Discover 23 corporate event inspirations that redefine professionalism by incorporating creativity at every turn.
A company sponsors a corporate event when focusing on a specific outcome for either its employees or clients. Companies don’t just want employees to work, they want them to upskill and enjoy on the side too! The same goes for clients—these occasions can be a way of celebrating & cementing longstanding relationships.
Some objectives for such an event can be:
It’s safe to state that well-planned corporate events are integral to the success of diverse businesses, with varying cultures, values, & styles.
Looking for help to plan your own celebratory types of events? This guide comes complete with sample menus & party entertainment!
Company gatherings that allow different business teams to come together in more relaxed settings can be invaluable for many reasons. Your attendees can have fun, network, collaborate, & take a break from the usual in-office surroundings.
Don’t know which type of corporate event your business will benefit from the most? Here are the main ones you can start with:
These are events to upskill and develop employees. From in-depth training, such as on-the-job skills to ensuring your team stays current, these sessions are ultimately good for both the business and the people involved with it.
Two examples of such a corporate event:
Invite renowned speakers for insightful talks and discussions.
Or you can hold an event and invite people from around the world to learn from your expertise. For example, the ConFig 2023 is a fount of knowledge for companies using Figma—and other design & prototyping tools, such as:
And while your company’s version of a similar event will have its specific objectives, most ConFig-like events can be a great way for it to:
Enhance leadership skills through hands-on training and interactive sessions. For instance, Unspam hosts an unusual and exceptionally fun marketing conference.
An interactive, out-of-the-box, and hands-on leadership workshop like that can be highly beneficial for a company:
These corporate events can be internal (cross-departmental network building), such as holiday parties & after-hours gatherings, or external:
Two examples of such events:
Facilitate meaningful connections in a sophisticated networking event at a booked venue. For instance, SaaStock is a global meetup of SaaS founders.
Attending a SaaStock-like event will benefit SaaS companies that are trying to:
Allow professionals to exchange ideas in quick, structured rounds—whether virtually or in-person where you invite industry experts, depending on your budget. Company events like Mystery Dinners can also double as speed networking sessions.
Such an occasion would be helpful for corporations that:
Recognition will always be among the most significant factors influencing job satisfaction levels for employees. Therefore, hosting a corporate event dedicated to this purpose, i.e., celebrating your employees & their accomplishments is crucial for continued engagement & retention.
You can conduct hour-long sessions each month or organize a full-fledged annual event with multiple activities, speeches, dinner, and more — hold an awards ceremony, have a company picnic, or plan a team appreciation day.
Two examples of this type of events:
Celebrate employee achievements with an elegant awards ceremony.
Show gratitude through a refined luncheon honoring staff contribution.
Give employees more to ponder upon as they advance their careers.
Examples of this type of corporate events:
Organize expert panels to discuss industry trends and innovations if you’re a company:
Panel discussions & thought leadership conferences would be highly useful for:
And so on.
Elevate your conferences with these corporate event management tips to help you pull it off successfully:
You can use this corporate event as a getaway treat to celebrate small achievements or to take a break from a hectic project that’s recently been closed.
Most companies host such formal dinners to achieve one of these objectives:
Following are two examples of these types of business events:
Host upscale dinners for executives to foster strategic conversations.
Strengthen client relationships in an elegant dinner setting geared towards appreciating their continued patronage towards you, your products or services, or your cause.
You can also host a client appreciation soiree to generate goodwill among your clients. By encouraging them to talk to their friends about what they most like about you, you can boost brand awareness & create more business.
Tips on how to host a killer formal dinner:
Events that allow teams to bond with each other – the chemistry can translate into improved work productivity. Some examples are:
You can achieve your objective in one of the following two ways:
Forge cohesive strategies and goals in a serene off-site location, if you’re a company:
Combine team-building activities with relaxation to boost camaraderie for this corporate event through the following activities:
Find more interesting ideas for team bonding here.
Considering holding events for business that show the world what you’ve made? Bring the team behind products into the limelight to give them their due fame? Engage with your industry but on a global scale!
Do it with an innovative showcase like SpaceX does annually with its "Hyperloop Pod Competition,” where students & engineers from everywhere arrive to construct & test their high-speed transportation pods.
Introduce new products with a sophisticated and memorable launch event. You can also set up such an event when looking for new customers or partners. Finally, a product launch gala is also the perfect way to claim your throne as a leader in your industry.
Corporate events like these are usually roll out with the following activities:
Demonstrate innovations and solutions to industry professionals. In this case, you can skip the keynote address & replace it with:
Finally, companies wanting to attract new employees can also benefit from hosting/attending a tech expo.
Let everyone feel valued, appreciated, and an integral part of the team.
Address diversity and inclusion in a thoughtful, educational symposium. It’s a great idea for corporations that want to:
Don’t forget the following for a successful symposium:
Celebrate differences through these cross-cultural sharing corporate events. These are especially useful for workplaces with highly diverse workforces or the need to boost in-company employee engagement.
If you’re considering hosting a Cultural Exchange Day, try including these as a part of the festivities:
Stand up for a good cause!
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Companies that desire to become a part of the local community or create one of their own benefit the most from events like these. There are other ways of achieving this objective besides fundraisers & seminars.
Holding resident events, such as wellness workshops & CPR training, can help the locals see your organization as part of the neighborhood.
The two main types of charity-based corporate events are:
Host events like these to raise funds for a meaningful cause:
Discuss and strategize CSR initiatives with industry leaders. Raise the levels of involvement & engagement by following these ideas:
Upskill employees for their own good, like these well-known companies do:
If you like the way those organizations are thinking, consider holding your own educational workshops with these tips:
These tips are most useful for businesses wanting to:
The two main examples in this category of corporate events are:
Offer specialized workshops to enhance employee skill sets in different domains.
Provide opportunities for employees to gain industry-recognized certifications, such as PMP, CISSP, & CPA.
Let employees bring out their creative sides!
Help showcase your employees’ artistic skills & expression in either of these two ways:
Showcase employee artwork in an elegant gallery setting. It’s usual for a corporate art exhibition program to have:
Do you know what’s the best thing about shows like the X-Factor?
They draw huge audiences because these shows have something for everybody. They boast a wide variety of contestant, including singers, conjurors, jugglers, & dancers. Those are the very lines you’ll need to think along to pull off this next event type.
Find out hidden talents in your team by hosting different competitions. You can also tie up employees into teams of two or more to encourage the team working spirit.
Regardless of which option you go with, make sure you don’t forget to do these to ensure success:
From virtual karaoke to gift-wrapping relay races, there are countless ways to help you bring your existing team members closer, put together new teams, & prove to your employees they belong. You’re probably already familiar with our suggestions—go here if not!
Just look at how much fun Geoff & his team had at the Company Scavenger Hunt:
Here’s what Geoff had to say about DropEvent:
So, to conclude, what is corporate event? It’s an opportunity to positively impact the company and its workforce.
Whether you set one up to train your employees, bring them together, or entrench yourself in the local community, it matters to the success of your company.
That said, corporate events also provide immense opportunities to capture your company’s culture from an employees’ POV. It is why we’d recommend using a platform like DropEvent to collect group photos employees take on these occasions & sharing them! It simplifies collecting high-quality group photos and does it in a matter of minutes. You can then use those images on social media, in-office reminiscing, & much more.
Planning an upcoming corporate event? Use DropEvent to gather photos from attendees, and publish them to let the world see your event from an employees’ perspective.
To plan a corporate event:
A corporate event is any gathering organized by a company for a specific purpose, such as a product launch, a team-building exercise, or a holiday party. They can be large or small, formal or informal & hosted by companies in all stages of growth.
A professional event is a gathering of people who work in the same field or industry. You can host one for networking (in-company & outside), learning (your staff or the public), or development (your staff or the organization).
Get corporate sponsors for an event by:
DropEvent makes photo-sharing easy, even for a group of strangers. Upload, share, and show moments from your events with one link. No accounts, no apps, no limits.
