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Laaaaaast Christmas: Everything was somehow louder.
And with more people.
How do you somehow manage to celebrate together in the Corona year anyway?
Photo: Stígur Már Karlsson / Heimsmyndir / E + / Getty Images
How can you celebrate without celebrating?
In the Corona autumn, the problem of how to organize a company Christmas party may seem incidental - but a comforting event would be important right now for many teams that are widely scattered in home offices.
And right now it doesn't work.
Or is it?
Can there be a decentralized digital version for partying as well as for work?
Julia *, 41, team assistant in an internet agency, says: "I'm supposed to organize a Christmas party for 80 people. Up until now we always had a large location with catering, but now it has become clear: We can cancel that. We thought about a mobile mulled wine stand, But the problem is: When you have a drink, everyone loves each other - and maybe you don't keep the distance anymore. "
So what to do
"The feeling of togetherness is very important in our company - we all want to be together, in whatever form. That can also cost something," says Julia.
She made them look for suitable digital offers - and found above all "stupid things like externally moderated game shows and stupid money-making".
Who is watching a Christmas video made from song snippets?
A one-and-a-half-hour speed dating with chat rooms, for example, costs "from 29 euros per person", in which participants tell each other for a minute what they have to eat for Christmas or what the best present was - including an "entertaining summary" at the end.
For 540 euros, ten participants (each additional person costs 20 euros more) can be guided through a Christmas task list by a gamemaster - for three hours.
Some event companies also offer to make a Christmas video from the song snippets sent in - but who wants to watch that?
And of course there are culinary offers in abundance - from gin tasting sets to chocolate packages and coffee tastings.
Julia and her team have also thought about a "hybrid concept" - some are at home, some in the company.
"But a test run showed: Whoever sits at the screen is ignored. Those who were there talked on the couch, nobody was interested in the colleagues who were connected."
To prevent this from happening, a format must be found that also enables the easiest possible digital community experiences.
Dennis von Grudzinski, 37, coach at the IT service provider T-Systems onsite, together with three colleagues organized a digital summer party for around 150 people during the Corona lockdown.
He also says: "The offers that came from outside were one thing above all: expensive. I then found an offer for an online escape room that cost five people only ten euros - whack, the costs were up reduced by a factor of ten, and we were able to have a nice dinner box sent home for everyone. It contained a fancy lemonade and a beer, special popcorn, chocolate almonds, nachos and a few other things. "
Tips for the virtual Christmas party
Just try it up arrow down arrow
"It is important to just have fun trying things out. We are lucky to be in a situation that is new to everyone - there you are not under so much pressure to perfect," says von Grudzinski.
Collect ideas - and do short test runs to see whether the format works the way you imagine it.
The Right Tools, Up Arrow, Down Arrow
Think about it: What tools are there already in the company - and how can they be used creatively?
Important: Everyone has to be technically up-to-date - for some colleagues, working with collaboration tools is part of everyday life, others have to be taken by the hand a little.
Plan an explanation session at the beginning of the event - and assign a few colleagues as helpers, who may be able to give advice over the phone if someone has problems with the technology.
Whiteboard tools like Miro, Mural or Witeboard are good for creating a virtual party room.
Appealing to the Senses Up Arrow Down
Address different senses: For example, put a candle in the party pack that you send to the invitees so that there is a festive atmosphere in the home office.
"We sent out a Spotify playlist to create atmosphere," says von Grudzinski.
No austerity measure up arrow down arrow
Make it clear to yourself: a digital party is not a cost-cutting measure.
To get things going, you have to put some money in your hand, just like at a normal celebration.
Plan with your normal Christmas budget - and think about sending the invitation to the party as a card so that the event is perceived as valuable and "real".
Food and drink Up arrow Down arrow
A festive culinary offer is part of a celebration.
It has to be sent by post in good time - and is an item that can easily be awarded as an external contract.
Not everyone wants to drink alcohol - but for some, beer or wine is an essential part of the party.
Vegetarians and vegans do not want to find meat products in the package.
If you are planning for a larger event, offer the option "vegetarian" and "alcohol-free" with the invitation - there is now also good alcohol-free sparkling wine.
The classic dichotomy is ideal for a virtual celebration: first a joint event - then a cozy get-together.
Online escape games are for teams who like to solve puzzles together.
The point is to find clues and traces in a virtual space from which you try to escape together.
There are many offers, the price range is wide: a Hamburg provider offers a game of up to two hours for five people for a total of ten euros, others call for an escape game up to 60 euros per person.
Party games such as Jackbox can also be an alternative: In the game "Fibbage", for example, you invent the most believable wrong solutions for fill in the blank in order to trick your fellow players.
In "Tee KO" you paint T-shirt designs on the display.
And in "Trivia Murder Party" you have to survive grueling quiz rounds alive, at best.
A handful of games cost around 25 euros, depending on the game up to 16 or even 100 people can play.
Most of the games are in English though.
Virtual kitchen party
Joint online cooking events followed by a feast in front of the camera are more for smaller teams - professional providers can be paid well for them, and those who are not afraid of the effort can organize a virtual kitchen party themselves and send out recipes and ingredients in advance.
For the cross-team get-together after the game round, von Grudzinski and his colleagues quickly turned the company's collaboration tool, which offers a virtual whiteboard (the idea can be recreated with tools such as Mural, Asana, Sketchboard or Google presentations) as a party tool repurposed.
"First we explained to everyone in a short telephone conference what they had to do: We had prepared a circular disk with their name in the tool for each participant and displayed two virtual rooms on blackboards: one foyer, where all these disks were initially, and then a room with several tables - from the cozy corner to a word game table to the gossip corner. "
Everyone could then drag their glass to one of the tables and dial into a separate video conference.
"That worked out well," says von Grudzinski: "The game started at 4 pm, and later people went from table to table until half past eleven, which really felt like a joint dinner with a buffet. Even the grumblers said: “Contrary to expectations, that was good!” And at a feedback table that the staff set up themselves without further ado, the request arose to organize the Christmas party in a similar way.
* Name changed
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