What People Actually Take Away From a Memorable Event

The first party I ever hosted at the All That Glitters North Loop studio, I over-planned within an inch of its life.

The birthday girl was turning 17. I had a crown for her. A sign with her name on it. I set up the Gloss Bar right next to the Scent Bar because I figured some of the girls would want a choice: lip gloss versus a custom scent, variety, options, the works.

She didn't want to wear the crown. Nobody looked twice at the sign. And every single girl in that room picked the Scent Bar. Not one gloss. And you know what? They had a great time anyway.

They were excited to be together, in a room, doing something. They didn't need all the extra details I'd spent so much time thinking about.

It's easy to forget that when planning a birthday party, corporate event, holiday party, or pretty much any other gathering. You will remember every decision you agonized over. The napkins. The signage. The backup activity you never needed. Your guests will remember approximately none of it.

They'll remember who they sat next to. Something funny that happened. The conversation they weren't expecting to have. The thing they made, chose, or got to keep.

This isn't a new idea, but it's one we seem to forget every single time we're the one in charge.

The Planner's Event and the Guest's Event Are Two Different Events

If you've ever planned a party or event, you already know this feeling. You experience the entire thing as a checklist.

Did the food show up on time? Is the playlist working? Does everyone have a drink? Is that corner of the room too empty? Should I have ordered more of something?

Meanwhile, your guests are having an entirely different experience. They're talking to someone they haven't seen in a while, meeting a coworker they've only known through email, comparing what they made, or laughing about something that happened five minutes ago.

Two completely different events are happening in the same room.

Once you actually accept that, planning gets a lot less exhausting. The extra decoration, third signature cocktail and perfectly coordinated everything may look beautiful, but those details aren't necessarily doing the work you think they're doing.

More elaborate does not automatically create a more memorable event. Sometimes it just means more work for the person planning it.

What Makes a Memorable Event? Give People Something to Do Together

What actually changes the energy of a room is participation, how people are interacting.

Give people something to browse, choose, create, or experience together and something interesting starts happening without the host having to manufacture it. People compare what they picked. Someone asks what someone else chose. Someone waits to see how a piece turns out. Conversations start between people who might not otherwise have talked.

That's why interactive experiences can work especially well for corporate events, holiday parties and private gatherings. They give people an easy reason to interact without making anyone participate in a forced icebreaker. You don't have to create the conversation. You create the opportunity for it.

And personal choice matters more than people sometimes realize. Handing everyone the same party favor or corporate gift is certainly efficient. But let someone choose something that actually feels unique to them, even something small, and the experience changes.

It's one of the reasons experiences like permanent jewelry, a Charm Bar, Scent Bar or Gloss Bar work well for groups. Guests aren't all walking away with the same thing. One person picks a simple gold chain while someone else goes for something completely different. One person builds a subtle scent while her friend creates one nobody else would have chosen. The experience is shared. What they take home is personal.

A Better Question for Corporate and Holiday Event Planning

This is one of the challenges that comes up again and again with company events: someone has been handed the job of finding something people will actually enjoy. Not something that simply fills an hour on the agenda. Not another branded item that gets added to a cabinet full of branded items. Something coworkers, clients, or guests will genuinely want to participate in.

If you're planning a company holiday party, employee appreciation event or client gathering in Minneapolis or the Twin Cities, it can help to change the question you're asking.

Instead of:

What can we give everyone?

Try:

What can everyone experience together?

You may still end up giving them something. The difference is that now there's a story attached to it because they helped choose or create it.

You Don't Have to Be the Entertainment at Your Own Party

This applies just as much to private parties.

The version of hosting that a lot of people avoid entirely is exhausting: clean the house, cook for a crowd, decorate everything, make sure everyone has what they need and then personally keep the party moving for the next three hours. It's a pretty good way to spend your own party working.

But the host doesn't have to be the entertainment. If people have something interactive to do together, the group starts generating its own energy. You don't need to be "on" the entire time. You can actually sit down, have a drink, talk to your friends and enjoy the gathering you planned.

And a private event doesn't have to be huge for this to work. Six or seven friends sitting around a table choosing charms or creating scents can generate more conversation than a crowded room ever will. You don't need a guest list of thirty for something to count as an occasion worth making time for.

What Interactive Events Look Like in Real Life

This week, All That Glitters is bringing permanent jewelry to TruChoice Financial for a corporate event in Hastings, Minnesota. The experience itself is pretty simple from the guests' perspective. Coworkers get to browse the chain options, choose a favorite, have it fitted and watch it become permanent jewelry.

Behind the scenes, there's plenty of planning involved. But that's our job, not theirs.

For the company hosting the event, there isn't an activity to facilitate or a complicated set of instructions to give employees. People can wander over, look at the options, talk about what they're choosing and leave wearing something they picked for themselves.

That's exactly what I want an ATG event to accomplish. Whether we're bringing Permanent Jewelry, the Charm Bar, Scent Bar or Gloss Bar to a corporate gathering or hosting a smaller private party at our Minnetonka studio, the goal isn't to make an event more elaborate. It's to make it easier for people to connect.

Before You Plan Your Next Event

If you're responsible for a company gathering this fall, a holiday party, or a private celebration for your own people, try starting with a different question.

Not "How do I make this impressive?"

Ask "What will everyone actually get to do together?"

You don't necessarily need the crown, the sign or the backup activity nobody asked for. I learned that one the expensive way.You need a reason for people to put down their phones, gather around something, make a choice and talk to each other. That's the part they'll bring up later.

And if you're looking for an interactive event experience in Minneapolis, Minnetonka or around the Twin Cities, All That Glitters offers Permanent Jewelry, Charm Bar, Scent Bar and Gloss Bar experiences for corporate events, holiday parties and private gatherings.

Planning a fall or holiday event? Inquire about bringing an All That Glitters experience to your group.