A fresh and exciting way to keep your employees engaged and make the company’s message stick is to incorporate entertainment in your corporate event. Here the cast of Hot On Broadway entertains attendees at the Bayer Global Leadership Conference.
Photo courtesy of Hot On Broadway
By Diana Rowe
Which way do you lean? Are you right-brained or left-brained? Marketeers sometimes use the quasi-scientific theory that right-brained people interpret information visually and use their intuitive powers in a creative manner whereas left-brained people are more comfortable processing the written and spoken word in a more logical manner.
If you tend to lean to the left and could use a healthy dose of creativity when planning your meetings, events and conferences, there are many excellent resources to help you turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Raising The Bar
“Meeting planners have the near impossible challenge of always raising the bar higher by finding fresh and exciting ideas for corporate events year after year. As a theme, Broadway is immediately synonymous with luxury, and represents the very best in live performance and entertainment,” said Jeffrey Finn, a Tony Award-nominated Broadway producer who in 1992, launched Hot On Broadway, a corporate division of his production company, to provide premium entertainment for corporate groups. Finn describes his productions as unique, as they bring current Broadway performers to corporate events. Finn added, “No two events of ours are the same, as we tailor each production to fit the message, theme and audience of the event.”
In addition to a recent event for Meeting Professionals International, (MPI), Hot On Broadway has created events for such companies as General Electric, Bayer, Toyota, Fidelity Investments, Harrah’s, The Ritz-Carlton Hotels and Disney.
Finn also advises planners to “think big, then reach out to industry professionals to make your vision a reality.” He said that when speaking to meeting planners, “they tend to think that Broadway is out of their price range because they immediately think of full-blown spectaculars. While we have produced many of those type of productions, we also have provided one or two performers singing solos and duets that Broadway is so famous for, which elates the planner because now Broadway is within their reach.”
In addition, Finn reminds planners that the theme should encompass the entire venue. “From the minute your attendees arrive, they should enter a space that is unlike any other — not just a typical corporate meeting stage. For example, take the frequently overlooked entryways and hallways that your attendees will walk through before reaching the venue — how can they be decorated (with audio-visual elements) to add dimension to your theme?”
Hot On Broadway customizes a playbill or program with the client’s logo, welcome letter from the CEO, dinner menu and other corporate information. Finn said, “It becomes a fun take-away for the attendees, but more important, it is another delivery method for the message of the event.”
Finally, Finn advocates thorough research. Planners must do their homework. They’ll know their audience well by answering these questions: What are the demographics of the attendees? What are their interests, and what initiatives have they just completed? What is their corporate philosophy and how are they marketing themselves? Finn suggests that answering these questions “leads directly to an organic entertainment experience.”