Not yet gone, but slowly disappearing are corporate America’s traditional boardroom meetings during which employees sit through PowerPoint presentations and take notes.
Executives and employees alike are leaving their suits and ties at home and are putting on boxing gloves, life jackets and grabbing golf clubs on the way to their meetings, as a new generation and larger budgets mean outside-the-box thinking when planning a meeting.
Today, companies want new and exciting ways to host meetings.
Scavenger hunts through the city, sailing in Narragansett Bay or a wine tasting at the Sakonnet Vineyards are just some of the ways Southern New England businesses are hosting meetings.
Laurie Stroll, owner and president of Newport Hospitality, a destination management company in Newport, says executives are realizing that employees need extra stimulation, and sitting in a meeting room for eight hours just does not cut it anymore. Businesses are seeking more interactive ways to host meeting in less formal settings.
“You need something exciting and different, or they are not going to learn and get as much out of it,” Stroll said – “especially the younger generation where, for them, everything is so fast-paced.”
In years past, corporations have opened their wallets for all-expense paid company trips to various places from beach resorts in the Caribbean to skiing in Northern New England, but a downturn in the economy left many businesses tightening and some even closing their wallets.
Now, however, with the economy recovering, businesses are again hosting meetings and conferences. And with more creative ideas being put forward, they are again making room in their budgets for events that may cost as little as $2,500 or as much as $100,000, according to event planners.
Gloria Pacheco has seen an influx of companies moving meetings outside of the office and to other venues. Pacheco, a coordinator at the Aldrich Mansion, an estate situated on 75 acres of private land in Warwick Neck, said executives use the mansion’s conference room and breakout rooms for meetings, but they do so while enjoying breathtaking panoramic views of Narragansett Bay.
“Some people just want to get away from the office environment and away from the hustle and bustle,” Pacheco said.
“It’s a fantastic environment for brainstorming,” said DeLia McDermott, marketing and sales director at the Aldrich Mansion.
Hasbro Inc., Rhode Island Hospital and Kent Hospital are just some of many businesses that have had wine tastings and meetings at the Mansion.
“They just like the view and being away from the hotel-conference setting. [They] enjoy the ambiance of the architecture of the mansion,” Pacheco added.
For years, companies and corporate groups have been going to Newport to take advantage of the beauty, culture and water, according to Stroll.
“They are going sailing and experiencing something that Newport has to offer that you can not do back at the office,” Stroll said.
Robert Burke, co-owner with his wife, Ann, of the Federal Reserve in Providence, is seeing a trend in the number of businesses seeking innovative programs.
“The old days of just throwing a wild party for your employees has very much passed,” said Burke. “We are seeing event planners from corporations interested in attaining business goals during the process of entertaining.”
As a result, the Burkes offer several team-building programs such as indoor croquet, where they set up two challenge wickets and senior-level executives compete with lower-level managers or employees. The Federal Reserve also offers a competitive crêpe-making session during which employees are given chef’s hats and aprons with the company’s logo.
And another favorite is a competitive mixology workshop, in which employees receive shakers and water-filled bottles of liquor and are taught how to make mixed drinks, and they must shake up the bottles in front of their peers.
“These exercises level the playing field, and now no one is a pro,” Burke said.
Requests for team-building programs are constantly pouring in, according to Sharon Sullivan, president of Sullivan Custom Planning, a destination management company that services all of Southern New England.
“Team building has been huge, it’s been exploding,” Sullivan said “They are looking for scavenger hunts, cooking classes, spy games and Jeopardy.”
Team-building meetings allow companies to bring their staff together to help stimulate trust and unity.
“They are still having a meeting at say the Westin [Providence Hotel] or Biltmore Hotel but are requesting a lot of team building because they are realizing that they need to have a creative outlook to infuse the creativity, provide unity and have fun,” Sullivan said. “If their workers are happy, sales are good.”
Companies are realizing that if they spend the funds in the beginning of the year and provide incentives for employees to make sales goals by intertwining fun, the result is pumped-up employees and enhanced sales.
Creativity is king for those companies that prefer hotels as their venues of choice for meeting.
Sullivan’s group often transforms ball rooms into different themes that tie into the mission of the meeting.
For example, when one of Sullivan’s clients wanted the focus of the meeting to be on getting top sales quickly and expeditiously, Sullivan transformed the ballroom into a compass, with clues mimicking the CBS television reality show “Amazing Race.” Employees wore backpacks and followed clues leading them from sale to sale.
“The ballroom can sometimes be a blank canvas, and you can transform the room,” Sullivan said. “We do a lot of casino parties, clambakes and carnivals.”
Barnes Group Inc., an manufacturer of aerospace parts based in Bristol, Conn.. has tapped Sullivan Custom Planning several times to assist in planning meetings, but the company has planned a slew of its own destination meetings as well.
Charlene Chaplinski, manager of corporate meetings and travel for Barnes Group, said companies need fun to be part of their meetings. Barnes Group has had everything from river rafting meetings to trips to the mountains in Utah, where employees participate in team building activities all day.
“Our company believes training sessions and meetings such as these are important to inspire [employees],” Chaplinski said.
“I think companies nowadays understand that there is the business portion of the meeting to get across the message … the second part is the social part,” she added. “It goes back to the old cliché that some of the best deals are done on the golf course.” •
