Organising a New Year corporate party starts with the brief for the quote. What to agree with the agency and how to check the estimate and contract before payment.
Organising a New Year corporate party starts with simple basics: city, date, number of guests and budget range. The programme comes later. First, let's go through the sequence: what to prepare before contacting an agency, when to book the party, and how to check the estimate and contract before payment.
Important: “turnkey” has no single definition. One contractor will cover the venue, catering and show programme. Another will take on only coordination on the day of the event. So ask for a written list of work and exclusions before paying a deposit.
What to decide before contacting an agency
For the first conversation with us, four inputs are enough: the objective of the event, the city and dates, the guest composition, and the budget range. We'll clarify everything else together.
The objective of the event determines the program. Are you summing up the year's results, rewarding employees, or giving the team a chance to relax and socialize? The formal part requires a stage, a screen, sound, and a rehearsal. This changes the scope of work and the budget, so fix the objective first.
Describe guests in general terms: employees from one office or visiting colleagues, approximate number, dietary and accessibility requirements. Personal lists and medical details are not needed for an initial estimate.
A short brief looks like this:
- City and date restrictions. Note what is preferred and what cannot be changed.
- Guests: number, composition, dietary and accessibility specifics.
- Budget limit and expenses the company pays directly.
- Who approves the concept and the money. Whether a procurement procedure is required and how long it takes.
A budget “to be confirmed” is a weak starting point. Supplement it: who will determine the amount and when. Otherwise, the agency will be left to build the estimate on guesses. At Aventura, we prefer an honest range without a final amount to a vague wording.
If the format is still open, look at New Year corporate party ideas for your team. The full list of questions is provided in the article what to include in a brief for an agency.
When to Book a New Year Corporate Party?
The guideline is simple: two to three months before the date. From our experience, popular December dates at good venues and with top hosts are booked by the end of October. In November, the choice narrows, and in December only weekdays and morning slots remain.
If the company works through procurement, add the length of your procedure to this timeline: gathering proposals, evaluation, signing. Lawyers are also needed before booking, not after.
Next, create a reverse calendar. Work backwards from the event date: readiness of the program and materials, approval of the budget and contract, selection of the contractor. Some decisions depend on each other. A technical calculation is impossible without understanding the program and the capabilities of the hall. We mark such dependencies in the calendar right away so that you can see the critical path.
In the calendar, assign responsible persons for each decision. At the start, it is more important to name the order of approvals within the company than the desired date of the celebration.
What the Turnkey Service Includes
Comprehensive organization means that we manage an agreed list of tasks, and you get one contract and one point of responsibility. Our basic scope includes:
- approval of the brief and budget, personal manager;
- venue selection, catering and transfer;
- technical support, artists, photo and video.
Compare the contents of the turnkey corporate event organization page with your list of tasks.
Check not the name of the package, but the distribution of tasks. The table below is a way to self-check, not a price list.
The table summarizes the key points of the section: Scope of Work, Comprehensive Organization, Ordering Individual Services. Use it as a quick guide when preparing your event.
| Scope of Work | Comprehensive Organization | Ordering Individual Services |
|---|---|---|
| Contractors | The agency manages an agreed list | The client connects the performers themselves |
| Venue and catering | Included if listed in the budget | May remain under the company's direct contracts |
| Work at the event | Coordination within the specified scope | The scope of each performer's work is specified separately |
Separately, ask for a list of exclusions. Gifts, equipment delivery, and additional working hours are often hidden there. An empty line next to transfer is ambiguous: is the service not needed, not calculated, or paid directly? We answer such questions directly, and you should demand the same from any contractor.
If filming is planned, resolve the issue of participant consent in advance. Discuss the procedure for notifying guests, storage and publication of materials with a lawyer. General requirements for personal data are established by Federal Law No. 152-FZ, a link to it is in the sources.
Agency channel: Aventura's Telegram channel. And to calculate a specific celebration, first gather the inputs from the first section.
Budget: How to State the Amount
State the budget ceiling and what it covers. Split the money into agency services and direct payments: venue rental may be handled under a separate contract, as may the fees of celebrity guests.
If the number of guests is not yet known, ask to be shown which line items will be recalculated after the list is confirmed. Catering usually depends on the number of participants, while the technical crew depends on the tasks and hours worked.
Set priorities. Mark what is essential: for example, an awards ceremony requires a screen and microphones. Then list what the company is prepared to forgo. Discuss decorative extras after the mandatory part has been priced.
Plan the reserve for specific risks: extending the rental, a growing guest list, additional transport. A one-size-fits-all percentage does not explain the expenses. Agree on who authorizes spending the reserve and how you will be informed of a change in the amount.
Taxes and fees are checked by the employee approving the budget. The proposal should clearly show whether they are included in the total.
How to Check an Estimate and Compare Proposals?
Estimates are comparable when the agencies received the same brief. Request an editable spreadsheet. Each row should contain: description, quantity, unit of calculation, rate, amount. The agency fee and included charges should be read separately.
Order of checking:
- Verify the initial data: date, venue, number of guests, duration. Different versions of the brief produce incomparable figures.
- Check the rental and equipment. Are setup, teardown, delivery and specialist time included? Where does the paid time end?
- Clarify catering and the program. Who feeds the crew, are artists' riders and additional hours taken into account?
- Assemble the full total: add the company's direct contracts and the recalculation terms.
A low amount in an incomplete proposal does not mean a smaller holiday budget. Compare the full cost for the company. For a detailed breakdown, see how to put together a corporate event budget.
See our experience in the Aventura portfolio. For example, “Poy-Tantsuy New Year Award” - an online show for the Northwest branch of the Bank of Russia. Ask any agency, including us, to explain which experience applies specifically to your task.
Contract: what to check before payment
Compare the contract with the latest version of the estimate. The appendices should not contain an earlier version that you have already amended in correspondence. Check the names of the parties, the event date, the venue, and the scope of work.
Read the payment procedure and changes to the terms before signing. Article 782 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation regulates the refusal of services: the customer may terminate the contract by paying the contractor for the actual expenses incurred. The general rule does not guarantee a full refund of the prepayment, so fix the refund terms in the contract. The text of the article is in the sources.
Clarify the booking separately. Has the resource been offered, temporarily held, or confirmed? What document confirms this, and what is needed from you to secure the date? A picture of the hall in the presentation does not confirm anything.
Acceptance of the result: what the agency delivers after the event and who accepts the work on the company's side. Have a lawyer conduct the legal assessment of the contract, especially if the document combines different types of obligations.
Coordinating changes
Appoint one person who collects the company's comments and passes the agreed decision to us. This way the contractor works with an approved position, not with contradictory instructions from different departments.
Agree the finished plan with management before the bookings are made. Request the technical rider of the performers in advance: it lists the requirements for the stage, sound, lighting, and dressing rooms.
Record changes in writing. Added a speech by the CEO? Ask for an assessment of the impact on the program and technical aspects. The response contains a cost change or confirmation that the agreed scope covers the task. After the decision, update the master document, mark old versions as outdated.
Before the event, request the working timing and contacts of those responsible. It coordinates the arrival of guests, the official part, service, and preparation. Appoint who makes decisions on site if the customer is busy with a speech.
After the celebration, reconcile the closing documents with the approved scope. If you find a discrepancy, gather the versions of the estimate and the correspondence; this is the basis for a substantive conversation.
If there is little time left until the event
Start by checking available venues and vendors for your date. Tell the agency what can be changed in the order and who approves decisions quickly. The actual preparation timeline is given after checking resources, not before.
Shorten the internal approval path. Gather the requirements of the manager, procurement, and finance into a single brief before asking for a new version of the proposal.
Agree on acceptable substitutions: shifting the date, simplifying the decor, dropping a complex staging. Evaluate each compromise against the event's objective. Removing equipment without which the official part cannot take place just because it's easier to cut is poor economy.
In the proposal, separate confirmed items from those still being checked. For the latter, you need a fallback option and a procedure for its approval. Urgency does not cancel checking the budget, the contract, and the approver's authority. We take on urgent projects, but we honestly say what we can and cannot deliver.
How we work
At Aventura, we start with a brief: we discuss the event's objective, format, and budget range. Then we develop a concept, select a venue and vendors, calculate the budget, and coordinate the event on site. Every project has a dedicated manager and a contract with an agreed budget.
The proposal will show which services are included in your project. The page for organizing a New Year corporate party helps you compare available services with your list of tasks before contacting us.
Before the first conversation, gather the inputs: city, dates, number of guests, budget range, and procurement requirements. If you already have proposals from other contractors, attach them. We will compare the scope with your brief and flag any disputed items. With this list, the conversation will be more substantive.
Frequently asked questions
For the first conversation with us, four inputs are enough: the event's objective, city and dates, guest composition, and budget range. We will clarify everything else together.
The guideline is simple: two to three months before the date. In our experience, popular December dates at good venues and with good hosts are already booked by the end of October. In November, the choice narrows, and in December only weekdays and morning slots remain.
Comprehensive organization means we manage an agreed list of tasks, and you get one contract and a single point of responsibility. Our basic scope includes:
State the budget limit and what it includes. Separate the money into agency services and direct payments: venue rental may be under a separate contract, as may fees for celebrity guests.
Budgets are comparable when agencies have received the same brief. Request an editable spreadsheet. Each line should include: description, quantity, unit of calculation, rate, amount. The agency fee and included charges should be shown separately.
Compare the contract with the latest version of the budget. The appendices should not contain an earlier version that you have already changed in correspondence. Check the names of the parties, the event date, the location, and the list of services.
Sources
- Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Article 782, in ConsultantPlus - refusal of a contract for paid services.
- Federal Law No. 152-FZ "On Personal Data", in ConsultantPlus - consents for photo and video recording of participants.
- Federal Law No. 44-FZ, in ConsultantPlus - procurement for state and municipal companies.
- Federal Law No. 223-FZ, in ConsultantPlus - procurement for certain types of commercial organizations.
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