The Holiday Party That Saved Company Culture
How One Boston Tech Company Used Interactive Entertainment to Rebuild After a Brutal Year
Three years ago, I walked into a Boston tech company's holiday party that felt more like a wake than a celebration. The HR director pulled me aside before my performance and said something I'll never forget: "Half these people haven't been in the same room since the layoffs. We need magic, but not the card trick kind."
She was right. After 15 years performing at corporate events across New England, I've learned that sometimes the real magic isn't what happens on stage—it's what happens when you get 150 disconnected employees to genuinely laugh together for the first time in months.
When Traditional Holiday Parties Fall Flat
This particular company had tried everything the previous year. Open bar? Check. Fancy venue overlooking Boston Harbor? Check. Three-course dinner with dietary options that would make a nutritionist weep with joy? Triple check.
Yet their post-event survey told a different story: 73% of employees left early, and the most common feedback was "felt obligatory."
Here's what most companies miss: You can't buy connection with catering.
The problem wasn't the party—it was that nobody was actually participating in it. They were attending it. There's a massive difference, and if you've ever stood awkwardly by the cheese table checking your phone at a company event, you know exactly what I mean.
The Interactive Entertainment Experiment
When they brought me in for 2024's party, we tried something different. Instead of a stage show where everyone watches passively, I designed an experience where the magic happened at individual tables, in small groups, with the CEO holding the same cards as the newest intern.
I watched their head of engineering—a guy who reportedly hadn't smiled in a meeting all year—absolutely lose it when his playing card appeared inside a sealed envelope in his own jacket pocket. But here's the kicker: it wasn't his amazement that mattered. It was his junior developer filming it, posting it to their company Slack, and suddenly having something to talk about besides sprint retrospectives.
Why New England Companies Are Rethinking Corporate Entertainment
After working holiday parties from Portland, Maine to Hartford, Connecticut, I've noticed a shift. Companies are realizing that the old formula—dinner, drinks, and a DJ—creates the same dynamic as their daily Zoom calls: a few people participating while everyone else stays muted.
Interactive entertainment flips this dynamic because it:
Forces participation without feeling forced (nobody's doing trust falls)
Creates shared experiences across hierarchy levels
Generates actual stories people want to tell
Photographs and videos naturally (hello, authentic social proof)
One New Hampshire manufacturing company told me their holiday party photos used to be 90% people holding drinks and looking at their phones. After bringing in interactive entertainment, their photos were full of genuine reactions, laughter, and—this is crucial—people actually interacting with each other.
The Ripple Effect Nobody Expects
Here's what that Boston tech company discovered three months after their party: Their employee engagement scores jumped 18%. Their Glassdoor reviews mentioned the holiday party as a highlight of company culture. They had three boomerang employees (people who'd left and came back) specifically cite the party as evidence the culture had changed.
Was it just the magic show? Of course not. But when you give 150 people a shared experience of genuine surprise and delight, when you break down the invisible walls between departments for even just two hours, something shifts.
The HR director emailed me last month: "We still have people doing the card trick you taught them in the break room. It's become this weird bonding thing."
Making Your Connecticut or Boston Holiday Party Actually Matter
If you're planning a corporate holiday party anywhere in New England this season, ask yourself: Will people remember this in February? Will they tell their spouse about it at dinner? Will it create connections that last beyond the last call at the bar?
Traditional entertainment creates spectators. Interactive entertainment creates participants. And in a world where most of us spend 40+ hours a week staring at screens, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is put a deck of cards in someone's hands and blow their mind in person.
Planning a holiday party in Boston, New Hampshire, Maine, or Connecticut? Let's create an experience your team will actually thank you for. Contact me to discuss how interactive entertainment can transform your next corporate event from obligation to celebration.
