How to Plan a Business Christmas Open House
Business open houses enable you to share your internal functions with employee families, your clients and the public in general. Outsiders get a better idea of how you do what you do, and your employees get the fun of showing off their work to people they care about. A Christmas open house can be even more fun for all participants, a celebration of what you've done all year and a way to prepare for the year to come. Plan it right, and your business Christmas open house can set the mood for the new year, energizing employees and gaining you support from the public.
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Instructions
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Form your committee several months in advance. Ideally, a small business of under 50 employees can plan and implement a Christmas open house if they start planning in October--larger businesses may want to start as early as July. Your committee, composed of employees from all levels and every department, should: select a day or days for the open house, determine department needs and decide what parts of your company are most suited to showing off for your open house.
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Make a list, and check it twice. You'll definitely want to invite current and potential clients, especially your favorite customers. You may also want to invite friends and family, employee families and vendors. Make a VIP list and ensure your top people are aware that those guests warrant special attention--your department heads should meet them all, for instance--but otherwise try to treat everyone equally. Double-check the planned date for your open house and make sure it works well for everyone on your VIP list.
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If you're planning well in advance, send out emails to VIP secretaries asking them to pencil in the open house, and post fliers in employee areas to let them know about the open house.
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Design invitations and send them out to specifically invited guests. Invitations should include time--start and end, level of refreshments, place, where to park--if necessary, and dress code. Request RSVPs (rule of thumb: plan for the number of people who RSVP plus 10 percent.) Put together an email notification list as well for reminders and secondary notifications. VIPs should receive invitations with personal notes from either the company president or the department head who deals with them most directly.
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If Santa is going to appear, book one by October, or have the costume rental reserved for your chosen sacrificial employee whose jolly laugh matches the red suit. This is also a good time to start working with local media if you would like your open house to receive news coverage.
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Plan refreshments and decorations. This will be your biggest expense, and you can keep it cheap by having departmental decorating contests, buying inexpensive holiday cookies, or even trading your business services for catering if appropriate. Your committee should ensure they have adequate time and assistance for decorating, setting up food, and other direct preparations. Have at least one nice Christmas tree near your main entrance to set the mood, and plan around it.
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Make sure each department has at least one person ready to discuss what their area does, with demonstrations and even samples if that is appropriate. For example, a metal engraving area might give away special personalized Christmas signs to the children who visit, or a bakery department could have mini cupcakes ready to be devoured. Also, have your facilities or maintenance people deal with any details, such as parking, signage or blocking off unsafe areas. Provide Christmas-themed name tags to all attendees, either personalized or "Hello, my name is ... " stick-ons as appropriate to your event.
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Make personal reminder calls to all your VIPs who responded to the RSVP. Call the secretaries of those who did not respond to see whether they are coming--these things are easily overlooked.
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Just before the open house, meet with your organizers, demonstrators, guides and others. Everyone should be focused on having fun, and on educating guests about your services or product. Don't lose sight of the "business" part of your event. Distribute cleanup tasks equally if necessary, so everyone can go home quickly after the open house ends.
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During the event, you and other planners should be good hosts. Make sure everyone is engaged and having fun, especially but not only the VIPs, and including your participating employees.
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After the event, send out thank-you notes to all who came. Use this as a marketing icebreaker for any VIPs you did not know well. Especially thank your planning committee and others who worked hard to organize and implement your event. A nice gift would be appropriate for these people.
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Tips & Warnings
Be sensitive to any cultural issues. This is a Christmas open house, but if you have participants and guests who are Jewish or Muslim, it is wise to decorate so as to include them, or at least not to exclude them.
Focus on safety. An open house is fun, but not if it ends with someone getting hurt.
As this is a Christmas open house, small gifts would be appropriate. Promo gifts are fine, but make them something special you would not give out on a regular basis. If you have door prizes, everyone should get something, just in the spirit of the holiday.
