Offsite Meetings: A Comprehensive Planning Checklist
Like most companies, you’re likely approaching this year with a fresh perspective on the importance of investing in your team and company culture. You have a firm understanding of the value of unifying your team and prioritizing team-building and alignment as a form of investment in the future of your company. While offsite meetings are a great opportunity for teams to come together and collectively solve a larger problem or plan out a period of work, you’ve likely also discovered that loving the idea of a company offsite and implementing a company offsite are wildly different.
We understand the overwhelm and anxiety of having big goals and no clear path to reach them. An offsite’s success is largely determined by what takes place before it convenes. So let’s start by laying the groundwork to best prepare for a company offsite. Use this checklist to make sure you’re ticking off the big-ticket items for your offsite.
Pre-Offsite Meeting Checklist
Determine your budget. You don’t have to break the bank for every offsite, but you should have a clear idea of how you will be allocating your dollars. Budget will be the determining factor on whether you can splurge or need to save on items like the venue and catering. For simpler gatherings, expect to spend about 70% on the venue, 25% on food and beverages, and 5% on transportation and offsite supplies.
Secure a date, venue, food, and transportation (if needed). Whether you’re handling logistics in-house or outsourcing the event, make sure these big-ticket items are sorted before sharing meeting agendas or starting a conversation with the broader team.
Choose a venue that is both functional and inspiring. Consider the primary purpose for the offsite: is it to spark new ideas, motivate the team, increase team unity? If the answer is yes, look for a venue that offers natural light and breakout areas. Bonus points if you find a spot with outdoor space. People value being taken out of the familiar; it helps remove distractions to promote higher-level thinking and your venue sets the atmosphere for the entire event.
Food. Don’t underestimate the value of good food. People are expecting better options and more culinary creativity than what is offered at regular meetings. Remember, a team offsite can be very cognitively demanding. Take care of your people and ensure they are well- hydrated, caffeinated, and get plenty of treats throughout the session. Try to avoid heavy food and alcohol, so people don’t feel sleepy after the lunch break.
Transportation. Whether you are providing transportation or just directions to the venue, ensure that thought is put into transportation logistics including the time needed to reach the venue, parking options, etc.
Designate a communications coordinator. You will be busy with all the logistics and speaker wrangling, so don’t go it alone. Choose someone to communicate reminders, answer attendee questions before you go, and be the point person for any questions onsite.
Finalize and share your agenda. Share your meeting agenda well in advance of your offsite. Give teams at least 48 hours to start thinking about what they want to bring to the conversation. Not sure where to start? When building out your agenda, remember to identify what you want the meeting to accomplish. Use the template below as a starting point.
What are the organizational objectives?
What are the interpersonal objectives? How will participants interact and bond with each other?
What are the individual objectives? How will participants grow and develop?
What are the overall experience objectives? How the time away should positively engage the participants?
Delivering On Your Objectives
For an offsite that packs a punch, be sure to account for the multiple objectives that you want your offsite meeting to deliver. The organizational outcome should drive the business purpose behind the meeting. The interpersonal outcomes will direct the actions you take to foster relationships among the entire group and specific groups within the broader company. Make sure you think about participants’ personal interests as you design the meeting to maximize alignment and create the best possible experience for everyone.
Sharing the agenda is important, but you also want to provide as much additional context as possible by assigning “pre-work” or “pre-reading.” That way, you can spend your valuable offsite time making decisions, rather than getting everyone up to speed. For example, if your offsite is for problem-solving, assign some pre-work brainstorming or reading over a briefing on the problem you’re solving for.
In our research, we learned that companies that hold offsites every four to six months build a better cadence and momentum than those that only do it annually. Based on our experiences, we’ve found that a team offsite is particularly useful for:
Building trust and collaboration. Fear is a pervasive emotion in the workplace — seven out of 10 employees silence their suggestions, thoughts, and ideas. This is one of the main reasons companies hold offsite events; to build a safe space for regaining trust and communication.
Strategy and alignment. Offsites are invaluable for solving big problems as well as addressing long-term strategies. They allow leaders to spend time together collaborating, learning, and discovering new territories. By shaping the future together, people are more engaged and aligned.
Learning and experimenting. Whether you are trying to avoid lengthy approval mechanisms, increase accountability, improve self-awareness, or make meetings more efficient, an offsite provides a safe space for people to learn and experiment with new ways of working.
Tackle large initiatives. Taking time out of the office is a very effective way to focus on projects that require attention. With fewer interruptions and having the key participants in the same room, your team can make much more progress than when at the office.
Team awareness. Reflecting on collective behaviors, mindset, and achievement helps identify blind spots, areas of opportunities as well as build on what’s working for the team. Providing feedback and addressing tensions help the team accelerate performance.
Struggling to Execute Your Company Offsite Initiatives?
We understand creating interactive and immersive offsite experiences that achieve your company objectives are no cakewalk; aligning your team and planning for the future requires time-intensive planning and expertise to ensure you achieve the impact and outcomes of your company vision. Our expert planners work with you to relieve that overwhelm and build out high-caliber offsite experiences to deliver the event whose impact will far surpass the last day of the event. Schedule some time with us today and let us guide you through tactics to create a cohesive and impactful experience structured to attain your company’s unique ROI.
PAIGE BUCK
Paige Buck is the co-owner of Kennedy Events, a large-scale event management company based in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. Our team creates stress-free conferences and events with a positive impact, which allows our clients to resonate with their audience. Kennedy Events specializes in producing flawless product launches, award ceremonies, fundraisers, and multi-day conferences while keeping our eye on retention and engagement goals.
About Kennedy Events
Kennedy Events began with one goal in mind—to produce high-level corporate events with just as much strategy as style. Maggie founded the company in 2000, found her match in Paige, and in 2011 the two became official partners. Since then, these two resourceful and brilliant creatives have pooled their strengths to build one one of the most the most sought after corporate event companies in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.
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