Liven it up: add a dash of spice to your event with premier entertainment.

AuthorMadison, Rachel
PositionCorporate Meetings

Corporate events are notoriously stuffy affairs with never-ending meetings, lifeless speakers and stale pastries. But corporate events and retreats don't have to be boring. With the right entertainment or speaker, these events can become memorable learning experiences for everyone involved.

Be Memorable

One of the best ways to enhance attendee engagement is to leave a big impression, says Brett Barlow, CMO at educational training company Pluralsight. That's why when the company opened its new building in Farmington in the summer of 2014, it made a splash by bringing in Nitro Circus--an action sports entertainment company that showcases daredevil stunts such as base jumping and dirt biking--as the entertainment.

"We had two objectives: We wanted to get noticed and we wanted it to be remembered," Barlow says. "We started thinking about what would bring the 'wow' factor. Something like Nitro Circus hasn't ever happened [in Northern Utah] before, and we wanted to create an emotional connection to our company. We had 6,000 people show up.'

Barlow says they got the general public involved with fun social media campaigns, such as hiding motorcycles around Farmington's Station Park and telling people to send a tweet if they found one of the bikes. Two mini dirt bikes were given out as prizes. "That created lots of buzz building up to the event," he says.

Janice Boes, CEO of Pierpont Place and Premier Event Services, says corporate retreats can incorporate everything from a dynamic speaker to a karaoke party, as long as it's something that's both interactive and fun. "A lot of people want to mix it up and do something different," she says.

That's just one reason Adobe's annual summit for its digital marketing customers continues to be such a success. Adobe brings in a popular band to its annual week-long summit to provide entertainment and a chance for attendees to network, says Mike Stiles, senior...

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