As the holiday season approaches, it is difficult to feel festive. Relations and friends are losing jobs, investments in stock markets are losing value and whole nations are losing confidence. It is hardly a time for celebration.
And yet, just possibly, this is an opportunity for meeting professionals.
When times are hard, it is natural for people to seek escapism, and what better excuse for escapist behaviour than at Christmas and the New Year (or whatever religious holiday you celebrate at this time).
The office party season is well under way for those organisations sensible enough not to cancel the annual shenanigan "in order to save money." In fact, this year it is more important than ever to gather the team together at a motivating social event. They need it.
Now, I know few meeting professionals like to be called party planners; the term is generally used in a pejorative and patronising manner in our sometimes-snobbish industry. (Although this ignores the fact that many of us spend much of our time organising social functions, aka parties, and some came to the business from the entertainment end of the spectrum.)
But, at this time, we should be aggressively (make that assertively) promoting our expertise to anyone wanting to stage a celebration. We are the experts and can help to justify social events with our ROI systems.
The benefits of the office party are notoriously hard to quantify, and many CEOs write them off as a mandatory annual expense that can’t be avoided—although I suspect that these are the same people who attend them reluctantly or not at all.
Nevertheless, we have the tools to prove the benefits of a well-managed function, and it has never been more important for planners to prove their worth to CEOs and finance directors.
Hotels traditionally do well at this time of year, but recent events have sent a chill through their financial predictions. Venue executives will be open to fresh ideas for filling space.
The trouble with Christmas parties, office or otherwise, is their predictability. Tradition has left little room for deviation, experimentation or innovation. Cards, fir trees, tinsel, baubles, Santa Claus and so on are the staples of a Christmas celebration and cannot be ignored. Even the food is pre-ordained.
This makes it difficult for the creative event planner to devise an original party. But it’s not impossible.
Different cultures celebrate different festivals at this time of year, so why not incorporate some of their customs and traditions into your multicultural Christmas party?
In Europe, there is a world of difference between the regions. Festive traditions, food and even the days on which we celebrate vary across the continent.
For many cultures, gift-giving starts on 6 December for St. Nicholas Eve, while some mark a special day on 6 January. In Germany, Christmas gifts are exchanged on 24 December, but in France this takes place on New Year’s Eve. Not everyone decorates a fir tree; Czech families bring cherry tree branches home, and in the Ukraine, a decorated sheaf of wheat is displayed.
In Finland, it is customary for friends to give each other flowers. (Since the country is under six feet of snow at the time, they’re probably expensive.) In Greece, a superstition requires you burn your old shoes at Christmas.
And the culinary differences are legion. Festive food varies across the continent from pickled fish to whole hams to a boar’s head. In Poland, the Christmas meal must have 12 courses.
So there is a feast of ideas for the enterprising meeting planner to borrow from when planning a seasonal party.
I accept that some people are sensitive about offending other religions with overt displays of Christian culture. This is an unnecessary obeisance at the altar of political correctness. Other religions accept that Christmas is when the majority in the Americas and Europe enjoy a special celebration and have no wish to undermine it. And I suspect that most people, of whatever faith, would enjoy an invitation to help us celebrate.
Anyway, many of our customs are pagan in origin and much of the religious element was commercialised out of Christmas years ago. But I digress.
The upcoming holiday period is an opportune time for meeting professionals to demonstrate their creativity and their management skills. And this year, especially, we need our spirits lifted.
Happy Christmas!
TONY CAREY, CMP, CMM, is an award-winning writer and past member of the MPI International Board of Directors. He can be reached at tonycarey@psilink.co.je.
