On Sunday night, approximately 280 employees of Sg2 Health Care Intelligence headed to Cafe Brauer for a company party that culminated a series of holiday perks: For the week leading up to the event, employees were treated to in-office wine tastings, manicures, and massages.
Senior meeting planner Quenten Schumacher and co-workers Linda Goodman and Nicole Cumorich oversaw planning for the company's holiday activities. "Our C.E.O., Michael Sachs, and his senior team felt it important to keep the party in place so our folks know that everything is O.K. with our company," Schumacher said. "Also, it's the only event during the year that involves employee families—meaning kids. Michael and his wife, Alice, enjoy seeing everyone's children."
Along with showcasing the company's stability, the event aimed "to bolster team spirit," Schumacher said, adding that planners tried to "create a warm, inviting atmosphere that allowed our folks to mix and mingle with each other while enjoying great food." Settling on an "Enchanted Forest" theme, the planners tapped Kehoe Designs to create a festive, woodsy vibe in Cafe Brauer.
On the night of the event, the venue featured live potted pine trees clustered together and strung with lights, and table decor included oversize snow flakes and pine cones. Limelight's food stations offered beef burgers with blue cheese and onion marmalade, reindeer-shaped pasta, and cheese fondue, while animal-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches catered to the younger guests.
Schumacher and his fellow planners also added kid-friendly activities to the evening's agenda. Along with a live trio, an ice-sculpture adorned raw bar, and a black-and-white photo booth, the event featured stations dedicated to cookie and pine-cone decorating and family carriage rides complete with an outdoor hot chocolate bar and wool blankets purchased especially for the occasion. After the event, Sg2 donated the blankets to the Better Boys Foundation.
