Touched Music

Energize your Corporate Party

I am an event planner at a Los Angeles company and was looking for some event planning ideas for an upcoming office party. In the past, we had either done open bars at nearby lounges, but recent budget cuts cut this option out of the equation; and another time I threw a party at a bowling alley, to which only half the office came. After doing some perusing online, a friend recommended that I look into indoor go-kart racing at a place in Thousand Oaks because it was silly, fun, cheap, and might appeal to some of the more competitive types in the office: it was a fantastic recommendation.

Corporate events planning is never easy, but planning a party with this venue was an event planner’s dream. They handled almost all of the logistics, including ordering food for the party and setting up signage and tables in a private room that was used for lunch between races. A number of packages were offered for the party, but MB2 Raceway was happy to customize a package for the party that included 3 races – enough for everyone to get a chance at one-upping his or her boss.

As for the racing itself, everybody had a fantastic time. As we get older, we apparently forget how much fun it is to race around in karts and vie for position against friends/co-workers/competitors as we head into the final lap. While for two of the races everyone more or less competed against each other, the company created a team to compete in the final race against other individuals and even another small corporate party, which brought everyone together after they had had their opportunity to talk trash good-naturedly to senior company executives. As if the racing itself isn’t fun enough, being able to compete against co-workers, in all seriousness, provides a good opportunity for colleagues to vent some of their frustration and competition with one another in a very harmless way, and could bring them closer together at work in a more meaningful way than closing down a bar at 3AM after too much tequila.

While I love my job in corporate events planning, it is hard to come up with inventive and affordable event planning ideas, especially at a time when budgeting constraints could be a real party pooper. I am truly grateful to my friend for recommending this somewhat unconventional venue for an office party and am taking the opportunity to recommend that event planners in Los Angeles really consider this venue for good, clean, affordable office fun.

Tags: Event planning ideas