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Mishcon de Reya has apologised to staff after the company it hired to run its annual party delivered an event so “horrendous” guests have dubbed it “the Fyre Festival of legal parties” and the “party from hell”.
The adventure began when Mishcon staff were led from the firm’s London office to the surprise venue, which turned out to be a former Odeon cinema complex on Shaftesbury Avenue.
An events company owned by the founder of Secret Cinema organised the party, but staff said it started going wrong before they even got through the door.
Guests were “queuing for hours” and tempers flared as venue staff allegedly told complaining Mishcon employees, “We only earn minimum wage and it’s nothing compared to you”.
“There was even a scrap between a partner and one of the guys working in the cloakroom”, said a source.
Things didn’t improve inside, where hungry guests discovered there was no food. Which was just as well, because there were no loos either, said sources.
Mishcon staff were split into groups and led through five “experiences”, although sources said most people only got to see two or three before the organisers gave up.
One of the experiences was a “bizarre” room featuring former Newsnight journalist Emily Maitlis “doing a strategy Q&A”.
The format saw Mishcon partners answering softball questions about strategy and vision “which frankly I don’t think anyone really cared about at all”, said an audience member. “It wasn’t the best received”, agreed another source.
“We suffered through this for about an hour even though the interview section was only 10 minutes long”, said an attendee.
Other experiences included watching colleagues play Win, Lose or Draw, and listening to a “very average jazz band”, punctuated by hour-long waits and pre-recorded talks about the firm’s “Vision 2030” strategy.
“I was just watching the door to see when we would be let out”, said a source, “Which finally happened at 8pm when we were allowed to ‘free roam’ the venue”.
By that time, food “finally started being sent out”, but mains were “bowls no bigger than the palm of your hand” and panicking staff were “constantly running out of everything”.
A lack of cloakroom space meant guests had to wear their rucksacks, and overheating and overcrowding resulted in several people tripping over or passing out, said sources. All while a DJ played “the same techno loop on repeat”.
“Due to the unbearable conditions there was a count of at least three people who fainted or fell over”, and an ambulance “had to be called for one poor individual”, said a source.
The event, described by attendees as “the Fyre Festival of legal parties” and “a poorly-organised fever dream”, fell so flat that Mishcon’s Chief Brand Officer sent a firmwide email apologising for the debacle the next day.
Sources said he was not to blame and described him as a “total legend” who was “having to carry the can… for other incompetents”.
“Last night we tried to do something a bit different”, he wrote. “Our intention was to give everyone some insight into our new strategy as well as having a Mishcon party.”
“Despite many months of planning and incredibly hard work from my team, things didn’t go to plan at all. We were let down so badly by the company behind the event.”
“We are sorry.”
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/mishcon-de-reya-apologises-staff-party-hell
