On the race track, the drivers at F1 Boston may be concerned only about the list on the leader board. But inside the corporate offices of the racing center, the company’s executives are concerned with a different kind of list – that of the top businesses in the region.
It’s a common thread that runs through the lists published in local business publications, according to F1 Boston Marketing Director Glen Ransden. Whether it’s law or accounting firms, the most successful ones seem to have held off-site events at the Braintree facility.
In fact, more than half the companies listed as “best places to work” in the Boston Business Journal had come to F1 Boston, he said, a total of 172 times.
“The more successful they are, the more it seems that they come,” Ransden said.
On the surface, it seems like an odd business for F1, which looks more like a place to bring a group of friends than prospective clients. But don’t let the race car theme and party music fool you. According to Ransden, about 80 percent of the facility’s customers are corporate clients.
Since opening in June 2000, F1 Boston has hosted about 6,000 companies looking to do off-site events. About 1,700 came to the facility in 2006 alone, Ransden said. They used the facility for corporate outings, product launches, team-building exercises and trade shows, he said.
It’s become a niche for F1 Boston, the brainchild of business entrepreneur and professional racecar driver R.J. Valentine.
Ransden said that Valentine first came up with the idea while in Europe. There, he witnessed the immense popularity of indoor kart racing. But while running the small karts around the track was primarily a recreational activity in Europe, Valentine decided to promote the activity as a means of corporate motivation.
And according to Ransden, it can end up being the perfect metaphor.
Jamie Shepard, vice president of technology solutions for Marlborough, Mass.-based International Computerware, said that the company has utilized F1 Boston on several different occasions, mostly as a means to offer seminars for clients.
Shepard said that the firm has been able to introduce clients to one another and even give company employees an opportunity to meet one another.
Jim Froio, a Massachusetts Burger King franchise owner, said that he helped organize an outing for 300 employees from across the region at F1 Boston. The most beneficial part of the event was the pit stop, he said, which taught employees the value of team work.
“Whether you’re in a race car environment or you’re in a business environment, you don’t get the job done if you don’t work together,” Froio said.
One of the more popular activities corporate clients include in their program is one where the company breaks off into teams of five, and they compete to get a Porsche up to speed for a race. Each team member takes on a different responsibility. Part-way through with an exercise, the team gets to reassess the strengths and weaknesses of each member, deciding if they want to change positions or trade members with another team.
Ransden said it’s much like in corporate world, where a good worker may possess skills that could make them better suited for another position.
The heart of the track is its two race courses. While the courses are open to the public, corporate clients also can use them for team-building exercises during their outings. Employees get dressed up in full racing gear and compete against one another in events that aim to boost adrenaline and give the employees something to take home.
“The metaphors are very, very practical and very applicable back at the office or the plant,” Ransden said.
To further enhance F1 Boston’s corporate events, the company has a wide array of motivational meeting speakers that companies can utilize. The facility also has eight meeting areas, a full-service restaurant – the Ascari Café – and catering capabilities.
Ransden said the setup of the facility can make trade shows more interesting. With the knowledge that many booths get passed over at those types of events, past clients have utilized a technique where attendees split off into different teams and then must go to different booths to collect their passes for activities at the facility. That way, not only are the attendees eager to get the information, but are also able to network with one another.
Another, once-per-year event that corporate clients have found beneficial is F1 Boston’s Corporate Fight Night (Ransden said the name of the event is slated to change). The event features a boxing card and a casino, with proceeds going to charity. Ransden said that the event allows for networking, but even if attendees are unable to network with the person that they want to, they are given access to a Web site set up specifically for the event. There, the attendee can contact anyone at the event they may have missed.
“Pretty much anything you can think of that a company needs to do and needs an off-site place to do it, we do it,” Ransden said.
