In need of a fresh perspective? Stepping out of your regular work environment aids in and creating your team’s culture, solidifying company values, and refreshing new ideas through the mix of work and play. During your retreat, carving time out time for meetings offers you and your leadership team the chance to address the entire group and speak on important key performance indicators, five year goals, and offer an annual review to assess where the company is at with its current goals. When spending time together out of the office, new lines of communication open between different teams at work and there is an opportunity to bring new groups together to collaborate.
To fully take advantage of the retreat experience, It is important to allow your team both exciting activities to enjoy and also engaging content. When planning your retreat itinerary, make sure to leave appropriate time for your team to meet collectively. Whether it be an address from the executive team, breakout sessions with each department, or TEDx style talks with the entire group, your company can set your goals into action while offsite. What is it that your team should walk away feeling after the weekend and how can you get that message across?
In designing the perfect retreat, our team has found lots of success when starting worksessions and team meetings first thing after breakfast. Think about what atmosphere people will walk into, and what will generate the most impactful, creative discussion. Pair tables together that may not typically work together to engage new throught. Ask the table to do small tasks and games throughout the session and assign roles to engage everyone at the table: Team Leader, Recorder, Time Keeper, and Facilitator of discussion. Engaging each team member will not only give you insight into who are the introverts and extroverts of the group, but it also allows your leadership team to see different team members click together that may not have had the chance to collaborate before.
Start with an interesting question on the board, dive into icebreakers. The more you involve your entire team from the beginning, the more each person will gain from the experience. You want as many of your team members engaged as possible. In structuring your meeting content, we always suggest you implore questions that openly allow people to participate such as asking people to raise their hand and keep it raised to create an active listening audience. By creating an interactive experience for people, the engagement as a whole becomes more memorable and therefore message more impactful.
When setting up your meeting space, be sure you run through a list of all audio-visual equipment that you will need to execute your ideas properly. This can be anything from an HDMI cable, to a projection screen, to event lighting. Talk through your meeting requirements with the catering or banquet manager at your venue and be sure to express all technical concerns early on to mitigate any mishaps on the day of your event. If you’ve found that the venue’s audio-visual pricing is higher than expected or if they do not offer this as a service, check to see the cost of buying your required items separately. With this, you can take the projector with you and use for future events both in and out of the office. This can often save time, worry, and a few bucks!
When thinking about structuring content for your meetings, consider stemming from your company values. What are they and what do they mean to each individual? Instead of asking people on the spot, we always recommend maximum engagement- have small worksheets for people to fill out after break to immediately get your team members attention. This is a great way to start meaningful discussion on a deeper level as to what the company is currently doing, and where they are headed.
Be sure to consider the size of your group, and what setup will best aid everyone’s experience. If you have a large group and are bringing in a few Keynote Speakers, we recommend theater style table arrangements so that everyone’s attention is facing forward. It is so easy for groups over 75+ to lose focus, start discussion amongst themselves, and overpower what is happening in the front of the room. To mitigate this, make note to ask questions during the presentations that allow for multiple right answers. When you ask cut and dry questions, you are only engaging a certain percentage of your group. However, when you ask open ended questions, you start to play on people’s emotions and the overall engagement skyrockets.
If you have a smaller team and your main goals are to increase the group’s creative problem solving, consider assigned table rounds. Make note of certain people you’d like to see work together and be sure to place a couple strong team members at each table that you know will take charge and lead discussion. We’ve all been to meetings or conferences before where you sit next to a close friend and end up spending more time commenting to each other than engaging with the content. When your team is set at round tables with new groups facing each other, it allows each person to participate without the distraction or complacency of their usual work circle and invites a whole new field of discussion.
Now that your team and message have structure, take a look at your time schedule for the day and be sure that you are creating a comfortable atmosphere throughout the day to keep your team upbeat and excited about the next topic, speaker, or discussion. Whether you are hosting your meetings at a hotel, event space, or outdoor venue, we always recommend keeping continuous coffee and light snacks such as fruit and granola bars on hand to bridge the gap between meals.
We never recommend sessions running over four hours without a meal offered. At this point- people will start to focus more on what’s happening next than the content in front of them. Thus, if your group eats breakfast before their meeting at 9 AM, we recommend scheduling your next meal no later than 1 PM. When planning meals, be sure to provide a variety of options such as a salad, two main courses, a side dish, and dessert. By expanding the options, you ensure that everyone can craft a plate they can enjoy, regardless of their dietary restrictions and preferences.
If you have allowed a majority of your time to meetings, be sure to have fun and switch things up with meals! Coordinate menu options so that they vary from day to day, maybe it’s Tuesday Tacos and Wednesday Sub Sandwiches. When hosting a heavier lunch, such as tacos, feel free to vary to a lighter breakfast that day such as fruit, yogurt and avocado toast. Anytime your event feels to cut and dry or monotonous during the planning process, know that it will be reflected tenfold during execution! Changing the menu day to day is just one small way to keep your team excited and engaged about what is coming next.
Another great way to spice up your meetings and keep people engaged is varying the room that they are in. Change the table assignments or arrangements daily to keep people moving around the space and not getting too overly comfortable in one spot. Additionally, set up a portion of your meetings to be conducted in smaller team breakout spaces in nearby for each department to meet. This gives your team the opportunity to move around, change surroundings, and reframe their thinking.
There are lots of small components and alterations that build into planning a truly impactful team meeting. Whether it be a one day event or three day annual business review, be sure to tie your overarching message together throughout each session. Get people moving, talking, and out of their comfort zones for maximum impact. Focus on storytelling, and create an experience that alters the beliefs of your employees about how your company goals will take shape moving forward.
“Motion drives emotions,
Emotion drives actions
Action drives results.”