Decide the right place for your event!! Please find below the top 3 priorities we consider when choosing a destination.

1)       Time, Money & Connectivity.

When choosing the place you have to begin by effectively deciding what is your budget for the experience. This will influence the destination, for example North Eastern Europe is considerably cheaper than South Western Europe, as well as the venue. For leaner budgets you might want to opt for a country house, within an hours drive of the airport / city centre, rather than a 5star Hotel. The venue choice also very much depends on your team size that you need to accommodate.

You also need to consider how well connected is the destination is to key locations the participants will be flying in from. When selecting the venue you will also want to ensure you can maintain a solid internet connection unless you are opting for a digital detox of course.

2) Destination / Market Research

If you are interested in developing a workforce or outsourcing some operations in the region or, alternatively, aiming to penetrate this particular market. In order to do so experiencing the place first hand will give you a wealth of knowledge, resources and most importantly of all valuable connections to make that happen and work more effectively. (see point 3)

3) Special Interests & Activities

Industry experts or learning from key people of interest in the specific destination. You may be interested in a market leader in one particular region and how they develop their business so that you can implement key ideas and strategies in your particular market. We can arrange such meetings with leading industry experts.

1) Need to develop and enhance your Company’s culture to help attract and retain talent.

Your team members are your best brand ambassadors and treating them well will ensure they are your ‘magnets’ to attract future talent. Showcasing and promoting this in the form of an Off-Site will work wonders.

In the process of scaling a company you will no doubt run into the problem of effectively communicating & maintaining your companies DNA, Your purpose, Your WHY! We believe the culture of a company develops and is enhanced best outside the work-place! To create a connected culture you need to invest in creating and strengthening the bonds between its members.

2) Company has become stale and struggling to innovate Or ’over innovating’ without any clear direction or purpose.

A company offsite can be a catalyst for innovation…a change of environment and some extra input from our team of expert facilitators can help give your company the kick up the bum it badly needs. Company off-Sites provide the stage and opportunity to make pivotal strategic decisions for the company’s future growth. Gaining commitment and ‘buy-in’ from all employees helps strengthen the team’s dedication to the cause and purpose.

3) Alignment of Mission and Vision!

Without a clear strategy and purpose, your most valued asset, your team can very easily start working for work sake. Especially, during periods of change within the organisation (cutbacks, downturn or pivot). If you feel you have too many ’clock watchers’ or dead wood is beginning to creep in, you need to act fast to ensure the problem does not spread further. Team off-Sites is one of the most effective ways to focus and realign everyone to your company’s purpose & key values.

4) Unite a global / remote workforce to Celebrate great performance.

Every company likes to reward their employees; one of the best ways to do this is with a Focused Offsite. Maybe you have just celebrated the end to a good year, or you have many regional offices and wish to bring everyone together to show your appreciation? Either way this is a great way to promote your company or brand directly to the people that matter.

5) Connect and Communicate with a rapidly growing workforce?

Simply put it is a great opportunity for everyone to put a face to an email address. WE have worked in the past with companies with back office teams in Eastern Europe and front office teams in Western Europe and the rest of the world. Embarking on a corporate retreat in Eastern Europe is an ideal way for both sides of your organisation to become more acclimatised culturally should you have this ’split’ in operations. This is also necessary should your company be merging with another company.

To Conclude:

There are often many reasons why a strategic or celebratory off site is necessary but identifying the key objective is crucial to ensure you get the most value from the time your workforce is united. We can help you plan and focus on this key area and make sure your employees, you not only have a great time, but also take some new insights and enthusiasm back to your workplace.

Our trainers, serve as a neutral group facilitator, and help disrupt your thinking by asking you questions that you might not have thought of independently. They help you identify, prioritise and resolve your key objectives as well ensure you stick to the pre arranged agenda.)

Facilitators also help to empower the introverts in the group to have a say.  There are many meeting methods and tools to aid a more democratic and balanced approach to meetings. Asking each individual in the group to summarise their own thoughts on post-it notes, then place them on the board is a great way to encourage those who are less confident to ‘voice’ their opinion.

This highlights the benefit of recruiting an independent meeting facilitator to host the retreat. It ensures that the CEO or confident extroverts, within the team, do not hog the microphone.  Talking of microphones…CatchBox is a great throwable microphone that encourages great interactivity within a meeting.

 

1)       What is the purpose of your experience?

What does success look like?  What area of do you really want to develop most over the time you are all together? Be specific about your purpose. Your purpose should be more focused than "strategic planning," for example. Identify specific actions or ideas that you want to have come out of the retreat.

Keep your purpose realistic. You might have large goals that cannot be accomplished within one retreat. Prioritise your needs and desires. If you know you will not have the time to accomplish everything, choose 1 or 2 priorities for this retreat, and end the day with a plan for addressing the other issues. Talk to the people you will invite on this retreat, and see if they have any ideas about the goals you should set for the retreat. When people are consulted ahead of time, they will be more invested in the retreat and its outcomes. A Corporate Retreat Facilitator should play a very useful role in this pre retreat planning to help you keep the objectives clear and realistic!


2)       Work with us to find the right trainer / facilitator

It is difficult for a participant to serve as the company retreat facilitator. Participants, if correctly selected to attend the retreat, do have a stake in the outcome of the discussions. For this reason, expecting the CEO or a manager of the company, to facilitate the retreat is often a poor choice. This interest makes it very challenging for them to also serve as a neutral group facilitator. Travel Out There have the experience and network of competence to provide the company retreat facilitator or trainer(s) that are most qualified to support the purpose of your experience.

All of the facilitators we work with are experts in group dynamics, group processes, team building, decision-making and consensus building. During the retreat the facilitator manages the group discussion and ensures that fear, lack of trust, or complacency does not creep in to the room, hence promoting an atmosphere where everyone is wanting to actively participate.

We like to think that our meeting facilitators act like referees on a sports field or conductors in a orchestra. They explain the rules, keep the structure / format goal orientated, schedule accordingly and help ensure that everyone has a chance to shine. Our sole interest is in helping you have a successful retreat.

Why choose a Facilitator in the first place?

It is difficult for a retreat participant to serve as the facilitator. Participants, if correctly selected to attend the retreat, do have a stake in the outcome of the discussions. For this reason, expecting the CEO or a manager of the company, to facilitate the retreat is often a poor choice. This interest makes it very challenging for them to also serve as a neutral group facilitator.

 

3)       Manage the alcohol.

It is important to ensure that expectations are set from the start that this is a work/play experience. You are keen to get people connecting, communicating and collaborating and returning to the office inspired and invigorated not hung-over and feeling drained from a 3-day piss up. Alcohol consumption can be managed by closely reviewing open bar options and / or providing drinks packages at restaurants, dinner venues and hotels. This ensures your event does not spiral out of control both on a quantative and qualatative perspective.

1) Work with the facilitator to draft an agenda.

Aim to really optimise the highly valuable and limited time you are all together!!

Be mindful of the time. You do not want to keep people later than you have scheduled them. Put together an agenda that focuses on the specific goals in the time allotted. Distribute the agenda ahead of time. Giving everyone a chance to review the agenda before the retreat will help them feel more prepared.

2) Give people sufficient recreation and downtime

It is often the during the ‘down time’ during a retreat when best ideas are created, when in the bar or enjoying a team building activity. Be sure to not go too heavy on the meeting / conference agenda and incorporate the sufficient activities and rest time for people to really value this time that you are all together.

We recommend the 80/20 rule. 80% work to 20% fun! We have even begun to incorporate 'HeadSpace' / Meditation workshops to help people remain fresh and inspired during the retreat.

Incorporate team building with training (helps reinforce objectives). Interactive City Games (Ipad Treasure Hunts) are a great way to do this as these games can be tailored to incorporate and reinforce key learning objectives. They can also capture valuable feedback from all participants.

Give options. Some team activities as well as time for downtime (‘Me time' / individual activities)
Include activities such as early morning run or Meditation Workshops to promote wellness and also get in the right frame of mind for day.

3) Document Everything!!

We can capture the key points and take notes during the retreat and immediately process these results in to the FOCUSED TOOL summarising the discussions, any decisions that were made, and action steps to be taken. Having a list of action items will keep everyone engaged even after the retreat, and it is important to hold people accountable for what they agreed to do…FOCUSED does exactly that.