For your event to be memorable, you need to break out of the humdrum of monotonous corporate events. You want to design your event around a theme that will capture people’s attention and encourage them to learn more about your event and your brand. Selecting an event theme will encourage guests to engage with your activities because you will offer something new and exciting. When you plan this corporate event theme well, it will also tie closely with your brand and further build recognition as people fondly look back on your event. Here’s how to get started. Understanding Corporate Event Themes Corporate themes are overarching, guiding ideas that bring all the elements of your event together to create an immersive and engaging experience for your guests. When you choose an outstanding corporate event theme, you will incorporate it into everything you do, from the activities you plan to the food you serve and how you decorate. This theme will help to set the tone and atmosphere for your event, as it will engage your attendees differently. These themes can help your event feel different from a run-of-the-mill corporate event, so that your attendees walk away with a positive impression of your brand and continued interest in engaging with you. Why Themes Matter For many people, the day-to-day slog of their work lives starts to become a bit monotonous. Office days become strikingly similar, and corporate events take on the same feel and atmosphere. When you select an outstanding theme for your next event, you can break your brand out of this mundane and create a unique experience for your attendees that they will remember. A good theme will not only guide your preparations for your event, but it will also create something unique for your guests. They will get to experience something new and different, which creates a common bonding point for them and all the other attendees. Whether you are hosting an internal event for your employees or you want to plan an event to announce a new product launch to the public, helping your attendees bond will leave everyone with more interest in your brand and fond memories of your event. How to Choose the Right Theme Themes can run the full gamut from a kids’ party for adults to a more sophisticated city of the future. With such a wide range to choose from, it can feel overwhelming to find a theme for your specific event. As you walk through the process with your team, we recommend you take the following steps: Think about the purpose of your event. Are you announcing a new product release? Do you want to build brand awareness? Do you want to bring your employees together to unwind for an internal event? Knowing what you want to achieve with your event can help you tease out the feel you want to have, and thus start to narrow down your theme choices. How does your event fit with your wider brand? Your theme will need to fit well with your branding. For example, an outdoor company will likely not choose themes with a futuristic feel. What are your company values? As a brand, you work to communicate certain values with your brand and to connect with your customers. Identifying these values can help you narrow down your list of themes to those that will help you promote your core ideas. Review the theme ideas we list below. Although this only gives you a taste of the wealth of options available, it can help you start picturing how you might execute different ideas so that you and your team can select a choice that fits your event. Build an event experience. For your event theme to stand out, you want to create an immersive few days. This theme is not about choosing your decorations, it is about immersing your guests into an interactive experience that leaves an impression. Assessing Audience Preferences While you plan your event and choose your theme, understanding your audience preferences should be high on the list. Knowing the types of themes that resonate with your audience can help you design an experience that will get people excited so they become eager participants in everything you have planned. Start by considering your target demographics. Suppose your attendees are largely senior business professionals who tend to be older and more traditional. In that case, you might not pick a national park expedition theme to emphasize your ‘going new places’ idea. On the other hand, if your demographic is a bit younger and very into work-life balance, then that park expedition idea might fit perfectly. Next, think about any important cultural considerations. Look again at the target demographics for your business. If you have a number of people from conservative cultural or religious groups, you might not want to pick a happy hour theme. To focus on the types of themes your demographics will likely enjoy, you can use a variety of research strategies. Look at who attended past events and research the common interests and priorities among these groups. You can also look at what others in your industries have used for themes to get your creative juices flowing. If you have used themes in the past, look at the success of these as well. Budget and Resources As you dream big about the potential themes you can choose for your event to create a memorable experience, your budget will help bring you back to reality. Think carefully about the resources you have to dedicate to event planning categories like props, decor, food, and goodie bags. Then, research the different elements that you would likely want to incorporate in your events. This can help you find the option that will fit best for your business. Of course, there are also a variety of strategies you can use to stretch your finite resources even further to help you make the most of your chosen theme. Some great ways include: Having a playlist instead of live music or a DJ Procuring materials to make some of the decorations in-house Eliminating optional props or decor and putting that budget towards features that will go further, such as menu options or lighting and ambiance accents. Use rentals to secure the furniture and accents you need instead of purchasing items. Top 4 Corporate Event Themes for 2024 To help you plan your upcoming event theme, we have selected a few of the leading corporate event theme ideas for 2024. These options help to capture the range of themes that you might elect to use for your event and can help you create very different types of atmospheres. These ideas are highly effective and can help you get your event off to the right start. Theme 1: Corporate Camping This event brought together some of the best parts of camping, without any of the usual discomforts– like sleeping on the ground. Guests got to enjoy the stars, card games, custom-made tents, campfires, and treats for an unforgettable experience. To execute this type of theme, you will need to pay attention to the climate and venue options so you know what elements you can employ. You can also tie it to different brand themes, such as adventuring or unwinding. Theme 2: City Special This theme presents a canvas for brands to highlight everything that makes their city special. Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee organized an event they called, Le Bon Appetit, which helps to highlight all that made Memphis a wonderful city. With an incredible chef lineup from across the country, a venue that captured the historic elements of the city, and a parade that took people through the history of the hospital, people at the event felt as though they got to experience some of the best elements of the city. Theme 3: Trailblazers This theme can take a variety of different directions, but when Salesforce uses it for their Dreamforce event, they incorporated forest decor as well as rock-climbing and knot tying entertainment areas to keep guests busy. If you want to personalize a similar outdoor theme, you might consider how to incorporate a menu of outdoor themed foods — such as s’mores or commonly grilled foods. You might also offer decor that transports people to a particularly famous park or trailhead. Theme 4: Looking Towards the Future For those interested in a tech or futuristic theme, transporting a city into the future can be a great way to capture these ideas. AT&T recently captured this idea when they staged a virtual takeover of their host city of Dallas to showcase all the latest AT&T products and their potential to transform Dallas into a city of the future. The theme included tech-based and futuristic decor, including blue and white-themed colors to capture the brand, modern design elements, and booths that emphasized what could be accomplished with the adoption of the latest tech. Businesses can personalize this idea by focusing on what their tech can bring to different industries and features of their host cities. An immersive experience can help people feel as though they are living in the future and able to participate in what the future can bring. Planning and Executing Your Theme Once you have selected a theme for your upcoming event, you need to incorporate this theme into the rest of your event planning processes. Ideally, you should choose your theme first in this process, as your theme will impact all the planning details, including where you choose to host the event. Therefore, having the theme set can help you build a more cohesive event experience from the ground up. Armed with your theme, you want to sit with your planning team and brainstorm how you all understand this theme and the types of elements that can help to bring the ideas to life. As you progress through the planning process, be sure to regularly check in with each other so that you can see how the different components are coming together. You can then begin to plan all the other elements for your event and know that your team is operating cohesively. Venue and Decor Your venue is one of the most important choices you make in event planning. When you take into consideration the size of your audience and the theme you want to create, it can help guide you towards the space that will fit your needs best. Think about how you want to design your theme. Do you want to have everyone in one space or across a few different connected areas that can guide people through the event experience? This will help you examine your venue options so you can see which ones might work. As you look at the venus, think also about the decor you will use to bring the theme to life. You will not only want to have some means of decorating different booths and stations, but you might want to put thematic artwork on the walls or use lighting and light fixtures to create the ambiance. Speak with your venue options to see what your decorating options will be to make sure you have the flexibility your event requires. Activities and Entertainment Your team will also carefully plan activities and forms of entertainment for the event. These features will keep your guests engaged with your event and brand, so you want to choose them carefully. Virtual reality, for example, could fit into many different themes. Someone with a theme based on Global Food or Global Travel, for example, can use VR to transport people to fun, interesting locations. If you want to have a tech-theme, on the other hand, you might use VR to showcase new capabilities. Consider what your space can accommodate and what will appeal to audience members. A relaxation theme might offer indoor mini putt putt holes, while a spa theme might have massage chairs set up in one area with hired professional massage therapists. Catering and Menu Ideas Catering and your menu selections will also help to create an immersive experience for your attendees. Food can go in so many different directions, depending upon where you want to take your guests. A beach theme, for example, might offer tropical-style food with fresh fruit and cocktails and mocktails with little umbrellas to remind people of summer vacations. A futuristic or sci-fi theme, on the other hand, might look more to menu items that draw inspiration from modern cooking or dessert specials like freeze-dried ice cream. As you work with your team, get creative as you think about your theme and what it might mean for your menu selections. If you have trouble thinking of connections, such as assuming that a tech theme has little to do with cooking, then try to imagine the types of food appreciated by those in tech environments. For example, you might model your menu after popular restaurants in Silicon Valley to contribute to the atmosphere. Measuring Success Once your event is over, your team will likely want to take some time to relax, but your work is not yet done. Measuring your success will help you gauge the outcomes of your event and the impact of your corporate event theme ideas. To start gathering feedback about your event, we recommend: Sending surveys to people through email or an event app Speaking with some participants directly about their experiences Looking at the engagement rates for your event, including attendance, engagement during the different sections, and interest in any special features planned that are in line with your theme. Monitoring engagement with your brand directly following your event from those who had attended. Using all these different factors to analyze your event’s impact can help you see whether people appreciated your efforts and connected with your brand. Looking closely at factors such as engagement with themed activities and comparing your success rates to past events can help you tease out the interest of your attendees in your theme, which will help you plan for future events. Preparing the Theme for Your Event Selecting a corporate event theme requires careful consideration of how a theme fits with your brand and your event goals, but when you make a good selection, you can design an event that people will enjoy and remember. Get creative as you evaluate your different theme options and think about all the ways you can use the theme to tie together your different event elements. Have you heard of or experienced any corporate event themes that stand out? Which ones were your favorites? Interested in getting more event planning tips and insights? Subscribe now to our blog and get the latest right in your inbox.