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Corporate Retreat Planning
Corporate retreats are an important component to the ongoing training, team-building, and it is an important part of the support your company provides to its executives. Corporate retreats give executives time to brainstorm ideas with each other, get caught up on all the latest information in their fields and provide a more relaxing environment in which to promote team-building. Today, corporate retreats are for all sizes of companies and both top executives and middle managers.
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The latest trends is corporate retreats are accessible to most budgets. Although planning and organizing a corporate retreat may seem like a daunting task, by inserting some creativity, taking the preparations one step at a time and making sure to cover all the details, your corporate retreat can be a fantastic experience for the executives.
In the past, it was not uncommon for a Fortune 100 company to building corporate retreat team and host a retreat that took place at a location like a fancy country club or ski resort. Although country clubs and ski resorts still make the cut as far as corporate retreat locations go, today’s top companies are choosing corporate retreat locations that provide more opportunities for team-building exercises and incorporate more adventurous activities—corporate golf retreats are just one example. Indeed, the recent rise in popularity of the so-called “extreme sports” like rock climbing and kayaking have been embraced by leaders of the biggest corporations for their retreats as not only different and cutting edge, but also as excellent team building activities. Furthermore, these type of activities and locations are even more valuable to the top corporations because they provide executives with interesting experiences and put their executives in a more creative and problem-solving state of mind. Today, many Fortune 100 companies choose locations like Whitefish, Montana, where there is plentiful rock-climbing and sport fishing over more traditional locations like Pebble Beach for a corporate gold retreat.
Mid-level companies can follow this trend in corporate entertainment. A weekend retreat at a ski-resort for management and executives at mid-level and smaller companies might be out of reach financially for all but the most well-heeled corporations. The more rugged locations, like dude-ranches and more remote destinations that offer a twist on the traditional corporate retreats, places like South Dakota, Maine, and New Mexico, are often less expensive and, as many corporations have found, more effective. Many of the more remote location sweeten the deal even further because they want to attract more business. For mid-level companies, this may mean being able to include lower-level executives on the corporate retreats, a practice many mid-level companies could benefit from but only a few can afford. Indeed, many places, even places close to home offer this type of activity for your corporate retreat. Every area of the country has the opportunity to incorporate these types of activities into your corporate retreat. There is canoeing in the Great Lakes States, sea-kayaking in the coastal states, and mountain biking and rock climbing in the Appalachians and the Rockies.
If you are looking for something a little more pampered for your executives, fear not. Many of these locations offer top of the line accommodations for your luxury corporate retreat. Indeed, as these locations and activities have become more popular for high-level corporate retreats and among the well-off in the general public, many places that offer these types of locations and team-building activities also offer luxury hotel rooms, fine food and wine, as well as the extras like massage and spa service.
Once you have narrowed down what type of corporate retreat you want for your executives and what type of team-building activities you would like to include, it may be time to consider contacting a professional corporate retreat planner. These are the people who will help you make sure all the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed. Indeed, there are several companies that have caught onto this trend in adventure corporate retreats that can help you figure out a location, pick from among team building activities and help you organize the seminars for your corporate retreat. Hiring outside planners to organize a corporate retreat is very common among both large and small companies. Although having a planning committee is still somewhat common, most companies outsource most of the planning of a corporate retreat to a professional. This is another trend that benefits smaller companies, as they can outsource their corporate retreat planning activities instead of having to use up company human resources. Just like many couples hire a wedding planner to make sure their big day goes off without a hitch, many corporations hire professionals to makes sure everything is perfect for their own corporate retreats. Many of the more popular professional corporate retreat planning companies will give you a list of clients for whom they have worked for in the past.
However tempting it might be to just hand over the reigns of the planning of your corporate retreat to a professional planner, it will behoove you to remain as involved as possible. While they might be organizing infrastructure, making sure there are classrooms and computers, etc, you still need to guide the planning process. One trend in corporate retreats that has fallen out of favor is the surprise retreat. Today’s modern executive has too many outside obligations such as responsibility for children or aging parents for a surprise retreat. A word to the wise: give your team plenty of notice that there will be an executive retreat. You will also need to figure out a schedule. You don’t want to have a full day of seminars followed b a full day of team-building activities or events designed to stimulate creativity. Keep in mind that you will want to divvy up the schedule in such a way that people can enjoy the activities and you can maximize your retreat. For example, schedule seminars for the hot part of the day when people will want to be inside for the air-conditioning while outdoor activities should be scheduled for the morning or just before sundown, when it is nice outside. Small details like this show that you are taking care of your executives.
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