Offsite meeting: What it is and how to organize one [with agenda examples]
Offsite meetings can significantly improve both a company’s productivity and the work environment. It’s one of the best ways to know more about colleagues, have conversations on a personal level and relax a bit from the daily office stress.
In addition, it’s also an opportunity to value the job of the whole team, once we learn about the pressure each collaborator is under and ways to help each other.
What is an off-site meeting?
Off-site is a widely used technique. It consists of providing the possibility of performing professional activities outside of the company. This type of work has been growing and generating greater results for companies, with better quality of life for employees.
Thousands of companies adopt this strategy. The off site could be a training sessions, a summit for teamwork building a multiple day intimate meetings to build up a business strategic planning, which are slightly different from webinars.
So, here we’re necessarily talking about a group activity.
The main benefits a company can observe during and after an off-site meeting include:
Accelerated innovation: leaving the usual environment, changing the daily routine and interacting with colleagues with whom you do not usually work, inspires. Following the appropriate dynamics, we can return with great ideas.
Community building: Workers often value this type of action, which will make them speak well of the company. In addition, the activities carried out through social networks or with a communication campaign can be disseminated both internally (if only done by teams) or external.
Is off-site the same as remote work?
Remote work consists on giving employees enough autonomy to work from their homes or wherever they’d like to. Let’s say, your sales team can stay at home twice a week, available to serve clientes at the convenience of their own offices, as long as they maintain the same quality of service delivered from the office. This is most likely an example of home office than off-site.
An off-site usually has a level of integration among the teams. Thus, having everyone present at the activities is a must. In addition to strengthening the company’s ties with the professionals, it also creates an environment that these professionals can talk about their daily life. It creates a sense of community and more human relationships among different organizational levels.
How do you define offsite success?
Outcomes of can vary. So the best way to measure results is to make sure you turn insights brought by the team during the offsite into actions after the event.That’s how participants will see tangible results out of what has been discussed.
Take the chance to identify new behaviors too. For example: a shy person might show up as a great speaker. Or maybe, a team that has not been working with efficiency, will most likely end up revealing what’s the communication problems they’ve been facing. Organizing an offsite meeting can be a great way to get your team out of the office and into a new environment. To ensure the meeting runs smoothly, it’s important to have the right data room software in place. This software can help you store and share important documents, as well as keep track of who has access to them. With the right data room software, you can ensure that everyone has the information they need to make the most of the offsite meeting.
Similarly, for strategic planning and gaining a competitive edge, engaging with the best business plan consultants can provide invaluable insights and direction, ensuring that every aspect of your business is aligned with your vision for success.
Offsite specific objectives
- Choose date with time. It is not easy to square agendas with the whole team.
- Calculate the budget you have to organize the off site.
- Think about the objectives and type of site meeting you want to organize.
- Ask for budgets, the type of activity you want to do, accommodation, meals, travel …
- Ask for possible dates and communicate them to those who intend to attend.
- Book accommodation, transportation, meals and planned activities.
- Communicate the dates.
- Send a survey to meet the expectations of the participants.
- Send a document with the summary of expectations and final planning.
Activities for offsite and program example. What’s the right balance?
Offsites need to deliver a well-planned experience. When planning the detailed schedule of activities, the main challenge is: it’s supposed to be experiential learning, but without being exhausting.
It’s good to invest resources that can keep participants engaged for at least one whole day or two. Besides, try mixing up organizational levels to strengthen relationships and build teamwork. Similarly, for tech-oriented off-site meetings, involving a dedicated development team can significantly enhance the collaborative process, bringing in fresh perspectives and innovative solutions.
Types of off site meetings
Initially we can classify the types of off site meeting by duration (one or more days), the objective (improvement of the work environment, innovation, corporate reputation …) or by type of activity (workshop, brainstorming, food, sport …).
The Five Junipers is the ideal destination for off-site of one or more days. We have 17 rooms in case you want to spend more than one day. We have an enclosure with two fully equipped meeting rooms, a garden where you can organize cafes, snacks, catering or outdoor activities and the Lavender restaurant (2 Repsol Suns) and La Librería (for more informal meals).
Best activities ideas for an off site meeting
HR and training consulting firms usually have games especially designed for offsites. They usually involve cards, boards and visually rich material to encourage engagement. It’s even possible to customize these games, according to the client’s needs and objectives.
Another choice is to take your team to a day out at a puzzle room or cooking experience.
Having at least 3 or 4 days available, why not think about a house at the beach for an end of year summit?
Ideas of workshops to be carried out.
- Dynamics: Workshops to teach techniques or skills. Those of personal development, coaching or well-being are very fashionable and often like employees, who leave here with charged batteries.
- Brainstorming: If there is something for which you need ideas, nothing better than to get the team out of the routine and get to thinking, following some kind of brainstorming dynamics, that helps sort all your ideas and put them into practice as soon as you return to the routine.
- Internal marketing: Each team can explain to their colleagues what their day-to-day life consists of and why their role within the company is important. It will help to value the work of others.
- Gamification: Activity that consists of putting oneself in the place of the other, playing a role. It can be very useful to complete the previous activity, to simulate that you do the work of the other for one day.
Off site recap: evaluation and conclusion
1) How do you determine if it was a success? What are some objectives you establish for the offsite?
Outcomes of can vary. So the best way to measure results is to make sure you turn insights brought by the team during the offsite into actions after the event.That’s how participants will see tangible results out of what has been discussed.
Take the chance to identify new behaviors too. For example: a shy person might show up as a great speaker. Or maybe, a team that has not been working with efficiency, will most likely end up revealing what’s the communication problems they’ve been facing.
2) Work/activities breakdown? What’s the right balance?
Offsites need to deliver a well-planned experience. When planning the detailed schedule of activities, the main challenge is: it’s supposed to be experiential learning, but without being exhausting.
It’s good to invest resources that can keep participants engaged for at least one whole day or two. Besides, try mixing up organizational levels to strengthen relationships and build teamwork.
3) Best “team building” activities?
HR and training consulting firms usually have games especially designed for offsites. They usually involve cards, boards and visually rich material to encourage engagement. It’s even possible to customize these games, according to the client’s needs and objectives.
Another choice is to take your team to a day out at a puzzle room or cooking experience.
Having at least 3 or 4 days available, think about a house at the beach for an end of year summit.
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And don’t forget to keep learning:
- How to measure Event Success [and 7 points to ensure it]
- 6 reasons why Event Planners fail when starting an Event Planning Business
- NPS for events: why it’s crucial and how to apply
About the Author / Sara Emezi
