Planning Business Anniversary Events

Business Anniversaries – Celebrate Smarter

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When planning business anniversaries, you should ask yourself: Why are we having this party?

Realistically, you can’t spend company funds on an event just for the sake of celebration. The event has to have another driver, a strategic business goal. This could be a thank-you to clients, a way of bonding with your community, a motivator for employees – in other words, you need to identify the stakeholders you want to reach, and figure out what you want the event to accomplish within that audience. That objective drives everything else. Be strategic – AND celebrate!

Five Tips for Successful Events to Celebrate Business Anniversaries:

  • Know that it’s not just about you – people don’t want to attend a business event that is all about the company history (exceptions can be made for companies 100 years old or above), which usually means a long, boring speech from the CEO.  Reinforce your brand, and acknowledge the past and future, in innovative ways.  Utilize multimedia, staging, even food to make it an event to remember (in a good way).
  • Put it in the budget. No matter the objective, well-planned business anniversaries cost money.
  • The higher the anniversary number, the longer it takes to plan. In our experience if you’re celebrating an anniversary of 75 years or more, you’ll need a full year to plan.
  • Don’t have your top executives “pop in” – have VP/C level executives accessible for networking throughout the event. These are the people who most directly represent your company – its values, its future – leverage them!
  • Employee-focused events shouldn’t be an afterthought or half-hearted. That will just hurt morale. Go all out!  Recognize the importance of your people, make them feel invested in and truly honored.