How to Organise a Successful Business Dinner Party

Holding a successful business dinner can be instrumental in your efforts to advance your company’s goals; at the very least, it can certainly help to cultivate the enduring relationships on which any ambitious firm depends. It is therefore crucial to make only the best impression on all of the diners present at the next event of this nature that your company hosts.

But what are some of the steps that will ensure this? Allow our experts here at Château Bouffémont – one of the most respected corporate events venues in France – to guide you through them.

Determine why you are holding a business dinner party

An awareness of the precise reasons for organising a corporate dinner party will also assist you in establishing clarity as to what your goals for the event should be.

Such parties can be held for a multitude of reasons. You may be marking a successful past year for your company or a high-ranking employee’s promotion, for instance, or it may coincide with a product launch at which many of your business’s longstanding clients are present.

Select an appropriate venue

Naturally, you will not wish to hold a business dinner party that is overly disruptive to your company’s day-to-day operations, which may lead you to consider a venue closer to home. But on the other hand, your choice of venue will send a strong message – whether positive or negative – as to how greatly you value your attendees’ role in your company’s success.

In short, it is vital to make a positive impression with the venue that you select, which is why – if your business dinner party is to be an especially grand and important one – you may even go as far as using a magnificent chateau for your corporate events.

Our own Château Bouffémont – the 19th-century former residence of the Marquise of Preignes – is just such a venue. With its large grounds, refined interior decor and rich heritage, it is a true fairytale location in which to host a business dinner party.

Decide on an appropriate date and time

One other undoubted benefit of making Château Bouffémont your favoured dinner party venue is the ease with which guests from far afield will be able to reach the destination, given its strong geographical connections to wider France. The property is situated a mere 30 kilometres away from central Paris, as well as just 20 minutes from Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Nonetheless, even if you choose such a conveniently located venue as this one, you will need to consider what date, time and event duration are appropriate to ensure your guests gain the utmost enjoyment from the dinner, but also aren’t left rushing to reach or leave the venue by a certain time.

It’s worth remembering that about two to three hours is a typical length for a corporate dinner party.

Prepare a guest list

Whether the invitees to your event are largely your own employees, or a much larger proportion of the guest list instead consists of current and prospective clients, suppliers and partners, you should also consider extending invitations to the spouses of your target attendees.

Once you have worked through the aforementioned factors and sent out simple, but formal invitations to your desired attendees, you will be free to concentrate on all of the other steps you can take on the day itself to make the dinner party a triumphant one for your firm.

On that subject, you may be interested in consulting the Entrepreneur website’s article on the seven elements of a successful business dinner.