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#Events
Turn store openings into a party for raving fans
At each Chick-fil-A grand opening, the first one hundred customers receive free meals once a week for one year. This prize has become so popular that raving fans began to camp out in front of stores days before their opening. Seeing an opportunity to build relationships with their customers, Chick-fil-A turned these campouts into one long event with free samplings, a midnight Icedream® party, backstage tours of the restaurant, and live entertainment and activities.
Create REMARKable moments
In their mission statement, the remark in remarkable is capitalized to emphasize that Chick-fil-A employees need to do things worth talking about. With this in mind, they organize experiences across their restaurants that bring families and friends together in memorable ways.
- Daddy-daughter date night: Both dad and daughter enjoy an evening with limousine and carriage rides, table service from staff dressed in tuxedos, strolling violinists, and tablecloth-covered, candlelit tables.
- Cow appreciation day: Come into any Chick-fil-A restaurant dressed as a cow, or wearing cow print, and receive a free entree.
- Stuffed animal sleepovers: Have dinner with your favorite stuffed animal and then leave it there overnight for a stuffed animal slumber party with the other stuffed animals. It will be waiting for you in the morning with photos of the fun it had and a 'thank you' letter.
Turn your locations into community centers
Umpqua Bank designed their stores to be a place where customers can have fun, hang out, network, and even hold personal business meetings. Former CEO Ray Davis believed that if you can get people to want to spend more time in your stores, they will more likely buy something.
Umpqua Associates are encouraged to take initiative and hold events based on their customers' interests. Three to five times a month, stores host events like Hawaiian luaus, yoga classes, book clubs, poetry readings, Nintendo Wii bowling nights, 'stitch and bitch' knitting sessions, and 'Friday Nite Flicks,' where anyone can enjoy a free movie.
As for the cost, Umpqua partners with local businesses to keep expenses low. When they hosted a Greek art show, a local Greek restaurant provided food at a 40% discount.
Create opportunities to socialize with co-workers
When Zappos says they only hire people they want to spend time with, they are very serious about creating opportunities for those times to be had—inside and outside of work.
- Managers and employees are encouraged to spend 10–20% of their time outside of work with their fellow employees and coworkers. Happy hours, small team events, and BBQ's at a manager's home have ended up producing some of the company's best ideas.
- Exits throughout the office were turned into 'emergency exits' in order to create one single point of entry and exit to increase chances of "serendipitous interactions."
- Free lunches and snacks weren't created as a retention strategy but as an opportunity for everyone to sit down together as a community.
Have fun without breaking the bank
Fun doesn't have to cost a lot. While Zappos does have extravagant parties and brings the occasional camel into the office, they also have fun with the tightest of budgets. The Zappos full-time team of Fungineers are always looking for simple ways to break up the day and bring happiness to their coworkers with:
- Marshmallow Peep diorama contests
- Minute-to-Win-It competitions where participants have a minute to complete some type of challenge like eating Oreos or shaking ping pong balls out of empty tissue boxes that are tied around their bottoms
- Homemade carnival game events
- Office Nerf gun wars
- Parking lot water gun fights
- Weird talent shows that gives everyone an opportunity to have their moment of glory
- Zappos Idol karaoke competitions
- Mardi Gras parades where each department is given a big cardboard box and $25 to make a float
- Bald & Blue days when Zapponians shave each other's heads or dye their hair blue to raise money for a charity
