Corporate hospitality events can be very useful to your business in a variety of ways. Whether you want to celebrate your partnership with loyal long-term clients or get to know new ones, enjoying yourselves together at a hospitality event will work wonders for your business relationships.

But with so many kinds of corporate hospitality events to choose from, how do you decide where to go and what to do? We take a look at some of the most popular corporate hospitality events to help you make your decision.

1. Sports

From rugby to football; from golf to the Olympics, corporate hospitality and sports go hand in hand. In fact, according to Forbes, sports corporate hospitality has become a huge part of the industry, contributing a huge amount to its overall revenue. It seems every sport sets tickets aside for corporate hospitality, and many even offer special corporate packages.

Fun, exciting and, if you do it right, classy, sports corporate hospitality is the number one choice for many businesses, and it might score points for you too.

Reasons to choose it: Going to sports games is the national pastime, so you know tickets to a sporting event will go down a treat with nearly everyone. If you are worried that conversation may not flow easily with clients, the match can act as a brilliant social lubricant before, during and after it takes place.

How to organise it: Sports corporate hospitality is normally booked in packages. These packages can be organised by events companies, venues or even clubs and teams themselves, and they will all vary in what they offer.

The Twickenham rugby hospitality package from Smart Group, for example, gives hosts and their clients dinner at an exclusive clubhouse venue, matchday tickets and a visit from former England captain Martin Johnson. Liverpool FC offers several hospitality packages to suit different budgets or preferences, ranging from an executive box to several exclusive lounges.

Choose the package that most appeals to you and your clients, based on their tastes and sports preferences.

2. Music

Another exhilarating audience-based experience, taking clients to live music events can work wonders for your relationship. Though a smaller part of the industry’s revenue than it is in sports, music hospitality is still a big breadwinner.

Reasons to choose it: Music, like sports, is near-universal—if you can find an artist you all agree on, that is. Once again, the spectacle of the event is a fountain of conversational topics, and your clients will be enjoying themselves regardless of how well they know you personally.

How to organise it: Like sports events, corporate music events are usually booked in packages. These packages depend entirely on what the artist and venue is willing to offer. Currently on Live Nation’s corporate and hospitality tickets page, Ariana Grande’s VIP package would give you and your clients backstage access, exclusively designed gift bags and a photo op with the singer. Phil Collins’ VIP package doesn’t include a photo op, but it does allow your party to sit in on the 80s icon’s soundcheck.

3. Formal dinner

A more traditional option, formal dinners give you the chance to maximise conversation with your clients, thus opening up the chance to truly discuss things, business-related or otherwise. These types of events should be reserved for occasions about which you feel confident that you’ll need little to break the ice with your guests, because conversation is likely to be the only source of entertainment.

Reasons to choose it: Formal dinners are great for clients who prefer a calm setting to a potentially raucous crowd environment. They are particularly good if you want to project a classy and sophisticated image for your brand.

How to organise it: Unlike the options so far, formal corporate dinners are usually organised directly with a restaurant over the phone, as opposed to being bought in packages. But this is just as simple as the others, if not more so.