Entertainment for a large company summer party should offer more than a single performance.
With 800 guests attending this Glitz & Glamour summer party at the Natural History Museum, the entertainment needed to work across different spaces, appeal to a broad audience and create new moments throughout the evening.
Events by Knight designed a varied programme featuring roaming performers, a live band, DJ, a saxophonist and interactive games. Each experience was selected and positioned to support a different stage of the guest journey.
Designing Entertainment Around the Event
The celebration took place across the Darwin Garden and Hintze Hall, with each space offering a very different atmosphere.
The Darwin Garden provided a relaxed outdoor setting for the arrival reception. Hintze Hall became the main celebration space, featuring live performances, dancing and interactive games.
Rather than using the same style of entertainment throughout, Kwame Knight created a programme that developed alongside the event:
- A roaming magician in the Darwin Garden
- An acoustic roaming band during the reception
- A live party band in Hintze Hall
- DJ
- A live saxophonist
- A bespoke Glitz Grabber
- Air hockey
- Four-player Light Chaos
This gave guests a range of experiences while allowing the energy to build naturally throughout the evening.
Roaming Entertainment in the Darwin Garden
The opening reception needed to feel relaxed and sociable while giving guests something engaging to experience as they arrived.
The Darwin Garden had restrictions around amplified music, making roaming entertainment a natural choice. The performers could move around the space without requiring a stage, sound system or fixed performance area. This allowed guests to enjoy the entertainment while continuing to socialise, eat and drink comfortably.
The Roaming Magician
A roaming magician performed close-up magic amongst guests during the reception.
Instead of asking everyone to watch one formal show, the magician approached smaller groups and created short, interactive moments throughout the garden. This style of performance worked particularly well because it:
- Brought the entertainment directly to guests
- Encouraged conversation between colleagues
- Created spontaneous reactions
- Required no stage or amplified sound
- Worked around the natural flow of the reception
- Engaged different groups throughout the space
Close-up magic also provided an easy way for colleagues to interact, including people who may not usually work together.
The Acoustic Roaming Band
Alongside the magician, an acoustic roaming band brought live music directly into the reception.
The musicians moved between different groups rather than performing from one fixed location. This allowed the entertainment to reach more people while creating spontaneous moments of singing and interaction.
Because the band was mobile and acoustic, it worked naturally within the Darwin Garden and respected the restrictions around amplified sound. Together, the magician and roaming band created a lively opening atmosphere without making the reception feel overly structured.
Moving the Entertainment Into Hintze Hall
When guests transitioned into Hintze Hall, the entertainment changed in both scale and energy.
The relaxed roaming experiences were replaced by full technical production, stage-based live music, DJ entertainment and interactive gaming. This change was intentional. Guests immediately felt that they had entered the main celebration rather than simply moved into another area for more of the same.
Professional staging, sound and lighting, explored in our blog on transforming Hintze Hall with event lighting and technical production, supported the performances and transformed Hintze Hall into a large-scale party environment.
Live-Band Entertainment
A live band delivered the first major stage performance inside Hintze Hall.
The band introduced a new level of energy, attracting guests towards the dance floor and establishing the celebratory atmosphere for the main part of the evening.
Live music works particularly well at a company summer party because of the connection between the performers and the audience. Strong vocals, live musicianship and visual performance create an immediate focal point within a large room. The performance followed the formal welcome, allowing the event to move quickly from speeches into entertainment without losing momentum.
DJ and Live Saxophonist
The DJ continued the celebration following the live-band performance.
Rather than relying on a fixed playlist, he could read the room, respond to the guests and adapt the music as the atmosphere developed. The DJ set offered the flexibility to bring together different genres and generations, which is particularly important for a company audience of 800 people.
A live saxophonist performed alongside the DJ, adding the energy and visual impact of a live musician to expertly mixed tracks. The DJ and saxophone combination provided:
- The versatility of a professional DJ
- The energy of live musical performance
- A broad range of music
- Direct interaction with guests
- A natural progression from the live band
- A strong late-night party atmosphere
The saxophonist could also move beyond the performance area and engage directly with guests, making the entertainment feel more immediate and interactive.
Maintaining the Flow Between Performances
Moving between a live band, DJ and saxophonist requires careful technical and running-order management.
Events by Knight coordinated the artists and performance timings, while the AV team managed the sound, staging, microphones, artist monitoring and technical transitions.
The aim was to avoid unnecessary gaps that could interrupt the atmosphere or cause guests to leave the dance floor. By planning the entertainment as one continuous programme, each act built upon the energy created by the previous performance.
Entertainment Beyond the Dance Floor
Not every guest wants to spend the entire evening dancing.
For a company summer party of this size, it was important to provide additional experiences that encouraged participation and interaction away from the main stage.
A selection of fast-paced games gave colleagues another way to enjoy the event, compete with one another and become involved in the Glitz & Glamour theme. The games included:
- The bespoke Glitz Grabber
- Air hockey
- Four-player Light Chaos
These experiences broadened the appeal of the entertainment and created activity across more of the venue.
Transforming the Cash Grabber Into the Glitz Grabber
The traditional cash-grabber experience was reimagined specifically for the celebration as the Glitz Grabber.
Guests entered the machine and attempted to catch items as they moved around them, creating a fast, energetic and entertaining challenge. Renaming and styling the experience around the theme turned a familiar game into something that felt specific to the event. The Glitz Grabber provided:
- An interactive themed experience
- A competitive challenge
- Strong visual appeal
- Entertainment for participants and spectators
- Opportunities for photographs and videos
- An engaging alternative to the dance floor
The experience demonstrated how an existing game can be adapted creatively to support a company event's identity.
Air Hockey
Air hockey offered a familiar game that guests could understand and enjoy immediately.
It required little explanation, making it easy for colleagues to challenge one another and participate throughout the evening. The fast gameplay created friendly competition while giving guests a more relaxed alternative to dancing.
Air hockey worked particularly well as part of the wider games selection because it appealed to different age groups, required only two players and encouraged other guests to watch while waiting for their turn.
Four-Player Light Chaos
Four-player Light Chaos introduced a fast-paced group challenge based on speed and reactions.
Guests competed to hit their illuminated buttons as quickly as possible, creating an experience that was simple to understand but highly competitive. The four-player format made it especially effective for a company summer party because several colleagues could participate at the same time. It helped to:
- Encourage group participation
- Create friendly competition
- Generate excitement amongst spectators
- Support interaction between colleagues
- Provide quick rounds with regular player turnover
- Add colour and movement to the games area
Because each game was relatively short, a large number of guests could participate throughout the evening.
Positioning the Games
The location of interactive entertainment can significantly affect participation.
If games are hidden in a separate room, guests may not discover them. If they are positioned too close to the dance floor, they can create congestion or compete with the main entertainment.
The games were incorporated into the wider event layout so they remained visible and accessible while having enough space to operate safely. Their positioning considered:
- Guest movement
- Queue and spectator space
- Distance from the stage and dance floor
- Access to bars and social areas
- Power and technical requirements
- Safe operation
- Visibility throughout the venue
This allowed the gaming experiences to feel connected to the celebration rather than like a separate activity area.
Creating Something for Every Guest
A varied entertainment programme gives guests the freedom to shape their own experience.
At different points throughout the evening, guests could:
- Watch close-up magic
- Interact with the roaming band
- Enjoy a live stage performance
- Dance to the DJ
- Experience a live saxophonist
- Compete in the Glitz Grabber
- Challenge colleagues at air hockey
- Take part in four-player Light Chaos
- Socialise within the furnished lounge areas
This variety was particularly important for an audience of 800 people, where preferences and levels of participation naturally differed.
Entertainment as Part of the Guest Journey
Every performer and game was selected with a clear purpose.
The roaming entertainment suited the relaxed arrival reception. The live band marked the transition into the main party. The DJ and the saxophonist developed the dance-floor energy, while the games created alternative ways for guests to participate.
This prevented the entertainment from feeling like a collection of unrelated bookings. Kwame Knight designed the complete programme around the venue, audience, theme and running order, ensuring every experience contributed to the wider celebration.
The Result
The entertainment developed from relaxed roaming performances in the Darwin Garden into a high-energy programme of live music, DJ entertainment and interactive gaming in Hintze Hall.
The roaming magician and acoustic band created spontaneous moments during the reception. The live band, DJ and saxophonist brought guests onto the dance floor, while the Glitz Grabber, air hockey and four-player Light Chaos encouraged friendly competition elsewhere in the venue.
By offering several different ways to participate, Events by Knight created an entertainment experience that engaged guests throughout the company summer party.
Read the full Mishcon de Reya Natural History Museum case study.
