If you’re looking to boost team collaboration, consider hosting an offsite event. Check out these six tips for hosting a successful offsite event for your team.

1. Choose a Format

Offsites can range from simple team lunch gatherings or catered dinners to overnight team building experiences.

The event format you choose depends on factors such as your budget and goals. Below are a few options of how you can format your next team offsite.

In-Person offsite

Choose a location, make the arrangements, and gather everyone together face-to-face. For many businesses, this is often the preferred option as it allows your team to socialize in a new or fun environment. Employees can mingle with colleagues they don’t work with every day, forging new bonds that may  fuel creativity, communication, and a positive culture once everyone returns to the workplace.

In-person offsites also support a variety of activities ranging from hands-on classes to bonding experiences. These offer co-workers a shared story and experience that can benefit their team growth.

Virtual offsite

Virtual events tend to be less expensive to coordinate and are more inclusive towards members who aren’t local. Communicate a date and time to your employees and set an agenda so they know what to expect. Consider including virtual team-building activities like digital trivia.

Another creative way to enhance the virtual experience is offering individual meal perks so team members can safely order food from their favorite local restaurants and have it delivered during the offsite. All members of the team can enjoy their meals at the same time while connecting virtually.  For more ideas, check out three tips for catering your virtual events.

Hybrid offsite 

More than 70% of event planners think hybrid events will be more common in the future. This offsite format lets you include both in-person and virtual attendees, cutting down on travel requirements and letting team members make personal travel decisions. Consider including breakout sessions to ensure all team members feel included. During the sessions, you can discuss challenges, new opportunities to collaborate and host brainstorming sessions on upcoming projects.

If you’re providing meals, consider offering group orders or catering meals for employees attending in-person and providing individual meal perks to those at home to ensure parity.

2. Decide on a Time and a Timeframe

Choose how long the offsite event should be. Options may range from a few hours to an entire weekend or week and will likely depend on your format. Think through practical considerations for yourself, your team, and the business, including:

  • Time zone differences. If you’re hosting a virtual event and have team members in different time zones, be sure to choose an appropriate start and end time.
  • Flights and flight schedules. When flying team members in for an in-person event, make sure to take into account flight schedules and timing. If you start an event at 9 a.m., teams will need to fly in the night before.
  • The goal of your offsite event. True bonding and team-building may require a multi-day event, but making space for your team to unwind and get to know each other might only require an afternoon outing.
  • Your budget. The funds you have available can help shape the timing and format of your offsite.

3. Have Inclusive Food Options

Whether you’re gathering in-person or virtually, opt to provide food to enhance the team experience.

You can provide your team with individual meal credits so they can order their favorite meal themselves. Having team members select their own meals allows them to support local restaurants near them and takes into account their specific allergies and dietary restrictions. You can set the budget and ordering parameters, and you only pay for the meals that are actually ordered. In this way, team members can have their meals delivered to wherever they are working, whether they are in-person or remote.

4. Have Guest Speakers for Your Offsite 

Bringing in guest speakers for offsite events can be a way to present important information in a new and potentially more engaging way. Guest speakers also bring unique insights and knowledge, helping the entire team grow together. Consider surveying the team beforehand to understand what topics they would like to cover.

5. Include Team-Building Activities

Team-building activities are things your staff can enjoy and accomplish together that:

  • Puts them in a situation that fosters communication
  • Lets them create stories and experiences they can reference in the future
  • Makes space for people to get to know each other
  • Provides somewhat of a challenge they can overcome together to build confidence as a team

Think about what you can do together as a team that accomplishes some of those goals and creates a fun, inclusive environment. For more ideas, check out three team-building activities to improve company culture.

6. Consider Adding a Social Event and Team Swag

Show your employees you value their contributions by building in time during your offsite for team members to unwind. Including a social event, such as a happy hour or dinner, can help the team get to know each other outside of their day-to-day work responsibilities. You can also distribute team swag items, such as apparel, keychains, and tote bags that team members can take with them even after the event ends. If your team is celebrating virtually, consider shipping swag items to team members ahead of time.

Boost morale during your offsites with meals

Companies across the nation are leveraging Grubhub as a simple, flexible and cost-effective corporate ordering solution to help provide meals for their hybrid, remote and in-person teams. Keep your teams well-fed and happy at your offsites and beyond with Grubhub. For more information, contact us today.