trains to Southampton from the above locations leave regularly, but check what time the last train is from Southampton to where your colleagues are traveling from. They may not be aware of the early departure times.

December is the busiest month for bookings, and the best Fridays are taken a long time in advance. Early evening events are popular because the majority of attendees want to finish work for the day and travel home. A Thursday in early December would likely be a better option for hosting a work event because the majority of people wouldn’t have other work commitments for the day, and the atmosphere would likely be more laid back.

Deciding the location of the event is also important. Venues along Southampton’s waterfront have beautiful views of the Solent and offer a picturesque setting. There are also many historical and interesting buildings located in Southampton’s old town that offer a point of interest to attendees.

When deciding the dietary requirements of your colleagues, ensure you ask for your colleagues’ dietary restrictions as well. Making standard offerings of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free foods shows that you’ve included everybody. You should also make accommodations for people with mobility issues and ensure there is enough space for people to freely converse. Providing non-alcoholic drinks is also another small and thoughtful way to include the entire team.

Entertaining staff should be tailored to their interests as opposed to the venue’s suggestions. What works for one group may not work for another. Some groups may prefer a band or a DJ. Other groups may want a comedian or a quiz. For the group that is not keen on being a part of the staff party, allow them the opportunity to be as un-involved as they want by providing a number of options for entertainment.

Look at the legal stuff. Review the cancellation terms, ensure the final attendance numbers are in writing, and confirm the amount of the deposit. Find out about potential hidden costs, like a service fee or a late-night entertainment license. Appoint someone to handle all the questions that may come up on the day, and give everyone a general itinerary to manage expectations.

A staff party that is well organised can reward staff for a long hard year, and can bring staff together in anticipation for an even better year ahead. Plan ahead, and consider the interests of staff when choosing the location and activities for the staff party.

For more ideas and options, see Christmas Parties Southampton.

The keys to a successful and productive team, is often reliant on the amount of trust, rapport, cohesion and motivation to work together, that the team members have. So, it is important that you not only have rapport/team building exercises at the start, but also throughout and at the end of a project, through debrief/feedback of the overall project. This increases the collaboration, communication and camaraderie of a team.

As a manager, you should be ensuring that you have regular team building events that help improve everyone’s sense of belonging, helps them be heard and helps team members learn how to support each other in complex situations. By doing this, you will improve the trust and cohesion amongst team members so that they know they can rely on one another.

By planning and scheduling regular team building events you will not only improve productivity in your team but also encourage them to be more motivated and creative.

On February 22nd, 2021 Boris Johnson addressed the nation and advised of a 4-stage roadmap for the UK’s “one-way road to freedom” but what exactly does this mean for events, parties and weddings? We have listed below the main key dates on which small events, parties, and weddings will be able to take place.

8th March – we will be allowed to meet with one other person outside only.

29th March – this stage allows up to 6 people or two separate households to meet either outside or in a private garden. Weddings are limited to 6 people.

12th April – Outdoor hospitality venues such as beer gardens can open. The requirement for a substantial meal will be scrapped providing that customers are seated. There will also not be a 10 pm curfew as we have seen before. The limit for weddings will increase from 6 to 15.

17th May – two households or a group of up to six people can mix indoors, including in the hospitality sector such as pubs or cinemas. Up to 30 people will be allowed to mix outdoors in public spaces and private gardens. Up to 30 people will be allowed to attend weddings.

21st June – This date is the key date for the events and weddings sector as it is the green light to open all of the hospitality sectors, all remaining social distancing restrictions will be lifted, and nightclubs and venues should be able to resume as normal. Larger events such as festivals should be allowed also. Weddings will have no limit on how many can attend.

Although we all remain hopeful and optimistic that within the coming months, we will start to see what resembles a normal event scene it is worth bearing in mind that, Boris emphasised that the 4-stage plan would be under constant review and would be led by data above dates

As social restrictions have increased yet again, there is once again a great need to do many interactions virtually. Networking is a crucial part of business growth can also be an incredibly helpful tool for bringing team members together on a personal level to potentially increase cooperation and productivity. Here are a few tips to help these events go smoothly and be a successful experience.

Right People, Right Number
Prior to the event, ensure you are inviting the people that are most crucial for bringing about the desired outcome and also try not to have too many as this will lower productivity, eight is recommended, including yourself.

Easy Access
Before the event, once you know who has accepted the invitation, ensure that you sent out a calendar invite with the date and time that includes the link for whatever app you will be using for the event.

Introduce Guest Prior
By simply ensuring everyone is aware of who will be there by including their name and maybe a one-sentence description, those attending will know what to expect and be prepared for interacting with each other. You can also then share the guidelines or agenda for the meeting.

Make Attendees Feel Comfortable
You should be prepared and on the call, about two minutes early so you can let everyone into the session, greet them and provide the guidance on what to expect. Five minutes after the start time you can start with introductions and find out if anyone will need to exit early.

Keep the Conversation Structured
After initial introductions, you should ask each participant a specific question that is somewhat open-ended and offers the attendee the chance to share a bit about themselves. Keep the session on track and end by thanking all involved. The recommended meeting time is 90 minutes.

With COVID restrictions tightening up again and considering the safety precautions we all need to be taking this year, it looks like Halloween will have to be celebrated a bit differently. Kids love getting dressed up to go around collecting sweets or going to Halloween parties with their friends but Halloween 2020 just won’t allow for this. A few ideas to help kids still get to have some fun and enjoy the holiday are:

1. Zoom Costume Contest- arrange for your children’s group of child’s friends to get together online and have a fancy-dress competition. You can even have different categories like most scary, funniest, most clever, most realistic and best make-up.

2. Have a socially-distanced ‘freeze dance’- if there is a large outdoor area near you, maybe have a ‘freeze dance’ where everyone can be spread out and have to freeze when the music stops, whoever moves is out. The last two standing can even have a free-style dance off.

3. Zoom Dance Party- your club or child’s classmates could do a zoom dance party so everyone can show off their costumes and have a great time.

4. Decorate your house- even though people may not go around collecting sweets in your area, some may still go for a stroll to enjoy the Halloween decorations.

5. Carve a pumpkin, or two- typically having a pumpkin combined with leaving an outdoor light on means you are handing out sweets, however this year people may just want to go for a ‘pumpkin walk’ to spot how many pumpkins they can find.

Using social media to advertise your event is one of the best ways you can advertise your event, there are many benefits of using social media to advertise your event and you are likely to get a much bigger reach than traditional advertising and it can be a fairly inexpensive way to advertise.

The first thing you should do is start posting about your event to get the momentum going. Offer snippets of information on your business page or any groups that allow you too.

Once you have established all of your event details you should now set up your event on Facebook, you should do this by using the events feature on Facebook. Once you have created your event you should share with your current following on your business page, personal and groups that allow it.

Next, you will need to share your event wherever you can. Ask local advertising pages or local media pages such as newspapers or radio pages if you are allowed to share your event on their Facebook page. You should allow yourself enough time to share very frequently to allow more people to see your event.

Due to the current covid-19 global pandemic there will millions of us who will be celebrating birthdays, wedding anniversaries and hitting life milestones whilst in lockdown. It seems that these special days are just another day but there are other ways to celebrate at home.

With the power of technology and a bit of creativity you are still able to throw a party whilst self-isolating. We’ve listed our top 3 favourite lockdown party ideas.

1. Cocktail masterclass – with all the bars closed you may be missing your favourite cocktail. Well what better time to give yourself a cocktail fix whilst learning a new skill. Professional mixologists have been sharing their techniques online, so choose a video and watch along together as you learn how to make your favourite cocktails.

2. Zoom dinner party – we have all been quick in finding online replacements for our usual social fix and zoom dinner parties are now ridiculously popular. Cook the same meal as your ‘guests’, get dolled up and arrange a time to eat it together.

3. Virtual day trip – hundreds of the world’s best zoos, museums and famous landmarks are offering free virtual tours while in lockdown. Is there a place you have always wanted to visit or a trip you’ve always wanted to take? Well now you can in the comfort of your own home.