“Never work with children or animals” is a common saying that people have heard over and over again. But for event planners, it is clearly an impossible thing to do, as creating a safe place for children at such events has become a necessity.
When planning for events, it is wrong to view child care as an afterthought. To give your clients the best service, the children of their attendees should also be a priority.
Beyond just keeping the children engaged in activities that will allow their parents to rest easy and focus on the event they came for, you also need to find ways to get creative and plan exciting games the children can participate in.
With pop-up creches, younger children can engage in activities that are as educational as they are entertaining. And if you have a solid plan in place for children, you will appear more responsible to your clients, which increases their loyalty and admiration for your brand.
In this article, you will learn more about the importance of creating fun places for children at corporate events and conferences, how to keep children safe, as well as other important tips that will help you incorporate child care into your corporate events.
Tips for adding excellent child care services to your events
When planning conferences, conventions, and other corporate events, use the following tips to ensure that children get the best childcare service.
First of all, decide who will run the task of child care at the event
It would be good if you could run the programme yourself. But most of the time, it is better to just outsource it to a highly reputable child care service provider. This is because, with respect to the workload you have as a result of the event planning, you may not have the time to provide childcare on your own.
This decision is very important, so have a good detailed discussion with your team. If you have been providing childcare at events on your own before, this will not be new to you. But be careful to consider the nature of your events.
If you provided childcare at an event that had a small number of attendees, you may not be able to do the same when the number of attendees increases. And events are known to have a higher number of attendees when you announce that childcare will be provided since more working parents will show up.
So take your time, consult with all parties involved, and make this decision before proceeding with anything else.
How many children are you expecting?
If you could get the exact number of children that will be coming to the event, that would be great. But sometimes, it is not easy to know the exact number, so just work with the total number of adults that will be coming.
For example, if the event is for 200 people, just assume that they will all come with their children. This will enable you to plan better and ensure that every child gets adequate attention and resources to play with.
The age range of the children also matters
When making provisions for child care at your events, ensure that you include activities for different ages. Older kids will obviously not want to get involved in things that toddlers would love.
If the event will last for a full day, you need to plan different activities for the children so they do not get bored doing similar things throughout the event.
While younger children would get excited by face painting and basic rhymes, older kids would love more challenging tasks like maths and science games, singing competitions, and making their own magazine.
By age range, group the children between ages two to four, five to eight, nine to twelve, and thirteen and above.
Younger children require more attention, so it is very important to set an age limit from the planning phase. Remember that it would cost you a lot more to handle younger children than older ones.
Include children’s programmes in the overall convention program
While there is nothing wrong with having a separate printed programme for kids, it is ideal to have everything printed in the main event program. This is because when parents are busy attending work meetings, they would like to know where their children are at any given time. It gives them a sense of comfort and makes them feel like their children are safe and sound. So make sure that they can know what is going on at the children’s corner by simply looking into the main printed program.
Children will also find this useful, as the ones that are old enough to read will be able to know where their parents are or what they are doing by simply looking at the printed program.
Adventures and excursions for children at corporate events and conferences
Children love to experience new things. It has so many advantages for their developing minds as well as their social lives. When planning events for kids, try to add exclusions, especially if the event will take a long time or falls on a weekend.
Industrial visits to some of the popular companies around could be very educating and will expose the kids to how some of their favourite things are manufactured.
A visit to the zoo is also a wonderful idea. This will help the kids to understand animals and why they should be treated with care.
Museums and other tourist attractions are great options as well. It is natural for kids to ask a lot of questions, and there are qualified people to answer them in the places you will visit.
So, this is more than just keeping children engaged while their parents focus on conferences. When you practise proper child care at corporate events, you are helping to raise upright children for the betterment of society.
Child care safety measures to take during corporate events
Safety is a core aspect of childcare, and the following steps will help you create a safe place for the children of your event attendees.
First of all, only employ the services of highly trained childcare providers
The importance of this point cannot be overemphasised. So take your time to properly vet the organisation that will handle the children at your event—their safety depends on it.
Those that will be in charge of supervising the kids should have proper first aid and CPR knowledge. No matter how hard you try, some children are just unpredictable and can playfully become self-destructive, so while you take all the necessary measures to ensure their safety, prepare for accidents!
Inspect all play equipment
Since play equipment is usually plentiful, this may sound like a tough task to complete, but it could be the one thing to save a child from injury. So, when planning to set up a pop-up creche, ensure that every single piece of play equipment, no matter the size, is thoroughly checked for wear and tear.
If an object appears to be small enough for a child to swallow, take it away from where the children can see it. Or better still, put it somewhere they will not be able to reach it, even if they can see it.
During excursions, make sure the children are always together at your corporate events and conferences
It is very easy for children to get distracted and wander away from the pack during outdoor activities like adventures and excursions. So take extra precaution in such cases.
Do a head count and let them all have their numbers. Also teach them to look out for one another, as this is the fastest way to know if someone is about to leave the group.
Never attach ropes to playing equipment
It might look interesting to attach ropes to toys so that children can have more fun playing with them, but this is dangerous. If you must allow younger children to play with toys that have ropes, make sure an adult is the one holding them.
As kids play, the rope or cord can easily get wrapped around their cute little necks, so it is always best to use toys without ropes.
Only use safe materials for arts and crafts for children at corporate events and conferences
Arts and crafts are very important for child development, and children of all age groups can participate in them. So as you plan this activity, check that the materials like paints, crayons, markers, etc. are safe for children to use.
The fastest way to identify art materials that are safe for kids is by checking the labels to see if they are non-toxic.
To keep all children safe, avoid paints that contain peanut butter—you never know the child that has a nut allergy.
The benefits of child care at corporate events
Here are some of the benefits that come with having a proper child care centre during corporate events and conferences.
It increases the attendance
As an event planner, you will make more profit when more people attend conferences and corporate events. And for this to happen, childcare is an essential factor to consider.
Working parents find it hard to attend events because they worry about the children they will leave behind at home. And this reduces the number of attendees at any corporate event.
But if you make provisions for proper childcare, your client will encourage all their staff members to attend with their children, and this means more business for you.
It takes away the burden of finding babysitters
For working parents that still try to show up for corporate events, they struggle to find a good babysitter for their wards. But if you make adequate childcare a part of your event management, they won’t have to go through the stress.
Parents can check on their children at any time
When working parents have to hire babysitters to take care of their children, they still worry about the welfare of the kids from the event and could get distracted by these thoughts.
But when children are at the event, in a pop-up creche, parents can always go and check on the kids any time they feel the need to do so.
It increases the time people spend at corporate events and conventions
When working parents can come to events and not worry about their children, they are more likely to stay till the end of the program. This is because they are not hurried back home to check on the kids, as they can always do so at the childcare centre provided at the event.
How to hire the best childcare provider for your corporate events and conferences
It is already enough work for you to plan and manage an event, so you may need to leave the aspect of child care to a trusted organisation. Here are some ways to identify the best one.
Start by checking their online reviews
No matter how nice an advertisement is, nothing can be as trustworthy as the opinion of other parents that have employed the services of a particular child care provider.
So go through the reviews that other parents have given, and if they are good, you can go ahead and work with the childcare provider.
Their caregivers must be qualified
Don’t get involved with any organisation that does not have highly trained personnel. Make sure they have at least the basic certifications that a child care providing company is supposed to have. Also, confirm their licences.
Night and weekend programmes must be available
Even if you don’t have any events planned for the evenings or weekends yet, it is good to partner with a childcare provider that has these options. It shows their seriousness and also makes your clients see that you are someone who can care for children in any circumstance.
Conclusion
High quality childcare can go a long way towards boosting the value of your brand. So do not hesitate to invest the necessary time and financial requirements it will take to give your clients the best child care service at corporate events and conferences.
