How Can Your Company Celebrate the Sochi Olympic Games?

With the Olympic Games coming up in February 2014 in Sochi, Russia, we wanted to discuss how your business will celebrate or utilize the event.

The Olympics is a wondrous event that has been around for centuries. Generations of the human race have grown up watching them. Over time, it has grown to become one of the most watched and greatest events ever planned.

When the Olympic Games are going on, it’s possible for a person’s attention to be completely absorbed. The flair of the opening and closing ceremonies and just the fact that over 200 nations participate in these events makes them exciting.

For businesses, the Olympics can be a good thing and a bad thing, depending on your industry and how you handle things. With the excitement of the Olympics coming up, you might suddenly find your customers distracted and your sales might take a slight nose dive.

However, if you’re smart, you’ll work out a way to mix the fun of the Olympics and your business together. The following are some ideas for incorporating the Olympic Games in your company:

Create an “Olympic Zone” At Work

To curb your employees from taking ‘sick leave’ just to watch the games at home, try to incorporate an “Olympic Zone” at work where you let your employees watch the games at work. By making work fun, you ensure that your employees focus on their work while still being able to enjoy the Olympics.

This also helps to give them something to look forward to during the day at work. You’ll find that a lot of your employees will be more motivated. The “Olympic Zone” can also help to create an environment of excitement, and allow your employees to interact with each other in a friendly manner. Throw in some “Olympic treats” such as snacks and finger food and you’ve got yourself the perfect employee perk.

This also holds true with customers. If you’re a restaurant, bar or store, advertise that you’ll be showing the games and your customers won’t miss a beat while patroning your establishment.

Incorporate the Olympics in a Team Building Exercise

The Olympics are the epitome of showcasing team work. From the 200 nations that are participating in these events, a team of skilled athletes are the chosen ones who get to participate and represent their country or nation. In this manner, you can incorporate a team-building exercise in your office as well. The best way to do that is to be creative and use the Olympics itself as setup.

Divide your employees into teams and hand them projects. Name them according to the countries they want to represent or be creative and let them come up with their own names.

For example: the design team might call themselves “Danish Designers” etc. Once the teams have been setup, give them work assigned tasks that they need to complete. This will create a fun competitive environment. You can also choose to give the winning teams small prizes for their participation. If you get a popular enough response, try incorporating this exercise every four years and host your own Office Olympics.

Incorporate the Olympics in Fundraising Events

One way that you can use the Olympics in fundraising is by supporting and asking others to support your team. Use the “Olympic Zone” in your office to screen the Olympics game and allow your employees to place bets on their favorite team.

But the catch here is that all bets being placed are to be donated. Anyone who wins gets to decide to what the money will be going to but it’ll all be going towards a good cause.

Make sure that you make the good cause known to your employees. To pick the cause to donate the money to, ask your employees by having them vote for it or through a lucky draw game. This way, you’ll be able to have a small fund raiser that your employees will definitely want to participate in.

If you’re a non-profit who wants to make use of the Olympic popularity, try holding one of the games we mention here as a fundraiser.

Using the Olympics as a Money-Making Part of Your Business

Following the fundraising route, you can choose to incorporate the Olympics in the money-making part of your business as well. An easy way to do that can be to have an Olympic screening and include lunch or dinner as well as drinks.

For example: All an employee has to do is to buy a pass to the “Olympic Zone” and allow them to bring one friend or family member. Just make sure that the “Olympic Zone” and the meal you offer are going to be worth the expense.

You can also offer special Olympic packages that offer your services at discounted rates for the duration of the Olympic Games. You can choose to ask your customers to make guesses about who will win what category. The winner can be gifted with a voucher that allows them discounted rates for your services.

While these are just a few ideas, your Olympic celebrations should be tailored to fit your unique company’s needs. Just think big and think out of the box and your business will be able to celebrate the Olympics as smoothly as possible.