Actividades: Catering Instead of serving a large varieties of food, narrow down the selection but maintaining some variety by having some meat, vegetables and fruits. You can choose cheaper meat like chicken compared to beef tenderloin or seafood for example. Riding on the trend that people are getting more health-conscious, why not a luscious salad bar with tasty toppings and enhanced by decorations such as displaying the vegetables on large bowls on crushed ice, take advantages of the different natural colours of vegetables and create a colourful, delicious salad bar. In addition, it prevents people from falling asleep after a heavy meal for the following sessions during a meeting. Whatever style the meal can be, buffet is a good solution: cut down on expenses, service cost is lower, it is more dynamic and faster compared to a sit-down dinner and the guests tend to like a variety of selection that a buffet offers. Have the option of a cocktail with warm and cold food servings or a buffet instead of a formal sit-down dinner, since it gives the impression of more variety compared to a sit- down dinner where there is at least a starter, a main course and dessert and choice is limited. Venue and decoration Choose venue with a built-in character. There many venues that are already rich in decoration, be it general or with a special theme. You will not need to add more decoration. Sometimes, these venues may be more expensive to rent but the overall cost can still be cheaper with the savings on decoration. Also, you can take advantage of the configuration of the lugar… For example, if you need only a small stage and the venue has a staircase landing you can save costs by transforming it into a stage. If you have small product samples to be given away, apart from setting a gift giveaway counter, use them to complement the rest of the decoration, such as little samples bottles of shampoo or body lotion stuck on sticks and placed within the floral decoration or hang them on transparent fishing line from the ceiling to make a curtain. This not only give an added touch to the floral decoration but also, gives a boost to branding without having to construct additional props. Also, try to get a package deal with the venue especially when it comes to audiovisual systems and floral decoration. Many times, venues have their own audiovisual equipment and in-house florists. Negotiate for a complete package with them instead of outsourcing to another provider, of course provided, what you need is available in the venue. If you are having a themed dinner, check with your props provider and see if they have a similar theme props from a previous event. So, instead of construction the props from scratch, you may just need to pay for a re-painting job. Finally, remember that there are thousands of creative ways to decorate without spending a lot, minimalist decoration theme such as Zen can be an ideal theme when you don’t want to have too much decoration in the event, the use of lighting to limit carpentry, etc. Speak with your designer or provider or get inspiration from other vents, magazines, shops, etc… Activities One way to get guests entertained is to get their participation. Instead of just hiring an activity that the guests can simply watch, get them involved in the act. For example, while the guests are expected to wait in line, why not get a juggler to perform and at the same time, get the guests to learn to juggle while they wait instead of hiring a group of musicians to provide music entertainment? Even a karaoke can give hours of entertainment for internal events. Let the crooners in the company show their talent! Other activities that the guests can participate are quizzes, if the questions are good, they can be very entertaining, a small team performance for internal events… Getting live music? Negotiate two sessions of performance with them instead of getting two different groups. You can either get a group with a wide repertoire or get them to play for cocktail as background music and as a live band performance for a after dinner gig.