Category Archives: Corporate / Team Building Event

Party Planing 101: How to be a good client

Whether you’re throwing a hens, bucks, birthday or corporate party – the fundamentals of piecing it together are relatively the same and the process can be quite stressful for the organiser.

For some people, being in charge of planning a big event is a challenging but exciting opportunity to put on something amazing – for others however, it can be an incredibly daunting situation, especially if its a large group where you don’t know everyone in attendance.

But whether you’re excited to be in charge or not – the fact is that a lot of people simply don’t have the time it takes to research, contact and plan out every aspect of the party- even more so if your wanting to plan a party that has more than one main event.

So with everyone’s busy schedules these days its no surprise that more and more people are choosing to book through an events planning company such as GoBananas.
For some, using an event planner is the very best thing – whether they have time or not, whereas others can find it a little harder to let go of the reigns and trust their party rep.
This goes both ways however with your party rep being able to trust you (the client) to let us organise your party.

So, here are GoBananas top tips on how to be a great client and make the planning process easier for everyone involved:

Communicate your expectations clearly – from the very beginning its important that your party rep has a clear idea of activities you want to book, even if you haven’t 100% made up your mind we need to know the direction you want your party to go in.
Allow reasonable time for work to be done – of course planning an event is a time sensitive issue as the party date is the dead line, but its important for the client to understand that your booking is not the only party in motion for the whole company, while it is a priority for us – its not the only one.
Be available for questions – in some instances your party rep wont be able to continue on a certain aspect of your party until they’ve got the go ahead from you – making sure that you are available to talk or respond to your reps queries in a timely fashion is imperative for making sure your events progress doesn’t fall behind. Or if you know you’ll be unreachable for a few days – please let your rep know so they wont think you’ve vanished off the face of the earth.
Pay on time – this one is a biggy. A lot of the time our clients are waiting on their group members to pay before they can forward this onto us, so we always recommend that you give your group a cut off day to finish paying you at least week prior to the final payment being due overall. Nobody wants to be getting annoyed phone calls about overdue bills and we certainly don’t like giving them.
Don’t micromanage your party rep – you’ve come to booking agency for a reason so it doesn’t make sense to then try to control every single aspect of the booking at every point along the way. You’ve hired a company to do a job – so trust in their expertise and sit back and relax.
Be the single point of contact – a surefire way to get wires crossed and cause mistakes in a booking is to bring on another person half way through to deal with your party rep. Chances are they wont know the booking as well as you and things can get messy when they suddenly want to change something that has already been decided. Keep it nice and easy and follow through from the start.
Give credit where due – a lot of business these days relies on word mouth, so if you think the company did a great job with you booking and you were happy with how everything turned out, then pass on the details to friend or family who may be looking for something similar. A good word goes a long way.

Keep these tips in mind when booking your next party and you’ll be best buds with your party planner in no time – making the whole experience much easier and more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Happy Planning!

Awesome Team Building Activities in Adelaide

WOW Adelaide has some amazing team building options. The local businesses looking for something to do are definitely not left short of choices for their next fun team building event in Adelaide

Here are our top picks that we at GoBananas have been booking for business around Adelaide.

Our Adelaide amazing race is a top contender and always a success. If your business hasn’t done that before, then this is a must to try for your up and coming corporate do in 2017. With the amazing race it brings out the fun in people and makes your team bond & get to know each other in a different way compared to the office. Our amazing race can be done anywhere in Adelaide, so we can come to where your business is based and run the event close by. We will always try and finish off with a presentation & photo shoot either in one of your board rooms or function room at a nearby bar or pub. We tailor make our amazing race to suits your requirements and objectives.
Trivia night in Adelaide is a fun, creative set up involving the whole team in a fun quiz night. Always a winner and you will be surprised at who knows what.
“Minute to win it” is different to a Trivia night in the fact that the office will do activities and get off their chairs & compete with other team members. It can be some silly games & tasks you have to compete among’st each other, which makes this a very fun team building night in Adelaide. If you need help with a function room in Adelaide, ask GoBananas for suggestions.
Mini Olympics is competitive & outdoors, but still a team building activity that everyone can participate in regardless of fitness. The essence of this option is that the participants are divided into different countries and must come up with an anthem and work as a team to solve several physical and mental challenges.
Murder mystery night in Adelaide can be a great option for a company that are looking for a night time activity that allows dress-up and characters. Our murder mystery host will entertain your corporate event and make sure the murder mystery story is flowing, so the “crime” can be solved. This is a great option for companies looking for something not too physical, but still involves some elements of team building. Choose from a selection of murder mystery themes or tailor make it to suit your company and style.
Clay bird Shooting as your next team event in Adelaide. This is a cheaper team building activity to choose and can be just as much fun. GoBananas has 2 locations we use in Adelaide, so chances are we have a place close to you. Clay bird shooting is competitive, team based and you will be surprised at who is a good shooter.

So how do you book one of these great Adelaide team building activities?

Talk to one of the event planners at GoBananas. We are happy to talk to you and help you decide on the best option for your team building event. What is your objective with this event? What does your company want to achieve?
Start this process early – especially anything around Xmas dates, you need to book months & months in advance. Be flexible with dates just in case we can’t get the date you wanted.
Once a date is confirmed your company needs to act fast to secure it. So make sure the chain of command is as small as possible or if not, at least make sure that the decision can be made quickly.

If one of the FANTASTIC team building options sounds good to you – get on the phone to GoBananas now and find out more!

Mid-winter Xmas Parties and why they’re a great idea

You may think its a little early to be thinking about Christmas – I mean we haven’t even gotten through Easter yet, and while we agree that’s its not yet time to put up tree or start sending out the cards – it’s not too early to PARTY! Especially if it’s for a work do.

Now that summers over there’s always a definite shift in everyone’s mood – as the sunlight disappears on our commutes home its hard not to get a little down when you realise that you just spent most of your day light hours inside an office – it’s inevitable that your employees are bound to get the mid-winter blues. One sure-fire to fix this and improve office morale is to host a Mid-winter Xmas Party.

Fun activities for a mid-winter Xmas Party

Murder Mystery

A great option for both small and large companies a Murder Mystery is the ideal activity that can run in the afternoon or later at night. Have it a function room or if you can all fit why not host it at someones house? A great way to keep costs down as well. And while the theme of “murder” doesn’t exactly correlate to a cheery Christmas theme, trust us when we say that its not at all morbid. Our hosts are experienced actors who know how to make sure that your group has an amazing time and will keep the laughs coming. It’s always a lot fun and you could even arrange a trophy for the group that solves the mystery. A very popular activity that is sure to impress.

Boat Cruise

Boat cruises are not just for summer folks, and while you might think that heading out in the heart of winter doesn’t sound like the best idea, we have plenty of cruise options throughout Australia that make cruising in winter a breeze. Most of our vessels have indoor areas to shelter from the wind (or even a touch of rain) and we have charters available for every group size.
Choose between BYO and fully licensed, cook up a BBQ or splurge a little and get your cruise catered. This is a great way to get your staff out of the city for a few hours and have a really good time. Day and evening cruises available and so choose the time that suits you best.

Poker Night

For something a little different why not book in poker night for your mid-winter Xmas party.
Fun but with a little bit of competition thrown in too. We offer mobile services in most big cities so this can be hosted at a suitable function room, someones house or you can even have it at the office. Everyone can play at once if you want to set it up as a tournament style, or we can do smaller tables and have it run as a background activity at the party. Most packages come with table tops, playing chips, cards and a host or dealer to run the game – all you need to do is show up and get set for a great night.

A few benefits of having a mid-winter Xmas party

Venues have more availability in winter. If you’ve ever been in charge of organizing a Christmas party for the months October through to December you’ll know how incredibly difficult it can be to secure a venue – especially if you’re trying to plan something last minute. Not to mention that Summer also means wedding season so you have a bunch of brides booking up every decent venue left, right and centre as well. Having your party in June or July means that a lot places will be available and if you’re lucky they might even offer cheaper winter rates.
It doesn’t have to be traditional – when people think mid-winter Xmas they can take the phrase quite literally and assume that they have to go all out with full on winter wonderland theme complete with fake snow – but that’s not necessarily the case. You can mix things up with a variety of fun day time activities that are either inside or outdoors, it can be something physical such as bubble soccer or maybe something that will make you think such a room escape game. Follow it up with a simple dinner or maybe even a BBQ at someones house – nice and simple and wont it break the budget. But if you do want to go full on winter-wonderland that totally fine too 🙂
A mid-winter Xmas do is sure to lift your employee’s morale. This is probably the biggest benefit of throwing a winter bash – giving your staff the chance to unwind, relax and have a laugh is sure to give them a much needed boost to get them through the rest of the winter.
This is the perfect opportunity to show them that the company appreciates their hard work and takes consideration into a healthy work/play balance.

So if you’re considering moving the crazy December mayhem to a calmer (and cooler) June or July – contact GoBananas today and find out what fun mid-winter Xmas options we have in a city near you.

http://au.gobananasworld.com/