The Riverview Ballroom at the Jantzen Beach Red Lion in Portland, Oregon was the obvious choice to hold a casino holiday party for a Vancouver, Washington bank on Saturday, December 8, 2012… not only for its proximity to most employees from across the river, but it is the perfect spot for an event featuring a casino, with gaming tables set-up in the adjacent foyer, while in full view from the dining tables and dance floor.
 
The theme was Country/Western and many guests arrived wearing cowboy and cowgirl hats and clothing. For cocktails and dinner, I played a wide variety of holiday favorites, including a few Christmas Country selections from Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley and Lee Ann Womack.
 
After speeches by the bank CEO and President that included acknowledgement of long-time employees, the casino was officially opened. In addition, with the help of Queen Katie from the Clark County Fair Court, we were able to get some early activity on the dance floor with a line dance… she led the ‘Cowboy Boogie’ and the ‘Cha Cha Slide.’
 
As expected, the gaming tables for this casino holiday party and the ‘Rodeo Roper’ were a big draw, but a few people found their way to the dance floor. Throughout the evening, guests had a chance to win prizes and I announced raffle numbers hourly. Giveaways included wine tasting and a whale watching trip.
 
Post Event Satisfaction Survey:

• Event Date: Saturday, December 8, 2012
• Event Type: Company Party
• Event Location: Jantzen Beach Red Lion/Portland, OR
• Event Staff: Rich Ellis
• Quality of Customer Service via Telephone: Excellent
• Quality of Customer Service via Internet: Excellent
• Quality of Customer Service at Event: Excellent
• Friendliness of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Promptness of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Professionalism of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Performance: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Appearance: Excellent
• System Appearance: Excellent
• Sound Quality: Good
• Overall Volume Levels: Good
• Music Selection: Good
• Incorporation of Your Requests: Excellent
• Lighting Effects: Excellent
• Equipment Appearance: Excellent
• Overall Customer Service: Excellent
• Planning Assistance: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Cooperation with Other Vendors: Excellent
• Overall Performance Rating: Excellent
• Would you recommend this service to others? Yes

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Marshall High School in SE Portland closed last year due to budget cuts, so what better place to hold a company holiday party with a high school theme than this vacant building. My wife graduated from Marshall in 1987 and I couldn’t help but picture a young Jill causing all kinds of trouble in the lunchroom 🙂
 
This event was opening night of a near week-long sales conference for about 350 KEEN Footwear employees from all over the world. With most guests in their late 30’s to early 40’s, music from the late 1980’s to early 90’s was appropriate to give this function a high school reunion feel. I played some songs from that time period that haven’t been heard in awhile, including En Vogue’s ‘My Lovin’, Milli Vanilli ‘Blame It On The Rain’ and ‘The Look’ from Roxette. I’m not sure these tracks would succeed on the dance floor, but it’s always fun to dust off some of the older songs to take people back to their youth and the response was very positive.
 
After a cocktail hour in the cafeteria, guests were directed to the auditorium for a company presentation, before returning to the cafeteria for dinner. There wasn’t much time allowed for dancing at this company holiday party, plus everyone had to be up early for Monday’s events, but they were there in spirit and some couldn’t help but move to the beat right where they were standing, while visiting with co-workers and friends.
 

 
Seasons Greetings and welcome to the start of company holiday parties.
 
On Saturday, December 1, 2012, DJ Steve Marker played for a group from OHSU at the Governor Hotel in downtown Portland for the fifth straight year and I hosted corporate karaoke and dancing for a new client from Southeast Portland at the Monarch Hotel in Clackamas, Oregon.
 
Guests were greeted by the company owners at the main entrance while I played uptempo holiday favorites such as, ‘Winter Wonderland’, ‘Let It Snow’ and ‘Sleigh Ride.’ Following dinner, each employee was presented with a gift via a raffle drawing that proved to be very popular with employees (somebody won a chainsaw!), before the Wild Bill’s gaming tables opened for gambling fun.
 
I have noted previously on this blog that casinos at events like this can provide tough competition for the dance floor, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this group ready to do both and the karaoke and dancing had some takers right out of the gate. Plus, it’s tough to resist the catchy hook of ‘Gangham Style’… that song is a monster right now and some people may have left their chips at the table to join in on the action 🙂
 
Guests sang everything from Bon Jovi’s ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ to Vanilla Ice’s ‘Ice Ice Baby’. This corporate karaoke party was supposed to end at Midnight, but everyone was having so much fun, we went extra time. However, the venue had a policy of no music past midnight, so after about 20 minutes, we had to wrap it up. The night ended with nearly everyone singing Skid Row’s ‘I Remember You’, dedicated to a co-worker who passed away last year. It was a moving finish to a great evening.
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