Virtual Christmas parties are popular. But how do I make the festival interesting – and what shouldn't happen? There are tips here.
In the corona pandemic, Christmas parties with many people are not possible – neither professionally nor privately. So why not hold a virtual party? Bettina Wittmann, founder of the international digital marketing agency weBOUND marketing, organized the first remote Christmas party with her team in 2019, spread across two continents. Here the expert for new work and remote work gives tips for a successful celebration.
Include participants
Ask potential participants in advance whether they are interested in a digital celebration at all. If it feels like another todo, it can be counterproductive, especially when you consider that many are currently sitting at home with their families and may not be able to be present for three hours undisturbed. Feel free to ask for suggestions; the participants may have traditions that they would like to contribute. In companies, it promotes a team spirit when everyone notices that they can contribute without being obliged to work overtime – the last few months have all challenged us enough, the last thing we need is that the employees also have a Christmas party stressed.
Invite wisely
Send out a surprising and funny digital invitation. There are tons of templates and tools. It is of course important to invite everyone so that nobody feels left out. At the same time, you have to consider: the more people participate, the more difficult it becomes digital. It may therefore be helpful to hold different, smaller department celebrations – or different time slots so that not too many people are in the picture and chat at the same time. In order to get to know new employees in the company, you can also randomly select colleagues from different departments and then divide them into teams that are divided into breakout sessions in order to promote a lively exchange with different people.
Communicate the agenda
This may sound obvious, but it is the point that is most often neglected. In order to enable a smooth process, it is important to communicate the agenda in advance and also a start and end time so that everyone can adjust to it. When you work in different time zones, this is even more important. The best thing to do is to create a calendar event with a video call link in parallel so that there are no registration problems.
Send analog gifts
It is nice if you send parcels in advance to the participants who play a role at a certain point in the party. In 2019, I also created individual digital and animated collages of shared experiences for my employees, which also included a photo of the gift, as it was getting tight for mailing, especially for America. I preprogrammed this e-mail and it reached all employees half an hour after the start of the celebration and relaxed the atmosphere a lot. Gifts that you send by post that you can use during the celebration are also nice: e.g. Christmas accessories, cookies or Christmas punch. What fits there naturally also depends on the industry and the framework.
Spread the Christmas spirit
From Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest to Wichteln. Decorate the zoom window festively with Christmas screen backgrounds or real festive motifs that you distribute around you during the celebration (for example, sit in front of the Christmas tree, poinsettia, Advent wreath or put winter cups or colorful garlands in the picture). Run a Christmas playlist – if your company operates internationally, let your employees submit their favorite Christmas carols from the respective country. Also ask about different customs – you will be surprised how different Christmas is spent with other families!
Drinks and food at a distance for every budget
Send a Christmas box in advance with goodies that do not have to be prepared at all or very little, order a menu at your favorite restaurant or ask a cocktail bar to send a variety of drinks to everyone. Alternatively, meals or punch can be cooked together. If you have participants in different countries or locations, it is also a good idea for each participant to put together their own menu. At company events, the invoice can then be forwarded to the company. Alternatively, a sum can be sent to each employee so that they can buy snacks and drinks themselves.
Let's get personal
Allow five minutes per person (depending on the size of the team) to introduce themselves – especially if not all participants know each other personally or new ones have joined. At our Christmas party in 2019, that was the most important part for the employees, as some previously only communicated via chat or saw each other in the bi-weekly employee meeting. If the team already knows, you can also prepare questions. Inspiration offers e.g. the famous questionnaire by Max Frisch or specially developed card games.
Play games online
Whether "Escape the Room", describing words, drawing with "Activity" or "Who will be a millionaire?" – answer questions. Also online there are hardly any limits to creating an entertaining atmosphere. Depending on the number of participants, groups can be divided and the game selected. Playing in teams: Breakout sessions can be set up randomly, especially with larger teams. You can rotate with carefully considered questions in order to get to know each other better. Alternatively, teams can coordinate within the breakout rooms and compete against each other.
The don'ts of virtual Christmas parties
1. Don't have a schedule: Plan the celebration well and don't just let it go, in the hope that it will be fine: Nothing is worse than numerous people in a video call who don't know what to do and who now speaks. Plan the process and send it to everyone in advance. 2. Long speeches: Let's be honest, long speeches are mostly boring at the Christmas party. Online, our attention span is even shorter, especially in 2020, when all family members are mostly at home. Keep it short and sweet or try to integrate other participants in order to add variety to the speech.
3. Leave the celebration to its own devices: Have someone lead through the meeting and conversations, especially when the celebration begins to give you some sleep. Not everyone is extroverted, and certainly not in groups and in front of the camera! Therefore, try to include these people, insofar as they want to. Prepare a few alternative games and, if necessary, questions that can loosen up the party. This is especially helpful in the beginning to get the celebration going. This tip is not about artificially dragging out the celebration, but rather about counteracting any possible mood drops.
4. Overtaxing: Don't drag the party out too long, digitally it's harder to stay focused. Set a core time for the official speeches to be given, otherwise give people free to come and go as they please. 5. Discuss everything in a large group: If you choose the Zoom program for the meeting, encourage breakout sessions so that colleagues can also meet in small groups – many have not seen each other for weeks or months, and not everything you want to discuss it in front of the manager. You can divide these sessions in advance or create the date so that this is freely selectable. Alternatively, the manager can also divide up.