Planning a corporate retreat can be a lot of fun.
But unfortunately, it can also be a lot of work.
Of course, it depends on the size of your team, and on the scope of the retreat.
But even with a smaller group of people, planning to take a company-wide trip can be complicated.
There’s location, lodging, transportation, an activity schedule, meals, and also business meetings to schedule and manage!
Plus, you’ll want to combine business with a healthy dose of leisure while you’re at it.
So in this post, you’re going to learn 5 important steps that you can take to help you start planning a successful, fun, and impactful corporate retreat today.
Hopefully, this post will inspire you to get started right now, and help you to create the kind of retreat that’ll make your company proud.
Let’s dive into it.
1. Decide On A Theme
Choosing a theme for your corporate retreat is really the first step.
Are you going to choose a theme based on a new expansion? On a new policy? On a new program or system that you want to bring everyone up to speed on?
Or, are you going to choose some kind of character trait or attribute (like integrity, personal growth, self care, etc.) to base it on?
Once you choose a theme, you’ll be much better equipped to decide on a destination that’ll suit the needs of this particular event.
2. Choose A Location
Choosing a location will require you to think about several different variables.
For example, you’ll want to consider:
- How far your team is willing to travel
- What your lodging budget is
- What types of amenities you’ll need
- What type of space will work best for your retreat activities
- What types of activities you’ll need to be able to find nearby (golf courses, clubs, bars, restaurants, horseback riding ranches, etc.)
If you’re not sure about a location, consider just pulling up a map of the area you’d like to visit, and perusing some of the larger cities or towns in that region.
When you see one that feels like it might be a good fit, look it up.
This is an unorthodox method for choosing a location—but sometimes, this can yield unexpectedly beneficial results.
You can also do a simple internet search to help you decide.
3. Delegate Some Of The Responsibilities
There’ll be a lot to do as you plan for the retreat and take action to make it happen.
Therefore, it may be in your best interest to delegate at least a few of the responsibilities.
For example:
You may need a volunteer to help lead the activities, a volunteer to find great lodging, a volunteer to plan meals, etc.
4. Make A Plan For Activities
Planning for activities is one of the funnest parts of planning a corporate retreat.
To start with, consider what types of things you want to achieve—then, back-engineer those desires to find activities that would help to facilitate a positive outcome.
For example:
If you want to build trust, you could do team-based activities.
If you want to encourage your team to be more adventurous, consider going kayaking or rock-climbing.
The sky is the limit!
5. Make Plans For Leisure As Well As For Business
It’s important to plan for both business goals and pleasure while organizing a corporate retreat.
‘Bleisure’ is really the key word here!
To succeed at this, plan a range of activities that serve both functions, and make sure to intermingle them.
For example—when you first arrive at the retreat, you could hold a conference in the event room about a new initiative for the sales department.
Then, once that business is concluded, you could all hit the square and partake of a bit of the night life together!
See, it’s all about finding a healthy balance of the two, and just making it flow naturally and smoothly.
Conclusion
There you have it!
5 steps to planning a corporate retreat.
If followed correctly, these steps will really help you to supercharge your next retreat and make it even more awesome.
All that’s left now is to get out there, make a plan, and get it done.
Good luck!