PULTEVENT
Work Christmas do ideas: a running order and 8 things to put on the screen
The email came from a woman in HR at a logistics firm near Warrington. Budget agreed, hotel booked, a three-course dinner, a DJ until one. Her question was the one I get every October: "What do we actually do between the pudding and the dancing?" Last year, she wrote, there was a speech, then a long silence, then the DJ played to an empty floor for forty minutes while people queued at the bar.
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Most work Christmas dos in Britain have the same bones: arrival drinks, a sit-down dinner, a word from the boss, a disco. The bones are fine. What goes wrong is the joins, the dead ten minutes after the speech, the half hour where tables sit in their departmental islands. A good do is mostly about filling those joins with something the whole room can do at once.
Here is the running order I use, and what goes on the screen at each point. I run it all from PULTEVENT: a browser tab on my laptop drives the projector, and the staff play along on their own phones after pointing the camera at a QR code. Nothing gets installed. Their phones do need a signal or the hotel Wi-Fi, which is the first thing I check on arrival.
8 pieces of a work Christmas do, in the order I'd run them
1 The welcome screen
As people come in with their fizz, the projector shows the company name, the date and a slow slideshow of photos from the year: the summer barbecue, the new office, the day the server room flooded.
How to run it. Ask each department to send five photos by the end of November. Add a caption with the date and let it loop.
It gives people something to point at and talk about while they find their table.
2 Countdown to dinner
A break screen with a clock counting down to the starters, so nobody wanders to the smoking area just as the plates arrive.
How to run it. Agree the times with the banqueting manager beforehand and set each block in the timing section.
The kitchen likes you, and a kitchen that likes you serves hot food.
3 The year in slides
The MD's five-minute review of the year, played as a slide file straight from the host console.
How to run it. Get the file by the Wednesday and click through it once on the laptop. Fonts do strange things.
Speeches go shorter when there is a deck to hold to, and nobody has to fiddle with cables in front of the room.
4 The department quiz
Twelve questions, half about the company and half about Christmas. Each department plays as a team, answering from their phones, with a running scoreboard on the screen.
How to run it. Put one question in about each department. The warehouse will cheer loudest for theirs.
It breaks down the islands. People start shouting across tables, which is the whole point.
5 Staff awards, voted live
Best tea-maker. Most likely to reply-all. The person who kept everyone going in March. Staff vote on their phones and the bars grow on the projector.
How to run it. Mix four silly categories with two sincere ones. Close each vote, then call the winner up for a handshake and a cheap trophy.
The sincere ones are the part people remember in January.
6 Drift Arena
A 3D car arena on the big screen. Up to twelve people steer a car each with their phone. Heats by department, a final for the fastest.
How to run it. Pick drivers from each table and let the rest of the table coach them, loudly.
Watching the finance director spin out on the first bend is a leveller.
7 The raffle
Everyone scans once to enter, and the draw runs on the screen with the names spinning past. The hamper, the extra day's leave, the bottle the MD donated.
How to run it. Keep the extra day of leave to last. Trust me on this.
It holds the room in their seats for one more block, so the DJ starts to a full hall.
8 Closing credits
Film-style credits roll up the screen at the end of the night: the organising committee, the awards winners, the hotel staff, the DJ.
How to run it. Type the names in the afternoon and trigger them as the lights come up.
The committee spent six weeks on this. Seeing their names on the big screen means more to them than you would think.
A timed running order
Break screens and countdowns keep the kitchen, the DJ and the MD on the same clock.
Awards voted in the room
Staff vote from their phones. The results go up live, no counting ballots in the toilets.
Departments as teams
Finance against the warehouse on a scoreboard, with a proper podium at the end.
Slides from the same laptop
The boss's year-in-review deck plays from the console. No second laptop, no cable swap.
The running order, minute by minute
7.00 arrival, welcome screen looping. 7.30 seated. 7.40 starters. 8.15 mains. 8.50 the MD's slides, five minutes and no more. 9.00 department quiz. 9.20 pudding and the awards. 9.45 Drift Arena. 10.05 raffle. 10.15 the DJ. 12.55 last song and credits.
These times will slip. They always do. The point of writing them into the console is that you see the slip early and can drop a game rather than push the DJ back.
Who runs it
You do not need a professional host for this. You need one person at the laptop who is not drinking much until ten, and a second person with a microphone who is happy to be silly. Often that is a team leader who does the office quiz on Fridays. The console is built so one person can run it without a script open in another window, though you can keep your notes in the console if you like.
Awards that do not go sour
Staff awards are where a do can turn. A category like 'most likely to be late' is fine for someone who laughs about it and painful for someone on a final warning. Run the list past a manager. Anonymous phone votes help, since nobody sees who voted for whom.
"Can we do one for worst parker?"
"Only if the MD is nominated."
Hotels, Wi-Fi and the dreaded projector
Ask the venue three things when you book: is there a projector or screen with HDMI, is there a table for the laptop near a socket, and will the Wi-Fi hold a hundred phones. Get a named person for the technical side. On the night, turn up an hour early and run a test game on your own phone from the back of the room.
If the Wi-Fi is weak, people can switch to mobile data. If there is no connection at all, the phone games will not work, though the welcome screen, slides, timing and credits run from the laptop regardless.
For offices with people abroad
Mixed teams are common now, with a Polish colleague here and a Portuguese one there. Each guest sees the phone side of the games in their own phone's language, which saves you translating instructions. The host console itself runs in English.
Before you commit
Sign up for the free 3-day demo, no bank card involved, and build the whole evening in one sitting: welcome photos, the times, the quiz, the award categories. Run it past the committee on a meeting-room screen. If it earns its place, you pay once for a licence and never again; there is no monthly fee. Pricing lives at pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to plan a work Christmas do with a screen
- 1
In October, agree the times with the venue and the DJ.
- 2
In November, collect photos from each department and the award categories.
- 3
Build the welcome screen, timings, quiz and votes in the console.
- 4
Get the MD's slides a few days early and test them.
- 5
On the day, arrive an hour early, connect to the projector and check the Wi-Fi.
- 6
Run the evening off the timing screen and finish on the credits.
FAQ
How long should the games block be?
Can people vote without being seen?
What if some staff refuse to use their phones?
Will it clash with the DJ's equipment?
Can remote staff watch?
Is there a subscription?
Do we need someone technical?
See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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