Recapturing Culture Back In Your Corporate Events

A major discussion this year with our key clients has been focusing on one key aspect… “CULTURE”.

Although culture had a key slot post-covid, after a long hiatus of major events, it has become "now" the key component to re-unite companies' internal attendees.

Culture plays such a vital role in the day-to-day operations of businesses but has been a challenge to all companies with the over-saturation of online meetings and the change in ethics to a work/home ethos. So, what can be done at your next event to strive to make your first event back the one that binds and unites, gives you some key strategies, and helps build a team to be ambassadors of your brand?

These style of events should be memorable by entwining your culture, interesting discussion topics, and engaging content that captures the attendees’ hearts and minds. This effect is better managed in person so people can get back in touch with an emotive connection with the companies’ values, and beliefs, which in turn, will reflect on clients and your brand.

Here are 5 things that we think would be valuable to support you in planning content for your next event.

1) Make values appealing to the post-covid workspace

Re-evaluating what your beliefs and brand values mean to the modern workspace is of high priority when you are spending less time in direct contact as managers in front of staff. Refresh your internal statements, or their company meanings, so they become poignant to your new post-covid workplace.

N.B Create focus groups at your event to reignite the company values. Take time to make sure they are all understood why they exist and how they work for them, let the staff depict what they mean now post covid , allowing them to shape behaviours to work for them. This can be done with Gamifications. Quizzes, Polling, Speakers, and senior management emphasising the need of these in the workplace.

2) Regain trust through transparency

Transparency makes it easier to reduce focus on office politics and lets the work speak for itself. Transparency isn't just positive for employees; the effects of a transparent company culture impact the entire organisation, producing highly motivated teams.

As an example, modern dynamic corporations embrace internal transparency by empowering the employee to gain essential performance data, that in turn is promoted to the entire team.

Have small teams brainstorm successful and unsuccessful past projects, how these could have been done differently, where failures happened and where success occurred. This will give the wider team culture examples to mimic on future projects, and examples to learn from.

This is an incredibly valuable tool to help improve the overall effectiveness and avoids making the same mistakes across your entire team.

N.B Make sure the intro keynote speakers silence any company gossip. Tackle these conversations as a group at the start. This will settle minds and let staff know where items are improving, and where disruption has occurred. This also then allows further discussion through the event, so by the time the conference is over, the team should be back on the right page.

3) Clarity

From the preplanning, marketing, the onsite event, content, and post event comms, your key messaging needs to be consistent with your culture.Set up a clear precise communication pathway, so everyone attending knows what is being discussed and has the key deliverables before setting foot in the event space.

Do not convolute this message with secondary company information and extra content that will remove from the main mission. Repeating the same information through the event embeds the idea of positive company culture. This can be done

with Inspirational speakers, team games, rewards, and recognition.

NB. To focus the event content, create smaller events or pre-event meetings to make sure the event content is focused on in your teams, this will help focus the right speakers communication on the day and raise questions and concerns that can be addressed.

4) Communicate with passion

Actions speak louder than words, so actively demonstrate your passion, guiding principles, and speak about their influence on your business in the community. This will will elevate the event and attendees.

Put whatever has happened in the last year behind you and start to shoot for the moon once again (can we suggest here an incentive launch to help promote your company goals and reward those that have achieved). It’s time to pick some key factors and build on these through year. Passion creates fulfilment in the workplace.

N.B Go to your staff and find out if there is a collective passion project. Build on this with show and tell at the event (get in the minds of the attendee). You can also help a charity or put on a CSR product on, so people will feel fulfilled and rewarded giving back to the community after the event.

5) Shine the light on staff

Usually at big company events we tend to shine a spotlight on the company, but when focusing on culture we should change this to being internally community focused. Place emphasis on the achievements of your team (big or small), reinforce teamwork and ‘togetherness’ so you are all in this together.

N.B So many options with this, from launching staff incentives, to an awards ceremony after your conference. These factors celebrate staff accomplishments and the heroic feats. Putting individuals centre stage at events can highlight the importance of company culture and shows that you care.