Christmas parties during a pandemic
I spoke with several business leaders about this year's corporate Christmas celebrations. Everyone had the same concerns, the same stresses, the same challenges.
Gather but don’t contaminate. Celebrate but don’t be reckless. Recognize but at what cost? Have fun but with what level of risk?
At BBQ Québec this situation is quite unique because in our company everything is subject to celebrations, gatherings. A new employee, a success, a record broken, a promotion, a store opening!
We celebrate the arrival of spring, the launch of a product, a great season in our company, a contest won by the company, the launch of a new project. BBQ is festive, it's in our blood. A summer party in a chalet with employees, a chic gala at Christmas with an awards ceremony, a lively 5 to 7, a BBQ class; the party at our place is in our DNA.
What do you do in such a festive company when you are not allowed to gather, celebrate, laugh out loud for fear of swallowing a microscopic droplet? What do you do when you cannot have a team dinner to meet a new manager, to try a new dry marinade, to enjoy life as our corporate culture suggests to us at every opportunity?
When the pandemic came into our lives, we had already filmed a digital version of our famous BBQ 101 course that more than 23,000 people had the opportunity to experience in person in Quebec. We were then able to present our online version to thousands of people during the summer in order to continue to spread our love of the grill and our passion for BBQ. All our customers wishing to perfect their knowledge, thousands of Quebecers wishing to progress in their cooking techniques and knowledge were able to follow the course in the comfort of their home and it continues even at this time of year.
On the gas or charcoal BBQ, it doesn't matter! The important thing was to enjoy the summer to the fullest. With all these confined days, going outside to cook was a golden opportunity to be resilient in these particular times.
Discover the online course 101
On the eve of the Christmas party season, it was also very complex for us to decide to get together. Even groups of less than 100 people were not easy to place in a room in our research in September. In October, we decided to take the step towards virtual and celebrate at all costs by adapting. Armed with a desire to celebrate no matter the challenges of distance, it is chic each at home that we will live our Christmas BBQ this year and it will not be less festive!
While preparing this celebration with my colleague Lyn, we started thinking about what could make the moment special for our employees, what would make this unique Christmas party, would make us laugh, allow us to applaud, celebrate, party and we realized that our team, remotely or in the same place had a unique strength. Our team spirit, our sense of mutual aid and our camaraderie rival the most tightly knit families. The sense of family is honored in the most difficult times and in the great joys to celebrate. Christmas 2020 was not going to be an exception ;)
This pandemic will not make us deviate from the rule, we will celebrate online this year!
We had an evening in September that turned out to be a real success within the company. Based on these needs that are not only ours, being solicited since the beginning of the pandemic to offer online courses and activities for private groups and organizations, and mastering events whether physical or virtual, we proposed to put our concept at the service of companies that also want to celebrate their people, pandemic or not.
Happy Holidays to you and your team, from ours :)
Ariane
I spoke with several business leaders about this year's corporate Christmas celebrations. Everyone had the same concerns, the same stresses, the same challenges.
Gather but don’t contaminate. Celebrate but don’t be reckless. Recognize but at what cost? Have fun but with what level of risk?
At BBQ Québec this situation is quite unique because in our company everything is subject to celebrations, gatherings. A new employee, a success, a record broken, a promotion, a store opening!
We celebrate the arrival of spring, the launch of a product, a great season in our company, a contest won by the company, the launch of a new project. BBQ is festive, it's in our blood. A summer party in a chalet with employees, a chic gala at Christmas with an awards ceremony, a lively 5 to 7, a BBQ class; the party at our place is in our DNA.
What do you do in such a festive company when you are not allowed to gather, celebrate, laugh out loud for fear of swallowing a microscopic droplet? What do you do when you cannot have a team dinner to meet a new manager, to try a new dry marinade, to enjoy life as our corporate culture suggests to us at every opportunity?
When the pandemic came into our lives, we had already filmed a digital version of our famous BBQ 101 course that more than 23,000 people had the opportunity to experience in person in Quebec. We were then able to present our online version to thousands of people during the summer in order to continue to spread our love of the grill and our passion for BBQ. All our customers wishing to perfect their knowledge, thousands of Quebecers wishing to progress in their cooking techniques and knowledge were able to follow the course in the comfort of their home and it continues even at this time of year.
On the gas or charcoal BBQ, it doesn't matter! The important thing was to enjoy the summer to the fullest. With all these confined days, going outside to cook was a golden opportunity to be resilient in these particular times.
Discover the online course 101
On the eve of the Christmas party season, it was also very complex for us to decide to get together. Even groups of less than 100 people were not easy to place in a room in our research in September. In October, we decided to take the step towards virtual and celebrate at all costs by adapting. Armed with a desire to celebrate no matter the challenges of distance, it is chic each at home that we will live our Christmas BBQ this year and it will not be less festive!
While preparing this celebration with my colleague Lyn, we started thinking about what could make the moment special for our employees, what would make this unique Christmas party, would make us laugh, allow us to applaud, celebrate, party and we realized that our team, remotely or in the same place had a unique strength. Our team spirit, our sense of mutual aid and our camaraderie rival the most tightly knit families. The sense of family is honored in the most difficult times and in the great joys to celebrate. Christmas 2020 was not going to be an exception ;)
This pandemic will not make us deviate from the rule, we will celebrate online this year!
We had an evening in September that turned out to be a real success within the company. Based on these needs that are not only ours, being solicited since the beginning of the pandemic to offer online courses and activities for private groups and organizations, and mastering events whether physical or virtual, we proposed to put our concept at the service of companies that also want to celebrate their people, pandemic or not.
Happy Holidays to you and your team, from ours :)
Ariane
