Need manly themes and ideas for an industrial real estate broker event.

January 19, 2018 10:45 AM

Hi All, I work in industrial real estate: we basically build and lease warehouses, distribution centers, and the like, but I am on the marketing side. I'm looking for really fun, creative ideas for a broker event we are planning to host this March. The purpose of the event will be to promote a large warehouse / distribution center we have for lease that is currently vacant. Audience-wise, the typical industrial real estate broker is - you guessed it - male, so we typically go with more manly type themes, which can be really fun!

In the past, we've done a "Fishing" theme event that went well. We brought in a large fishing pond, stocked fish in it, handed out prizes for catches, provided fly fishing instructors and big give-aways, like a deep-sea fishing trip for four. We also had a gourmet southern buffet and menu we custom-designed, complete with all of the netting and fishing decor. It was really fun to add in the details for that event - like doing a Whiskey chocolate mousse with oreo crumbs on top and a little gummy worm in a little galvanized steel pail labeled "Bait." Other themes I've seen done that went over well: Oktoberfest - with our very own brand-labeled beer and hostesses dressed up like "Olga" in braids and suspenders handing them out.

Since we are in industrial real estate, I would personally love to have a "Truck Stop" themed party with big rigs we can drive around the property (like the Georgia-Florida Line video "This is how we roll.") Another idea we've tossed around is renting exotic cars to drive around the property and into the warehouse to tour (instead of walking).

Any fun manly-kinda themed ideas that would appeal to the industrial real estate broker community would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

posted by LPTeb to Society & Culture (12 answers total)

Hi, event planner here. I can see you’ve put some thought into pleasing your target audience, which is good. As a reminder, I’m guessing there’s a good chance not 100% of your delegates are straight and male, so I would use caution on details like sexy barmaids, etc. You don’t want to alienate any women or non-sexist men attending, who I’m sure probably wouldn’t say anything but still... I’ve heard that specific feedback before at other people’s events. Just a thought.

You could go all out on a beachy tropical or Australian theme - sand, beers, bbq.
posted by Concordia at 11:03 AM on January 19, 2018 [37 favorites]

Big open space ... maybe demonstrate how big it really is with a HUGE go-cart race track?

Or ... maybe a forklift obstacle course? Pick this up, move it there, navigate some cones. You're all in the business of selling space for forklifts to move about, so maybe everyone would like an opportunity to drive one?
posted by notyou at 11:10 AM on January 19, 2018 [6 favorites]

Apocalyptic minigolf. It's attractive enough for the fragile male ego, but hopefully not inherently offputting to women. (At least, there were plenty of women around when I went.)
posted by foxfirefey at 11:27 AM on January 19, 2018 [3 favorites]

Drone race!
posted by Omnomnom at 11:41 AM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

Western/cowboy theme? Just stay away from racist cowboy vs indians or sexy cowgirls. But you could have a country band, hay bales, etc.
posted by gingerbeer at 12:55 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Some of the vacant warehouses around here are being used for ax throwing clubs. It's a lot of fun, and surprisingly accessible because baseline humans are terrible at throwing axes.

If you are worried about liability, start with hatchets.
posted by LegallyBread at 1:04 PM on January 19, 2018 [3 favorites]

MadMax theme with fire! Not sure about where it’s being hosted, but flame throwers in a post apocalyptic setting would be fun.
posted by Vaike at 1:14 PM on January 19, 2018

Western theme = life-sized Lincoln Logs.
posted by teremala at 2:11 PM on January 19, 2018

EVeryone is fascinated by tiny homes these days. Could you partner with a tiny home manufacturer in your area and have several of them set up? Add a barbeque theme for the food and I would attend for sure!
posted by raisingsand at 8:28 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

You are selling space, so um, space? The final frontier? [I don't think this is 'manly' but it would appeal to traditional manly men]

You can have a bar set up like the classic alien bar with servers dressed as aliens (male and female, non-sexy variety, as per Concordia's comment above). You can make up themed food and drinks and have planets and stars hung from the ceiling. Maybe some space-themed VR games? Some kind of astronaut anti-gravity ride? Photo green screen of you on the moon!
posted by girlpublisher at 11:17 AM on January 20, 2018

Response by poster: These are great responses guys - keep them comming! @Omnomnom, I've heard of Drone Races - have you ever seen this in action? Are they flying inside/outside around obstacles? What's the setup?
posted by LPTeb at 11:06 AM on January 22, 2018

Sorry, I just know that a coworker at the PR agency organised one of these for a client+media event in a warehouse. By all accounts it was a huge success.
I‘ll see what I can find out.
posted by Omnomnom at 2:10 PM on January 23, 2018