CORPORATE RETREAT PLANNING GUIDE PART 2: HIGH LEVEL PRE-PLANNING

Did your company just reach an important goal or milestone that demands a celebration? Would you like to reward your team for working hard? Could your employees benefit from more connections amongst their co-workers and different branches?

It sounds like your team could benefit from a retreat! Corporate retreats are an effective way to provide relaxation and recreation for your team members, while also strengthening bonds and improving teamwork skills. However, the planning process for a retreat can be overwhelming, which is why we’ve developed this series of blog posts to help share insight into the process.

Pre-Planning, also known as the time to choose your DREAM LOCATION:

Planning early will save you money and make your retreat run smoothly, helping you avoid stressful situations in the future. Following these six points will shape your retreat into the perfect getaway your team needs. 

1. Goals:

   1. Before setting any concrete plans, or even deciding on a destination or activities for your retreat, consider the goals you want to achieve.

      1. What is your ultimate objective? Build trust, have employees meet, learn a specific skill, design a product, rejuvenate, celebrate? There are so many reason people choose to gather their team for a retreat/offsite.

      2. Identify the work to play, to relaxation ratio you want to have during your retreat

      3. Brainstorm the type of activities, workshops, lectures , etc you plan on offering. Think about these activities in relation to your goals, and how they can help your team grow.

      4. Envision the types of connections you want your team to create while on the retreat

2. Dates:

   1. Send out a survey far in advance to identify an ideal time for your entire team. There are a lot of factors to consider like children’s holidays, how leaving within a sales cycle might affect the company, weather, competing dates for important conferences, etc.

3. Budget:

   1. The budget will dictate many factors, including what destinations you can go to and what type of lodging you can afford. If flights, international or domestic, are out of your budget, do not give up on a retreat! A retreat within your city or a bus ride away can be just as fun. For reference, most 5 day retreats will start at $3,000 per person

4. Location:

   1. Keep your goals and budget in mind as you narrow in on the location of the retreat. Knowing your ideal dates is important for this step because you will want to choose a location with good weather during your preferred time. City setting or an outdoorsy setting?

5. Itinerary:

   1. As your plan begins to come together, create a basic itinerary for your retreat. Share this with your team as far in advance as possible, so everyone knows what to expect, and can begin making preparations. 

6. Sending out RFPs:

   1. Our team has spent years refining how we draft and structure our RFP’s (Request for proposal). This is one of the most critical documents you’ll work with and your first opportunity to engage venues in a competition to win your business. We will expand on the art of the Venue RFP on our next Blog.