Whether you a Corporate Event Planner in New York who works for a large corporation or a small business, it's important to put the needs of your employees first.
But how do you know what those needs are?
One way is to give them an opportunity to engage in team building activities.
Corporate Event Planners can design team building exercises that can boost morale, boost collaboration between departments, and promote creativity.
Gather information about your employees.
As a Corporate Event Planner in New York, before you can create an ideal team building retreat, you need to know as much about your employees' interests and personalities as possible.
To do this, ask them for their input! You may want to hold a meeting with the team members individually or in small groups to discuss what they would like to learn from a corporate retreat.
You could also use surveys or polls where your employees can rank their top priorities for the trip.
You should also ask them if there are any special needs or requests that you need to take into account when planning activities or accommodations.
For example, if someone has diabetes, they might require special food options at meals and snacks throughout the day (some foods have higher carbohydrates than others).
Or if someone has mobility issues then some activities may not be appropriate for them (such as rock climbing or hiking).
Pick a place to hold your retreat.
Next, you'll want to pick a place for your retreat. You'll want to choose a location that's easy for everyone in the office to get to, as well as one with facilities and amenities that will accommodate your team.
This might mean choosing an outdoor activity center if you plan on doing hiking or kayaking during your retreat, or it could mean choosing an all-inclusive resort if you're looking more towards spa activities. The options are endless!
It's also important that the location be affordable—you don't want anyone feeling guilty about spending their hard-earned money on such an event.
If possible, look into renting out private cabins instead of staying in shared spaces like dorm rooms; they're more likely to have more privacy and comfort than standard hotel rooms would provide (especially if there are couples who don't want other people knowing about their relationship).
Finally—and most importantly—your chosen venue should be convenient for everyone attending both those who live locally and those coming from out of town (or even out of state).
You don't want anyone missing work because their flight was delayed or cancelled!
Decide what kind of activities you want to do.
When deciding what activities, you want to do, keep in mind that you're trying to help your employees learn and grow as people.
- Fun, but challenging: You may want to consider team-building activities that are fun and exciting, but also slightly challenging. If you have employees who are more competitive than others, they might enjoy something like laser tag or bowling. But if they're not particularly competitive or don't like getting competitive with each other, it can be good for them too by providing a little bit of friendly competition with their coworkers during the activity itself (and then after it ends).
- Team bonding: One thing that everyone needs is time to bond together as a team. People who work together often spend so much time talking about work problems that they might not feel like they actually know each other very well outside of work hours or weekends (or even days off).
It's important for teams everywhere to understand how everyone else on their team operates so things run smoothly when working together on projects or tasks throughout the week (and beyond).
Schedule the retreat so it doesn't interfere with normal business hours.
Scheduling your team-building retreat outside of normal business hours is a great idea. Most people don't want to spend their workdays at a retreat, and most people don't want to spend their weekends at a retreat.
Plan your corporate team building event during a time when all attendees can get time off work and make it back to work on Monday morning.
If you're organizing the retreat yourself using an online platform like Basecamp or Google Docs, make sure everyone has access to those documents so they can see what's going on with their schedules and travel plans as soon as possible!
Have some down time scheduled into the retreat program.
In order to build a cohesive team, it's important to let your employees have time to relax and recharge. You can schedule this down time at the end of the day, or you can schedule it in between activities so that people get time on their own but also come together as a group.
One way of doing this is by scheduling some alone time in between events—if everyone gets to go off on their own and do whatever they wish (within reason), then when they come back together later for dinner or another activity, they'll be feeling relaxed and refreshed from having some private time alone.
This means that when people are interacting during these other scheduled activities, they'll be more engaged with one another because there's less energy spent worrying about how much fun everyone else is having without them.
It's also helpful if you make sure there aren't too many things going on at once: As we noted earlier, too many activities can actually cause someone to get overwhelmed rather than feel energized by being included in all of them!
Make sure the venue has good food and drinks or can provide them if you're bringing in your own caterer.
When it comes to planning a corporate retreat, food and drinks are an important aspect of the event. If you want your team to come away from the retreat feeling refreshed, connected, and satisfied, you need to make sure that they have plenty of good meals during their stay.
Food is also a great way for people to bond over shared experiences—the first time I ate at a sushi restaurant with colleagues was one of my favorite team-building retreat memories.
So, what's the best way to ensure that your employees are well fed? If you're bringing in your own caterer or catering company, then check out their menu beforehand so that you can ensure there will be something everyone will enjoy eating!
If you're not bringing your own caterer or catering company on board, then talk with the venue staff about what kind of food they offer; ask them if there are any specialties or unique items available that aren't listed on their website (and if so—order those).
A well-planned corporate team building retreat can boost employee morale and improve teamwork.
A well-planned corporate team building retreat is an effective way to boost employee morale, improve teamwork and give your business a competitive advantage.
Whether you're an executive or a first-time manager, it's essential to understand what makes for a great corporate team building retreat.
This article will explain everything you need to know about planning and executing your next corporate retreat event so that you can successfully bring together employees from all departments while boosting morale throughout the organization.
Conclusion
That’s it for our tips for Corporate Event Planners in New York who are looking to plan a corporate team building retreat. It may not be easy, but it will definitely pay off in the long run.
Click to join us at The Event Planner Expo in October and learn from the best in the biz on how to best spend your corporate event planning time and efforts into this process!
