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  • There are 5 main areas of consideration that need to go into your planning every time you think about planning a corporate event or hosting a successful private party.

    1. Occasion

    What are you celebrating?
    Why are you having people get together?

    Is it a Holiday Affair? A Neighborhood BBQ? A Fund Raising Event? Or are you just inviting a few friends over because it is your turn to throw a bash? Or do you need to raise large amounts of cash from donors?

    Maybe it is just as simple as getting all the department heads together for dinner. Nevertheless. After you have read this short article, you have more knowledge to help you plan a successful event.

    Once you know what you wish to accomplish, you will be well on your way to being a successful event planner.

    Theme Parties are a blast and can take a lot of heat off of you when it comes to answering the rest of the questions you’ll have in the planning stage. Some themes that I’ve seen that always work are:

    • Grease: The Musical (a.k.a. 50’s), or any type of
    • Nostalgia Party (60’s, Disco, etc.) include the music from the time period. Have song books and lyrics, dress in costume, find related snack foods.
    • Costume Parties are not just for Halloween.
      Give away prizes for Best Costume, Best Couple, etc.
    • Karaoke . . . . okay as a true professional musician, I must acknowledge this is not one of my favorite themes but popular nevertheless.
    • Poker Party. Not just for the guys. Poker is a game you can use to raise money for a charity. Or take it a step further and have a . . .
    • Casino Night. REAL popular for churches and work related parties.

    I just got a call to do a fund raiser for an historical home in a small town. They are going to go with a period theme reflecting the era in which the home was built. It is a brilliant move on the part of the planners because the traction they will get from press and word of mouth will be huge.

    We are already planning interviews and advance publicity. By the time we are ready for the event, everyone in town will know about the find raiser and, most importantly, everyone will want to show up to participate and contribute.

    A few years ago we were called to do a Dueling Pianos Show for a Roaring ’20s Casino Night for a corporate event. They wanted to approve the songs we were going to sing for the whole night. That was NOT the way to plan an event.

    We did not play an entire night of Roaring ’20s music. After about a half hour everyone one wanted to hear the current songs. The party continued on and the casinos raised thousands of dollars.

    Cut yourself some slack. Set a theme and leave it alone. Knowing your reason for your event is enough as you get started.

    Why are you getting together? What do you hope to accomplish?

    Depending on your answer, this will bring us to the 2nd Most Important consideration for throwing a successful party.

    Look here in the future to read what most professional event planners do to succeed.

    Dan Gillogly
    Glo Glee Music, Inc.