11: am                    Begin event, sign up, employees get door prize tickets. Tractor wagon rides begin.

11:30                      Horse intro. with flags and national anthem.

1: 00 - 3:00          Clown, set up in paddock club bar room.

1:00 - 4:00            Pontoon boat rides, ride under the water fountain.

1. BOOK EARLY.  No matter where you host your event, it is most important to book early (pay deposit) and get
a good date, build excitement for the event, have time to plan and of course get the word
out and determine who and how many people will attend your picnic.

2. Get the word out. Put up posters & maps, send emails with maps, wear picnic shirts, put invitations in payroll.

3.  Determine attendance. All caters will require a guaranteed number of attendees, just like a wedding.
The biggest mistake you can make as a coordinator is to foul up attendance, either booking for too many
or worse, booking for too few.

4. Buy door & Bingo prizes.   Get your door prizes and bingo prizes bought and behind you at
least a week before the event. Many times vendors that your company uses during the year
will be glad to donate items or gift certificates to your picnic, just ask.

5. Paying for the picnic. Get your picnic approved early and have accounting cut the check
and bring it with you to the event. Overages will be billed to you, but you want to
get as close to actual attendance as possible.
 

 FIRST TOUR FOR PICNIC COMMITTEES: We suggest that the coordinator call and set up a time for the entire picnic committee to come out to Canale Farms and view the facility.  A good time to make this tour is early in the spring or in late fall, this will allow for the committee to go ahead and book their event early and get the date they want for the event.  For private facilities (like Canale Farms) which only host one event per day, it is important to book the event early and not wait and have to settle for a less desirable venue for this important annual event.  It is not unusual for Canale Farms to turn down dozens of companies who wait too late to book their event. The first tour will give everyone on the committee a chance to come up with ideas and suggestions to help make the picnic different and more exciting.  The committee will also have a chance to see what activities will take place and where everything will be set up.

MEETING #2: At the next committee meeting, we suggest that the committee or the coordinator decide who will be invited, the times of the event, what menus will be served and what activities would be appropriate for your company.  Make sure that you cover the issues such as the cost of the event and try to determine a rough estimate of how many will be attending.

ONE MONTH FROM EVENT: About 1 month out from the event, we suggest that the coordinator send notices or invitations to the employees about the event.  If notices are sent earlier, the employees may forget that the event is coming up.  Notify them as to the date and times of the event, who they are allowed to bring, the activities and menus for the day,  and of course enclose a map to Canale Farms. (Maps are provided in our packet).  At this point we mail you our Picnic Planning Form to help you decide on your menu and activities.  We also make your maps from this form so it important to send it back ASAP. Put your picnic posters and maps as soon as you receive them.

HOW DO WE HANDLE ATTENDANCE?: As with all large catered events you will be asked to guarantee a certain number of attendees. How do you know how many people will be attending? This is the number one question that arises before each big event, and after trial and error, over several years, we have come up with a couple of solutions that really work. 

SOLUTION #1: Ask for a small ticket fee of $5 or $10 per employee when they sign up, and the fee is returned at the front desk at the event. This has worked well for us in the past and is a good idea if your company has had poor attendance at past events, especially after many have signed up to come and not showed. Make sure that the employees understand that they will get their ticket fee back when they arrive at Canale Farms, and that the fee will be donated to charity or will help pay for the door prizes if they do not show up.  Have the exact cash to hand out at the front gate to make it easy on the employees.

SOLUTION #2:  At most corporate events prizes or gifts are given away to reward employees, boost moral and show employee appreciation.  It is not enough just to have several nice prizes or large cash awards without announcing what will be given away in advance.  The biggest mistake we think that companies can make in planning for an event is not spending enough on prizes and then not posting what will be given away well in advance of the corporate event.  For example: We have a customer that plays cash bingo every year and several thousand dollars are given away at each event.  All the employees know about the cash prizes, indeed they look forward to the event with great anticipation each year, it has become a tradition at the company.  When you go to work for this company the first thing that you learn about at the water cooler is the company picnic.  Each and every year attendance is phenomenal, no matter what the weather or what activities are planned.  Two years ago we had a tremendous storm just before their event and still attendance was unbelievable. On the other side of the coin, we have several companies that struggle each year with attendance, and they usually end up cutting activities for future events and may even end up not having future events at all because of poor attendance.  The ironic thing is that many of these companies have great prizes but the employees don't know about them and don't expect them.  We recommend that all coordinators consider this:  Large cash prizes and super nice door prizes will ensure full attendance more than any other single factor, regardless of where you have your event or what you plan for the event, BUT THE EMPLOYEES HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT THEM IN ADVANCE.  In addition many companies know that cash prizes are well worth it especially when they consider that they are not wasting money on no shows and poor turnouts, and when they see the great benefits the company gets from having the majority of the company in one special place for a great time together. 

3 WEEKS OUT: Put your posters up in strategic locations around the office and or plant.  Canale Farms provides free posters to all companies and will send them about 3 weeks out from the event.  Call Canale Farms if you need more posters or if the posters don't have all the information on them that you think will help attendance.  Purchase you Bingo prizes and door prizes, and make sure everyone knows about the grand prizes.   Don't forget to POST YOUR PRIZES,  "we are giving away __ dollars as our door prize, you must be present to win".

1 WEEK OUT: Do your best to get the word out and stir up interest in the upcoming event.  It is up to the coordinator and the picnic committee to get people to come to the event and the week before the event is the critical time to make the big push in announcing the event.  Wear your Canale Farms T-shirt to work on the last 2 Fridays to get folks talking about the event, and make sure everyone gets a map to the farm and knows how to get there.  Send emails to every employee that will be coming and put maps to the picnic facility up where all employees will see them.  Notify Canale Farms of your guaranteed number of attendees and fax a copy of your schedule to Canale Farms.  This will help us be fully prepared for the event, with no surprises.

DAY OF THE EVENT: Come early and set up the door prizes, take care of financial end of the event and let Canale Farms take if from there, you can now sit back and enjoy your picnic too!

Since 1994 Canale Farms has hosted hundreds of events of all types, and after trying many different picnic formats and agendas, the following is a schedule that has been very successful and worked very well for several of our large corporate clients.  Please remember this is only an outline, you will want to change the schedule to fit your Company.

Fishing Contest: Canale Farms encourages all groups to have
a fishing contest. It's fun for all ages and we have the best
stocked lake in the Mid-South. We recommend starting your
contest at 10:00 am and ending at noon. This way fishing
participants can still enjoy the full picnic. We can provide
fishing trophies to winners and award the trophies later in
the day. Don't forget to put on mail outs, emails and posters,
to bring your own fishing polls and bait.

Party Planning Service: Canale Farms provides a free party planning service, and we encourage all our customers to please call us if you need any help in making the big event the best ever. We suggest that all coordinators visit Canale Farms to get a feel of how our ranch is, and take a tour of our facility. This will help you get some ideas that maybe we haven't thought of. Canale Farms makes available to all its corporate customers posters and signs of the farm, with pictures of the farm to help get the word out. We also provide maps to the farm to be posted and handed out by the event coordinators. We have had a lot of success when coordinators purchase Canale Farm T-Shirts to wear the weeks prior to the event. This is a great way to spread the word and has really worked well for many of our clients in the past. Canale Farms is committed to doing whatever it takes to make this experience as trouble free and as successful as possible.

For a tour of Canale Farms, please call us today at

465-6690

CANALE FARMS CORPORATE EVENTS
"For the pleasure of your Company"
620 Canale Way
Oakland, TN 38060
465-6690
Fax 465-0083