Bursts of Color - Hosting an Offsite
A well-planned offsite can do a lot of good. It also takes some work. Here are some of my suggestions after attending and hosting a bunch of these over the years.
Begin With the End in Mind
For most offsites, I find that 70% of the value is relationship building, and that the programmed “work content” is thus about 30%. So it makes sense to maximize time spent mingling, collaborating and generally having a good time.
Three Kinds of Offsite
Offsites come in all shapes and sizes. The most common three flavors tend to be:
Local Team Offsite - 1/2 Day to 1 Day - For teams who all live and work in the same geography. Usually 1-2 hours of content followed by a social activity.
Planning Offsite - 1.5 to 2 Days - This works well for a leadership retreat, annual planning session or kick-off event. Might include 4-5 hours of programming each day, plus a social event and overnight.
Remote Team Meetup - 3-5 Days. When participants are all flying in, it usually makes sense to stretch things out and allow more IRL interaction… even if some of that time is just sitting next to one another while working on daily tasks.
Key Offsite Ingredients
Presentations. Focus on the most critical topics and speakers here. While it’s great to have everyone together as a captive audience, it’s easy to dilute your key message by having too many different presentations.
Group Activity/Planning. Participants tend to be much more engaged - and remember the content better - when we get them actively contributing via case studies, breakout sessions, group projects or the like.
Guest Speaker. Everyone enjoys hearing stories from someone outside your team. Meet with this person beforehand to provide guidance on any key things you do (and don’t) want them to say.
Social Activity. You know: make it fun.
Other Must-Haves
Clear Agenda. Set expectations for what’s happening when, including the scheduled breaks and daily end-times.
Primary Event Host. Someone needs to be front and center to set the tone, introduce each session and manage the schedule.
Food and Coffee. Particularly breakfast and afternoon snacks.
Red Flags
Most offsites are somewhere between good and great. There are a few things to watch out for, however:
Death by Powerpoint. Be selective in the number and length of presentations. I don’t know too many people who enjoy watching slide talks all day.
Schedule Meltdown. It’s very annoying (and common) to find ourselves 45 minutes behind schedule by 10am. Be aggressive about staying on track.
Heavy Drinking. Wine tasting, pub crawls and open bars can all be fun in a different context. For work events, it’s best to tone down the booze.
Overly Sporty or Otherwise Exclusive Activities. Try to pick a social activity that minimizes the number of people who feel left out. Or at least if we’re going to do rock climbing this time, maybe do a cooking class or something else next time.