Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds offers corporate groups of up to 650 people a variety of activities and programs. At nearby Del Monte Beach, Pacific Gas and Electric attendees engage in a CSR clean-up event. Credit: Pacific Gas and Electric

When people complain about meetings, most often an organization’s internal meetings draw the most criticism. But while conferences and offsite meetings often provide a welcome change of pace, that may not always be enough. To provide a memorable experience for those attending, a measure of fun at activity venues is worth considering as long as extra activities provide solid support to the meeting’s overall objectives.

“Corporate meetings are generally held to discuss incredibly important and thought-provoking topics,” says Breana Nadal, a senior events manager for Marriott Corporation in Irvine, California. She notes that in a typical meeting day, attendees can spend up to eight hours in an atmosphere that demands imagination and creativity.

“There is no better way to cultivate that type of thought pattern than to add a unique and fun portion to such an event,” she says. “Letting attendees take time to relax and let their thoughts come together organically not only benefits the overall goal but also gets them excited to be part of the collective process.”

“Letting attendees take time to relax and let their thoughts come together organically not only benefits the overall goal but also gets them excited to be part of the collective process.” 
— Breana Nadal

Nadal recently held a successful event at ChocXO Bean to Bar Chocolatier in Irvine, California, for members of Marriott’s General Manager’s Advisory Council. The total of 65 guests not only engaged in discussions about future company initiatives, but also enjoyed the facility’s special activities.

“ChocXO provides both an educational and interactive experience that anyone from any background, age or gender would enjoy,” she says. “They provide you with the ability to live out your childhood fantasy of running free in a chocolate factory. What could be better than that?”

She notes that in choosing the venue, a primary factor was identifying a location with an experiential component, and ChocXO met that goal while providing a one-of-a-kind experience.

“When you drive into what you can describe as a corporate park and find yourself in a chocolate factory, you immediately know that you are in for a rare experience,” Nadal says. “Having the opportunity to astonish your guests from beginning to end is like hitting the event-planning jackpot.”

ChocXO has several locations, and its Irvine, California, factory is available for meetings that are supplemented by special events. Options include an hour-long complete factory tour showcasing the chocolate-making process as well as tastes of the product. The tour includes an educational wall and a scale model of a cacao tree, along with an overview of how chocolate is fermented, dried and processed. Participants get to sample raw cacao pulp, cocoa nibs, cocoa liquor and finished chocolate bars.

For an even more hands-on approach, groups of 15–20 participants go into the kitchen and make their own chocolate bark. They pour liquid chocolate over a sheet pan and then add special toppings. Once the bark chills and crystallizes in a refrigerator, participants break it up and bag it to take it home.

Many planners are now exploring venues that include some type of activities to supplement meetings and in many cases, become part of the sessions themselves. Not only can this make an overall event more appealing, but it may also provide a welcome break from the core business at hand while also promoting teamwork.

“It’s important for teambuilding to have social activities interspersed through an intensive working conference,” says Denise Sonni-Birlin, whose job as senior executive coordinator, research and drug discovery for BioMarin Pharmaceutical in Novato, California, includes meeting planning. She recently coordinated a conference at Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds for nearly 400 employees. She says the venue is one favored by pharmaceutical companies. “It’s a great value with a beautiful location and wonderful staff.”

At Asilomar, located in Pacific Grove, California, corporate groups experience a retreat-like setting on 107 acres of coastal land. With 312 guest rooms and 30,000 sf of meeting space, the park has accommodations for groups up to 650 people.

Activities include walking tours, beach volleyball, bird watching, hiking, surfing and standup paddleboarding. Team events range from beach Olympics and survivor games to bike tours along the coast.

Along with the park’s offerings, she says that nearby activities also can enhance the experience for attendees. Sonni-Birlin especially recommends reserving the entire Monterey Bay Aquarium for an evening appetizer, dessert and wine reception.

“It’s located about a 10-minute drive from Asilomar,” she says. “It is an awesome experience that everyone loved.”

Other parks also offer activity-focused options. At Starved Rock State Park in Oglesby, Illinois, meeting participants enjoy a variety of activities including guided hikes and scavenger hunts that incorporate the park’s history into the competition. If requested in advance, hiking guides share thoughts and experiences on teambuilding, character development and survival. Other options include an art program where participants complete paintings in a team environment and then have a finished product for their home or office. Or in a nod to the park’s lookout tower, teams strive to build the tallest standing tower out of marshmallows and spaghetti. Individual personality analysis is part of the activity.

The 2,600-acre park features an array of waterfalls and canyons, with 13 miles of trails that follow rugged bluffs overlooking the Illinois River. The historic Starved Rock Lodge & Conference Center has 69 guest rooms supplemented by 21 cabin rooms located on the property.

Meeting facilities include a 2,200-sf room with a capacity of 200 attendees theater-style and 120 participants in classroom format, along with four small to mid-sized rooms accommodating from 14 to 60 guests, and a separate cabin for groups of 12 to 25 people.

Some wineries also offer a surprising array of activities. The Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California, a 600-plus acre Santa Cruz Mountain wine estate located above the Silicon Valley, features more than just wine tasting for corporate events. Along with meeting facilities, the winery offers a number of unusual activities and teambuilding programs for groups.

A custom-built grape stomping platform is used for a two-hour event for up to 20 guests, where participants compete in crushing two barrels of grapes. The activity includes a scavenger hunt, grape toss, and wine bottling and racking as well as a three-course plated dinner.

A gourmet cooking series includes an “hors d’oeuvres war” as well as a chef-for-a-day option. In the “war,” meeting attendees select ingredients from a pantry set up by an executive chef and then compete with colleagues to create the best appetizer for their group to enjoy.

Other activities include an obstacle course, bottle ring toss and wine pictionary. An educational series led by a local sommelier includes the option to have a private class connected to a professional meeting. Still other activities range from cigar rolling and dueling pianos to rock climbing, bungee jumping and casino night.

Meeting facilities include a grand hall with a dining capacity of 220 guests and several smaller rooms, as well as an outdoor plaza accommodating up to 2,000 people and another area handling 250 to 500 guests depending on the nature of the function. A 2,500-seat amphitheater also is available.

Other venues play on the glamour of a popular sport or entertainment attraction. That’s the case with Dallara IndyCar Factory. Located less than a mile from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it offers expansive meeting space as well as racing-related activities. While the primary purpose of the 200,000-sf facility is assembling and testing future Indy-style cars, it also serves as an exciting venue for corporate events. Visitors can explore interactive and hands-on exhibits centered on racing engineering and technology. They can take a walk through a tunnel filled with current race-car blueprints and design concept drawings, or check out a movie about the company. Meeting attendees also enjoy guided tours of the factory, try out racing simulators and ride in actual two-seater cars. Teams also compete in a pit-stop challenge or mobile karting competition.

The facility has 35,000 sf of meeting space including an  interactive hall with a capacity of up to 1,200 people, a garage accommodating up to 1,100 and a conference room seating 100.

Dallara offers a true “Indy experience” based on the history of the Indianapolis 500, reports John P. Manos, executive director of JPM Performance Group, an event and performance incentive company based in Cincinnati. He has coordinated a number of events at the site, most recently a combined new product launch and sales meeting at Dallara in October. Most of the 250 attendees were in field sales, but there also were executive management and marketing support personnel in attendance.

“The venue offered many interactive elements, including the opportunity for the attendees to experience a ride in an Indy race car,” he says. A “pit stop quick tire change” competition was especially popular.

“The competitive element was very well received by the sales personnel,” he says.

Manos praises the flexibility of Dallara staff as well the distinctive identity of the location, which in this instance also supported the theme of the meeting.

“The ability to brand/logo an Indy car to support the new product launch was a great addition to the meeting experience,” Manos says.

Still other venues represent efforts to expand offerings in the face of growing competition. For example, many bowling centers have re-invented themselves by adding a variety of features, including opening their facilities for meetings

Along with bowling and a 3,000-sf arcade, Surfside Bowling and Family Entertainment Center in Surfside Beach, South Carolina offers private meetings rooms, teambuilding programs and banquet facilities.

Similarly, Mermaid Entertainment & Event Center in Mound View, Minnesota, provides space for corporate meetings, trade shows and other business events. The 100,000-sf facility has one ballroom with approximately 6,000 sf of space and another with 4,600 sf, as well as a 1,000-sf breakout room and a 4,400-sf garden tent. Meeting attendees can take advantage of 32 bowling lanes for competitive teambuilding events or simply enjoy bowling a few games.

With some options, a change of pace from the standard urban location is the main attraction.

At Spring Creek Ranch, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, conference participants experience the feel of a traditional Western ranch combined with modern amenities and a variety of entertaining activities. The facility has 125 guest rooms and 3,200 sf of event space offering natural light and views of the Teton mountain range.

Activities include white-water rafting where teams compete against one another, group tours of Yellowstone National Park led by the ranch’s resident naturalist, and team scavenger hunts or “amazing races,” which offer group challenges set up within a 1,000-acre wildlife refuge property.

Other possibilities range from scenic river trips and tram rides to the top of a mountain, to wildlife safaris in Grand Teton National Park, or in winter, snow coach rides or dog sledding.

Offering a similar approach is California’s Ranch at Laguna Beach, which has 60 guest rooms and a meeting capacity of 300 indoors and 800 outdoors. The 7,000 sf of indoor meeting space will be complemented by a new ballroom in 2016. Along with a golf course, the property features a varied teambuilding curriculum with options including sports, adventures, survivor challenges, an arts/teepee village and “ranch chef” culinary competition.

Other activities include horseback rides, guided nature hikes and winter options such as snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

Another type of experience can be found with high-energy options such as go-karts. Thunderbolt Indoor Karting in Richmond, Virginia, offers electric karts in climate-controlled surroundings with the option to use private space for meetings or rent the entire facility. The same goes for Autobahn Indoor Speeding in Jacksonville, Florida. Located in an 80,000-sf facility, the speedway includes a conference room and party room, and can accommodate group sizes from eight to several hundred. Activities include racing heats with a final race leading to an awards ceremony. Teambuilding options include a blindfold challenge, team endurance race and pit-crew challenge

Looking forward, a number of venues slated for opening or expanding in 2016 will include special activities as part of the appeal they offer for corporate meetings. At Hilton Anatole, a 1,600-room hotel in the design district of Dallas, a new $15 million resort-style outdoor pool complex will feature multiple swimming pools as well as an outdoor restaurant and a swim-up bar. Scheduled to open in May, the addition will allow guests to enjoy a 630-foot-long lazy river.

Another new offering in 2016 will be NLand Surf Park in Austin, Texas, being marketed as North America’s first inland surf park. Slated for opening in spring 2016, the park will feature artificially created waves designed to let anyone, regardless of previous experience, experience the thrill of surfing. For corporate teambuilding, activities will include dry-land training, professional demos and the opportunity to be videotaped for inclusion in personal or group montages.

The park will feature 11 surfing areas with four different surfing levels ranging from beginner to professional. The latest in wave generation technology will create 1-foot, 4-foot and 6-foot waves.

Whatever the venue, meetings that include some extra activities can go a long way toward enhancing the overall experience.

“Meetings aren’t always fun,” says Ellison Bourbon, an events planner at Globality, an IT firm in Menlo Park, California. “Adding some entertaining activities can make the experience more enjoyable for everyone.”

In her current role and with previous employers, she has coordinated meetings highlighted by activities ranging from archery to grape-crushing contests.

She says that along with other benefits, the value of providing opportunities to step outside routine business relationships should not be discounted.

“It’s nice when everyone is on the same playing field,” she says. “An intern can beat the CEO at some type of enjoyable competition. And people do like to compete.”

The end result can be a good morale booster, Bourbon says, even if some extra coordination is needed.

“It just takes a little initiative by the event planner,” she says. “Do something outside the box.” C&IT