An office opening is a small event with a lot of small parts, most of which are ordered from different suppliers in the same fortnight. This is the checklist we work from.
Six weeks out
- Confirm the date. Check it against the renovation handover, not the lease start. Openings get moved because the contractor is still on site.
- Decide the format. Ribbon-cutting only, ribbon-cutting plus refreshments, or a full reception with speeches.
- Guest list. Staff, clients, partners, landlord, and anyone whose absence would be noticed.
- Guest of honour, if there is one — their diary sets your date more than yours does.
- Lion dance, if you are having one. Auspicious dates book out, and the troupe needs to see the space for access and ceiling height.
Three to four weeks out
- Invitations sent. Digital is fine; include the unit number, the nearest MRT and parking, because a new address is genuinely hard to find.
- Catering ordered. Standing reception food, not a seated menu. Nobody sits at an office opening.
- Flowers. Opening stands from partners will arrive unannounced — decide now where they go, or they will block your entrance.
- Signage and backdrop. A branded backdrop for photographs, directional signage from the lift lobby, and a welcome sign at the door.
- Ceremony items. Ribbon, scissors on a tray, gloves, plaque if you are unveiling one, and the sand-filled urn if there is an incense element.
- Photographer booked. Two hours is usually enough. Brief them on the group shot and the ribbon moment specifically.
One to two weeks out
- Run-sheet written, even for a forty-minute event. Arrival, welcome, speech, ribbon, toast, mingling, close.
- Speech order confirmed and everyone told how long they have. Two minutes each; it always runs to five.
- Building management notified. Lift access, loading bay booking, guest registration at the lobby, and whether they allow a lion dance in the common area — many do not.
- Gifts prepared. Door gifts for guests, and a gift for the guest of honour.
- Staff briefed. Who greets, who takes coats, who guides people to the ceremony spot.
The ceremony order
- Guests arrive, refreshments circulating
- MC welcome, brief and warm
- Host company speech
- Guest of honour remarks, if any
- Lion dance, if included — this is the loudest part, so it sits before the toast, not after
- Ribbon cutting, with the photographer positioned beforehand
- Toast
- Office tour, or open mingling
The detail most often missedWhere the opening flower stands go. Six of them arriving at a small unit with no plan turns your entrance into an obstacle course. Decide the wall before the day.
On the day
- Someone at the lift lobby from thirty minutes before the stated time
- Backdrop up and lit before the first guest arrives
- Ribbon tied at the right height for the shortest person cutting it
- Spare scissors, because the ceremonial pair are usually blunt
- A quiet room or corner for the guest of honour to wait in
- Bins, and someone emptying them
One supplier or six
Most companies order the flowers from one place, the catering from another, the backdrop from a printer, the lion dance from a troupe and the photographer from a friend of a colleague. It works, and it costs a fortnight of someone’s attention. We supply all of it — catering, flowers, signage, ceremony items, lion dance, photography and on-site coordination — on one quotation and one invoice.
