Trying to host a sales meeting online – ugghhh, what about a lunch ‘n learn – teaching clients how to use your new products – aacckk, and how about an old fashioned conference or convention -online? no, icckkkk!!
Nope, none are as good online, none are as impactful when held virtually.
Why??? Because we are people people, we actually NEED to be around people and, as we hit the 10th month of working remotely and isolating as much as possible mark, we are really missing each other.
So, how do we reconnect with our office pals, catch-up our casual work colleagues, network with team members and from a business point of view, how do you keep your teams happy, healthy and productive?
Let’s try to create a few casual fun ‘people-focused’ events around surprise gifting occasions. What about a Movie Night? Send a gift box with microwave popcorn packages, popcorn buckets, gourmet potato chips, twizzlers, chocolate milk duds, sour-patch kids, and Cineplex gift cards so everyone can download the same movie and watch it together one Friday evening. We did this for a company recently and it was amazingly well received; people had a blast and they choose a family friendly movie so even kids and spouses could join… then a younger group from the office selected another movie on another night – less family friendly – and people could choose to view that one too together. Super fun to watch everyone jump and get scared at the exact same time together or to see your stoic CEO get all emotional during a tender part in the movie, all in all very bonding for everyone that joined.
How about a tea/coffee or wine/craft beer tasting event with a local tea expert, coffee roaster, sommelier or brew-master in attendance with all kinds of complimentary accoutrements. One autumn event last year, we sent 86 gift boxes to staff with a variety of locally crafted beer, a brew-master (or the official term for A beer sommelier is cicerone… who knew)to join them on Zoom and many tasting treats to compliment each bottle, which were enjoyed by everyone and I heard that even 5 non-beer drinkers gave it a try and become craft beer consumers and lovers… who would’ve thought that was possible?
Or how about an old-fashioned Canadian Pancake Breakfast Bake-Off? In this gift box, we included everything one might need including pancake mix, locally made granola, bottled Frappuccino drinks, assortment of herbal and caffeine teas, cafe lait crisp cookies, fresh berries and fruit, a small split of Prosecco bubbly and… hhmmm, what am I forgetting… ohh of course, the MAPLE SYRUP. Everyone was instructed to make up their breakfast then meet up on Zoom for their annual convention kick -off breakfast during the event is open to their clients and customers and everyone goes off into their private online rooms and break-out sessions. I was told afterwards that people got quite creative with their pancakes shapes too.
Even though virtual events will never replace all in person events in the future, let’s all do what we can to make each one as fun, interactive, and even as social as we can until we can all get back together for a big group hug.
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