Any person tasked with the job of organising their company conference will generally be seeking the same outcome; regardless of where the conference is held you want to ensure you get the most out of your time. Which brings us to one of the first hurdles you will face when organising a conference: deciding whether to hold the conference in-house or head offsite to a conference venue. Perhaps the biggest argument against hosting a conference offsite is the higher expenditure involved, both in the booking of an external venue & the fact that you’re taking your employees out of the office for a day.
You may find yourself wondering, is a conference offsite worth the time & money?
Change of Scenery = Stimulating Creativity
Meeting in the same office space time & time again can starve the brain of creative stimulation. According to Forbes, 51% of workers said they weren’t engaged with 17% saying they were actively disengaged with their office environment. If you want to get your staff thinking out of the box, you need to get them out of the office box! A change of scenery may seem like such a small alteration to your delegates day-to-day, however it can have a significant impact on how your colleagues think & the way they brainstorm new ideas. Being in a new environment can encourage bolder ideas & a fresh perspective on old problems.
Increased Productivity & Focus
Offsite meetings are great for revitalising & re-energising your staff. For starters, your staff will feel important & valued by the investment your company has made. And because everyone has made a commitment to leave normal work behind for a day, they will be much more likely to fully engage with the conference content.
Avoid Interruptions
Taking the team offsite means they won’t be as easily distracted by their usual work surroundings. Think about the amount of time that is wasted by staff arriving late, checking their emails or answering phone calls. Heading offsite means your team will have less interruptions from the usual office riffraff = greater productivity!
Team Camaraderie
An off-site conference without the constraints of the normal working environment can make employees feel more relaxed leading to improved workplace relationships. Team members see each other in a different light and abilities emerge that may not be apparent in day-to-day office meetings. Ultimately the better your team know & trust each other, the more effective they will be as a team.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a conference offsite without a team building activity thrown in the mix! Regardless of how full your agenda is we have an activity that can be tailored to suit your plans & outcomes. After all, it can’t be all work & no play!
If you’re after some conference offsite inspiration we would suggest checking out our VENUES page!
