Hey, I'm Jodie; Event Manager, business owner, educator and podcast host. I'm an introverted homebody want to be wine master. And I truly believe in the power of events to inspire delight and ignite human potential. Every week, I take you backstage into the wonderful world of business events, and give you the insider scoop on how to take your events to the next level. Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and listen. Let's get into it.
Well, hello and welcome to episode nine of the Events Insider podcast. I am coming to you today fresh off a plane from tropical North Queensland, where I had the privilege of attending a conference for the past few days. And I say privilege intentionally because if you plan events, which I'm guessing you do because you listen to this podcast, then you know exactly what goes into an event and how much effort and detail goes into it.
therefore how nice it is when you get to sit back and enjoy one as a guest. So I definitely got to enjoy that the past few days and not having to worry about anything and just soaking in all of the learnings at this conference, which was amazing. But I did get a chance to sort of map out this episode while I was on the plane because today I'm going to do a different sort of episode rather than going through a topic that is sort of relevant to business events as a whole.
Today, I'm going to be diving into one specific type of event. So we're going to be talking all about VIP corporate dinners. Now, there's a lot of different terms.
might call it a client dinner or a business dinner, but I think you know what I mean by that. And the reason I'm doing this is because I think it's the most common type of event that you would manage. Like literally every company would have to host some form of dinner event at some point.
many companies would run many of these every year. You know, whether it be for your clients, for prospective clients, maybe your leadership team or your board of directors, or maybe even your whole company, if you work in a smaller company. And I think whilst to the outside world these might seem like really simple events, you just book a restaurant and you're done, we know there is so much more to them and it takes a lot of effort and detail to make sure they're a success.
Now I've hosted many a dinner in my time and sometimes they are pretty high stakes, you know, corporate hospitality plays such an important role in a company's marketing sales and retention plans. So it makes sense why it's such a big part of the events industry and why I think it's so important. that we don't dismiss it as just a really small easy event where we just book a venue and actually really think about it as an important event that we go through a proper process to make sure that it is going to be successful.
today I'm going to take you through the three elements of a successful corporate dinner. So let's get into it.
So the first element of a successful corporate dinner event is going to come as no surprise. And that is our venue. Because when the dinner is the event, then the restaurant you choose really sets the tone and the mood for the whole experience.
I honestly can't stress enough just how important selecting the right restaurant is. And usually with these VIP dinners, they're typically on the smaller side. So we're sort of talking five to maybe 20 or so people.
we're usually going to be looking at private dining rooms within restaurants. And I know in all the event and admin groups on Facebook that I'm in, people are always asking for recommendations and wanting to know new restaurants that have suitable private dining rooms. So I've actually put together my top 100 private dining rooms in Australia.
that are perfect for these kinds of events. And I know like broadsheet and urban list and all the other ones have done sort of shorter versions of these lists, but I've put together my list with an event manager hat on. So I've selected the ones that I know are suitable for these types of corporate dinner events.
So you can grab a copy of that by the link in the show notes. Just click on that link and you can download it. And then you've got 100 across Australia that you can tap into whenever you need them.
I know they're going to work perfectly for these kind of VIP corporate dinner events. Now, when it comes to choosing the restaurant, here are some of my recommendations. So firstly, we need to think about who is the clientele and what would they expect?
And then we want to step it up one notch. We always want to make sure that we're going that little bit extra to ensure that we delight our guests. Right?
We don't want to be in a position where we are below what they're expecting because no matter what else we provide, if there's a bad kind of feeling when they walk in or it's not to the level that they would expect, then we're not going to be able to get them back from that. So think about who they are, what would they expect, and let's take it up one notch. Now on the budget front, if you don't have the budget to step it up one notch, then what you can do is think about how you
create a theme to the event that sort of means the restaurant makes sense as to why we chose it. So you might want to come up with a creative theme or concept rather than just booking, you know, a really nice restaurant. So Maybe for the clientele, you're going to do a gin bar hopping experience and you're going to go to a location and you're going to hop between three different gin bars for that night.
that's kind of the concept. So they might not be super fancy places, but there's kind of a bit of a concept or a theme around the night. And so you can sort of get away with a slightly lower tier place because there's that fun other element to it.
So that's one way that you might want to kind of come up with a concept or a theme. If you don't have the budget for what you think the clients would expect, then we can wow them in another way. We also want to think about the content on the night and what requirements we might need.
if we need like full privacy, because we're going to be discussing or presenting confidential information. whether we need a TV screen for presentations, whether we need space for mingling in the room as well as the table because some can obviously be quite tight. So we want to be thinking about what requirements we might need so that we can factor that in when we're looking at these different restaurants and private dining rooms.
And if it doesn't cater to it, is it possible to be able to move things around or bring something in that will allow us to cater to it? So we want to be asking those questions before we're booking in something. So we need to make sure that we understand what requirements we have up front before we go and book in a venue that then otherwise might not be suitable.
And lastly, with your restaurant, we also want to make sure that their food and beverage offering is suitable. So a few things you want to think about is whether it's a set menu or Ć la carte. So with that, you know, we need to think about if we need breaks in between meals, if we need guests to be able to select their own meal.
I know if we're going to have a lot of presentations, then like a shared style meal or like an eight course digger station probably isn't going to be suitable because there's going to be food everywhere and always coming out. And that's not going to be suitable if we need 45 minute to an hour gap for a presentation. So again, just thinking about those requirements from the beginning and making sure that the way that a restaurant serves food is going to be suitable for how we want to run our night.
And then lastly, with that, we also just want to be thinking about the cuisine of the restaurant and whether we have any dietary requirements. So obviously, there's always going to be one or two or three or four. It's definitely increasing these days.
I'm also thinking about from the get go, if you've got a specific group of people that all have one sort of dietary requirement. Then we need to be factoring that in. So if you know you're taking out a group of really healthy vegan people, then obviously we're not going to book a steakhouse.
that's a really obvious example. But just something to really think about is if you know it's going to be a group of people that are going to have a dietary requirement, then just thinking about the cuisine of the restaurant that we choose. So it makes our life a lot easier. because we do want to try and minimize the amount that the restaurant has to change or adapt because that's just going to impact what the guest experience is like, what the food is like and what the service is like.
So that's venue. The second element is your format. And by that, I mean, what is going to happen at this dinner event?
we don't want a situation where we've booked a nice private dining room and then we just stop planning. And then the day of the dinner, the boss goes, Oh, I guess I'll make a speech or something. No.
we want is a beautiful, curated, intentional experience. So from the second guests arrive, there's intentionality behind everything that we do. So they arrive and what are we doing?
Is there a welcome drink? Do they put their coat and bag down? Are we standing up or are we sitting down straight away?
And then once we're seated, is there a speech, maybe a networking activity, or is the menu explained by the chef? We need to remember that people have typically been invited to a dinner and that might be all that they know. So it's really up to us to guide them through and actually host every section of the event.
know, even if the event is purely social and we're simply treating them to a nice dinner, I still encourage you to have some kind of formalities, you know, whether it's one activity or simply top and tail the evening with a short speech. There's a reason behind the event. There's a reason we've spent time and money putting this on.
we need to make sure that we make the most of it. So that's your format. Now we've got our restaurant.
got our really intentional guest experience. Now it's about the fairy dust. And I don't know if I've used that term on the podcast yet, but I often refer to fairy dust as sort of meaning the extra stuff or the cherry on top of all the main elements of an event.
You know, what's going to set our dinner event apart is the extra stuff that we do that no one else does. And I think fairy dust can come in a few forms. I'm going to go through them.
the first is it could be an experience. And we sort of touched on this previously in the format of the dinner event, but. Thinking about what activity or experience we can add that goes beyond just eating dinner and maybe a speech.
is it cocktail making, or is it a speed dating networking activity, or do we swap seats every course to meet other guests? How can we keep things interesting so that it's not just another dinner? And what that experience is really comes back to who your guests are and what they would enjoy.
Now, if you think an experience isn't really suitable for your guests, then your fairy dust might be more of a gift. And I don't think that needs much explanation, but it could be a beautiful gift bag on the table for every guest, or it could be something that you gift everyone on the way out. A take-home gift can really extend the event and remind guests of the great time that they had, which is exactly what we want.
Another type of fairy dust is an exclusive opportunity. So maybe the chef comes out to speak to the guests or maybe you've got a high profile person joining you for dinner, you know, corporate dinner events, especially in private dining rooms, they already have a really nice exclusive feeling about them. So just thinking about how we can enhance that even further so that your guests feel really VIP.
And the last fairy dust element would be a wow moment. So, you know, that moment at events when everyone gets out their phone, that's what we want, because that means that they either want to remember this moment or they want to share it with other people. And that is gold.
what's something that is going to get people to go, Oh, wow. And get out their phone. And I think the best example I have of this is fireworks at an event, but obviously in the context of a VIP corporate dinner, that's not going to be suitable.
some examples that would suit this, I would say would be something like popping a magnum of champagne rather than just a normal champagne, or, you know, sabering off the cork of a champagne bottle, or even, you know, those cocktails that have an air bubble. And when you pop it, the cloudy fog comes out. So just thinking about, you know, simple ways to create a little wow moment that just elevates your event.
So they're just some examples of the fairy dust that you can add onto your dinner event. So to recap the three elements of a successful VIP dinner event, we've got your venue and choosing the right ones for your guest, the format and what's going to happen at the dinner, and then the fairy dust on top. Now, remember to get you started with finding the right venue, I've got the top 100 private dining rooms that are perfect for these events.
make sure you head to the show notes and grab that. And if you want to learn more about planning business events and be equipped with tons more resources, then Events Academy opens this Thursday. And I'm so excited to welcome in some amazing admin professionals.
actually already welcomed in four people who got in early because I did promise them a spot a while ago. So if you would like to do the six week program to master event planning, then the link to join the wait list is in the show notes. And then you'll get an email on Thursday when you can sign up. But that's it from me for today and I will chat to you again next week.
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Events Insider PodCast. If you loved it, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, share with your friends, and I'll chat to you next week. Bye
