With holiday party season on the horizon, some event planners may be considering hosting events in their offices. One Washington company showed how an in-office party can have polish with a strong color scheme, engaging activities, and vendors that share the vision.
360 Live Media, a four-year-old marketing and event firm, moved into its new offices in June and held an opening party for about 135 people September 17. The event was intended to be a creative, interactive, and social experience to match the culture of the firm, said Amira El-Gawly, the firm's director of strategy and client services.
"We design experiences for our clients, but we had never designed an experience for ourselves," she said.
The office's playful design provided event-ready decor such as an entry wall covered in green ivy with the firm's name in marquee lights. The idea was to build on that with minimal production, El-Gawly said. The firm created the design and then turned to Events by André Wells to execute it.
The theme was "the 360 experience," and as guests made their way through the office there were interactive stations that touched on the five senses. The first stop for guests on the office tour was a photo booth from Instacam, and the photo printouts were customized with preloaded messages such as 360 "likes" and event hashtags that reinforced the company's brand. In another room, illustrator Greg Gersch practiced "live visual storytelling" by creating a colorful mural from stories guests told. A candy bar and passed hors d'oeuvres from Occasions Caterers satisfied guests' sense of taste, and caricature artist Marie Cheek of Silhouettes DC provided the personal "touch" with portraits of guests. Finally, guests received a scented candle from Anthropologie as well as potted succulents as a parting gift.
