Holidays are well and truly over and work is in full swing with a very exciting 2013 looming ahead of us.  If you're anything like me and easing back into the new year with doing some planning, it will help you to know that Functions & Events is here to take the stress out of organising all those off site meetings, workshops and seminars you need to get booked in.  With 17 venues in Auckland and one in Christchurch, Functions & Events has plenty of options to ensure your year is well planned out.  Contact us today to see how we can help you info@functionsandevents.co.nz or call us on 09 573 0078.

Last week the Functions & Events team headed down to the Ronald McDonald House at Grafton Mews to cook dinner for the 60 families staying there.  Our Executive Chef put together a wonderful meal which the families just loved.  We decorated the dining room with balloons for the kids and kept them entertained with Smarty Bag activity packs.  One little girl was so absorbed in her colouring in and sticker booking, that she forgot to eat dinner!

Our team thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it was great to be able to provide a small amount of relief for those who really need it.  Heaven knows the last thing you'd want to do at the end of a long day in hospital with your sick child, is cook dinner!  Talking to the families it was humbling to see that in the face of such stress and emotional turmoil, they still managed to stay positive, smiley and happy.  Makes you truly appreciate what is important in life.

Functions & Events and Barworks are aiming to make this a regular occurance and we're all looking forward to cooking more delicious meals for those who thoroughly deserve some spoiling!

 

Get organised for 2012 Christmas and book your Christmas function at Degree with these great Early Bird offers. 

Book and confirm your Christmas function with a deposit before the end of September to receive:

1.  Two complementary platters to greet your guests with upon arrival (for bookings with a minimum spend of $750).

2.  Complementary arrival cocktails for your group, plus a $50 Degree voucher to use on a returning visit (for bookings with a minimum spend of $2,500).

Enquire now info@functionsandevents.co.nz

Check out the Degree website here

Like the Degree facebook page

It was all go around here last week with plenty of fun functions to keep us occupied.  We attended Chic Moa on Sunday 17 June at The Flying Moa.  The annual event saw more than 130 women get together to receive fashion tips from stylist Christina Jane, make up do's and dont's from Freckles & Blush, and Moa Clothing was there with racks and racks of beautiful, stylish clothes.  The bubbles were flowing, the food was delicious and the service was friendly and fantastic! 

You may not be aware, but as well as amazing venues, Functions & Events also does catering!  Thursday saw us assisting BNZ Partners with celebrating Matariki in style when we catered their 120 person sit down dinner.  The BNZ offices were transformed into a formal dining area, with designer lighting, a beautiful table setting and people ready to bring in the new year.  A good time was had by all with plenty of food and an outstanding performance by the Nga Puna O Waiorea kapa haka group. 

So onwards and upwards for the coming week, who knows what fun things will crop up in the coming days!

Life is busy.  That's pretty much a given for everyone.  And if you're not careful, time can get away on you and before you know it, it's been months since you've seen any of your friends, let alone got everyone together for a good catch up.  You don't need an occasion to get everyone together for a bit of function - just the reason that you're mates and need to hang out.  Some fun ideas for friend catch ups:

A breakfast/brunch, afternoon drinks and nibbles, a sit down dinner in a small private room, cocktail lessons and party in private room/bar, ladies lunch, long lunch - the list goes on!

For more great ideas or to lock your friends in for a Friends Function contact Functions & Events info@functionsandevents.co.nz

You want to make your function one that people will remember.  So why not organise something special for your event.  It could be something way out like a fire dancer or stilt walkers, something fun like a magician, comedian or band or something as simple as speeches and a few awards.  Your guests will appreciate the extra effort and it will give them something to remember your event for.

If you need ideas or help with organising something special, contact us on info@functionsandevents.co.nz for suggestions

We all know our staff are what really sells our products or services.  That's why it is important to invest time and effort to ensure they are trained properly.  Too often a waiter will have to run back to the kitchen to confirm what the daily specials are, or a customer service assistant will um and ah about the qualities or advantages of the product they are trying to sell you.  A well thought out and organised training program can change all of that and boost your sales and reputation.  Here at Functions and Events.co.nz we have an inhouse training manager who is dedicated to running training programs for front and back of house staff.  We have noticed an increase in the levels of enthusiasm of staff once they have completed one of our courses and an increase in sales.  With positive results like this we will definitely be continuing with our training!

I don’t know about everybody else, but I’ve always been a bit nervous attending networking events.  It can be very difficult to walk up to a complete stranger and strike up a conversation; what if they don’t want to talk to you, or worse, what if you get stuck in a conversation you can’t get out of?  Networking is not an innate ability, but a skill that can be learned through practice. 

I realised this last week at an evening networking event at The Zookeeper’s Son in Royal Oak.  I decided this networking event was going to be different.  My plan was to march up and start talking to people then move on once our conversation was exhausted.  And you know what?  It worked!  There were around 30 – 40 local business owners and representatives at the event.  Everyone was interested in drumming up new business for themselves and learning about what’s on offer in their local community.  Many people were visiting The Zookeeper’s Son for the first time, so they discovered a great new local and I saw many of the attendees discussing new business opportunities with their new contacts.  Personally, I got to talk with a range of interesting people and generated some great leads.  I will definitely be giving networking events another go!

HOT TIP – Go into your next networking event with confidence and a positive attitude.  Be ready to promote your business and hear about others.  You may not get measureable business from your first event, but you will increase awareness.  Happy networking!

Happy New Year everybody! The teams at Functions and Events are ready for another big year and have a lot of things in the pipeline.

We are already working on packages for Auckland’s big events coming up such as pre-game hospitality packages for the Bledisloe Cup at Eden Park and the New Zealand v Ireland rugby match, we have function space in the heart of the Viaduct for the Volvo Ocean race allowing those who get in quick enough to book prime location to welcome those for the Auckland stopover not to mention we will also be at convene to showcase the many venues we have throughout Auckland and Christchurch.  It’s going to be an exciting year and with the help of our clients we hope to make it a memorable one.

Handy Tip:  Social Functions – When organizing a function, ask for input or ideas from your guests. You don’t want to be booking a venue that half your staff or colleagues despise or find it hard to organize their transportation to and from. Also, think about the smaller things, do people have enough time to get there after work, does everyone know the dress code and what time do you expect everyone to arrive? As the last thing you want is for the bulk of the food to come out when barely any of the guests have arrived.

What a fantastic year we had last year at Functions and Events!

Rugby World Cup turned out to be a great success for our venues and was great for those corporates that organized their functions from multinationals such as DHL right through overseas agents from England, France and South Africa to name a few. With events such as corporate hosting on the viaduct, pre-game hospitality only a stone’s throw away from Eden Park right down to dining in exclusive dining rooms all over Auckland for those who wanted something a bit more intimate while watching those last teeth clenching knockout matches.

With Christmas queries coming through by the dozen shortly after the final whistle there was no time for the team at Functions and Events to wind down – with all kinds of events such as cocktail parties in The Elephant Wrestlers sun kissed courtyard, social drinks and nibbles in the bustling viaduct, ladies lunch in the new Merchant Bar and Kitchen in Albany right through to intimate sit down dinners for 60 in the stunning Bridgman Room with Valley Rooftop Terrace our clients definitely found themselves spoilt for choice.

BUT IT DOESENT STOP THERE!

With 2012 bringing wonderful and exciting new things the team at Functions and Events are working hard at offering client packages for Bledisloe Cup and other Eden park Events not to mention day time corporate and business meetings in our fully equipped and exclusive function rooms if you’re planning something this year and want to have a stress free time doing it – contact us now and let us cater to your taste, needs and budget!!!

Handy tip for the New Year: When dealing with clients in today’s modern society, too many people are hiding behind their emails while trying to build relationships. Try giving your valued clients a courtesy call to see how things are and if they are happy with the service they are currently receiving– you will be surprised at the new opportunities that will arise. These may be referrals for companies and contacts that are interested in your services through to finding out further details about your client and what processes they make when making decisions which will help you find ways to further apply your goods and services to their company.