The complete guide to planning a company offsite
The ultimate team offsite agenda template
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Laying the groundwork for a company offsite: 6 questions you need to ask
- How long do you want your offsite to be?
The TravelPerk MICE team recommends two days with one overnight stay. Less than that makes it a more casual team-building event rather than a company offsite. And, anything longer can take too much of your colleague’s personal time. This is the sweet spot! - When do you want the offsite to take place?
Consider your business’s seasonality—is there a natural low period when you’re better off running an offsite? Also, consider where your offsite is going to be in the world. For example, TravelPerk has offices in Barcelona, Spain, we take advantage of the sun and sea. That’s why we tend to run our offsites in September and October—just after the holidays so people are rested, but not so far into Q3 that people would feel like the offsite is a distraction from their working flow. Picking the right day of the week is also just as important as picking the right season. We suggest running your offsite from Thursday to Friday. People tend to be more enthusiastic towards the end of the week. This way you’re not taking time away from their weekends! - Where will your offsite take place?
Make sure you’ve chosen a location that isn’t too close or too far away from your pick-up point. You want people to feel like they’re being whisked away, but not like they’re being shipped off to Timbuktu. - What type of offsite is it going to be?
Decide if you want this to be primarily a team bonding experience or a strategy-focused offsite with skill development on the agenda. “Both” is a perfectly legitimate answer! You can plan a great kick-off, for example, where you discuss objectives, goals and strategies for the next year—and you can sprinkle in a few fun activities along the way! - What’s your budget?
Divide your budget into essentials like venue, travel, food and activities. Focus on impactful activities that align with your goals—think of team-building workshops, skill sessions or outdoor adventures that foster collaboration and creativity. If you have the time, look for cost-effective alternatives without compromising quality like opting for mid-week travel discounts or choosing local caterers over high-end dining. Remember, a well-allocated budget ensures your offsite delivers maximum value without unnecessary overspending. - Who is attending?
This might seem silly because the obvious answer is “the entire team”. But actually, it’s not such an easy question. You have to think about team dynamics and your budget. For example, do you include contractors in your offsite? What about colleagues who sit between multiple teams? What do you do with team members from different hubs? Decide the parameters of who your offsite is for and adjust it accordingly. If you’re a fully distributed company, perhaps it’s more cost-effective to break your offsite into micro-offsites that cater to teams on specific continents or employees from specific teams.
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Your offsite team meeting agenda template
Offsite planning before you go
- Set up a Slack channel for your team where they can ask any questions in advance about the upcoming offsite. People will want to ask you things, especially if your event involves an overnight component. This open communication channel will help build trust and ensure everyone feels prepared.
- Sort out your speakers. One of the main purposes of an offsite team meeting is for everyone within that team to gain visibility over what everyone else is doing. It’s important for you to get a speaker from each “sub-team” to get a little bit of air time to explain what they’ve been up to and what’s coming next.
- Assign a designated note-taker. It’s always useful to record these sessions, whether that’s digitally or by asking people to take notes for the team. Meeting minutes will end up being very useful when colleagues get back to their daily tasks and need to start developing an action plan! This is a great use case for teams wanting to implement AI into their processes—allowing your participants to stay present.
Offsite agenda during your event
Day 1: Thursday, early morning
- Have the team meet bright and early (but not too early, you don’t want grumpy faces in the team photo). If you’re in separate accommodation, agree on an easy-to-reach meeting point where the team will be picked up by transport. Give them 15 minutes of leeway to arrive before you set off!
- Make time for coffee and snacks upon arrival. Give people time to check in. Once they settle into their rooms, provide them with coffee and snacks to make them feel more comfortable and welcome. Top tip: coffee and cookies help early starts!
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Thursday, late morning - afternoon
- Gather everyone in one space. Normally a conference room-style setup is best and most comfortable for the sessions ahead. If that’s not available, consider booking a corporate meeting venue. Make sure everyone has a place to sit and provide them with a notebook and some pens, as well as water bottles—if they’re branded then even better!
- Start by going through the team agenda items. Tell your team what to expect out of the next day or so, and leave time for questions.
- Get the ball rolling with a few icebreaker games! Setting up a fun quiz on apps like Kahoot can really get people into the swing of things. Asking them questions about other team members and about company facts can be a fun way for people to get to know one another!
- Launch into a round of spotlight sessions. Give each team a fixed amount of time to run retrospectives on what they’ve been doing, highlight significant ongoing or upcoming projects, share what they’re planning or take you through important metrics.
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Thursday afternoon - early evening
- Break for lunch! Don’t try to torpedo people into listening to 6 hours of presentations in a row. After about 2.5-3 hours, give them an hour’s lunch break to chat and refuel.
- Resume spotlight sessions. Keep going with another 2-3 spotlight sessions after lunch. Make sure you’ve given each team enough time to present what they had planned and leave a few minutes at the end of each session for questions.
- Run a creative group activity. Break your team into smaller groups of about five or six and assign them a challenging and creative task. This can be anything from a simple brainstorming session about an upcoming project to a full-scale strategic planning session for a fictitious situation. The idea here is to mix people up with team members they don’t work with on a daily basis and give them a challenge to think out of the box. This will help them connect with one another and will hone their problem-solving skills!
- Wrap up the day’s work. Finish the day’s workshop sessions with a short recap of what was covered. Walk people through what’s in store for them that evening and touch base on your action items for the next day.
Thursday evening
- Give people a bit of free time. The day’s been intense—they deserve a break! Let people go back to their rooms, freshen up, take a nap or call their families. You’d be surprised at how many of them will decide to use this time to hang out together anyway!
- Get people together for dinner. Don’t forget to feed people. A dinner is a great way to wrap up an exciting first day of workshopping and team building. It’s also an excellent opportunity for leadership team members to say a few words in a more casual setting and really get people motivated for what’s to come.
- It’s party time. Let’s face it: your teammates may want to party! That’s one of the big perks of a company or team offsite. This is where friendships start to blossom and memories are made without people thinking and talking about OKRs, planning meetings and optimising workflows.
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Day 2 of your offsite agenda
Friday morning
- Start the day right with a team breakfast. Don’t make it too early and let people sleep in a little to recover from the party the night before. Our tip is to get people together around 9 or 10 am and give them a hearty breakfast!
- Run a fun team-building activity. Think out of the box and make people do something new and interesting. Maybe it's a scavenger hunt. Maybe it’s an egg drop contest from the roof of your accommodation building. Maybe it’s a human knot. Either way, get people moving and thinking creatively!
- Let people gather their things and provide an optional lunch. Give people some downtime. Some might want to pack and have a light lunch with teammates. Others might want something more active and go for a walk with colleagues. Give people the option to finish the event the way they want to.
- Get everyone back home safe! Make sure everyone is aware of the designated departure time. Always give 10-15 minutes of leeway to make sure everyone has got everything. Finish off the event stress-free.
What to do after your company offsite
- Send a follow-up email asking for feedback on this event. Include the link to a short survey where you can understand what you did right and where there’s room for improvement.
- Share the meeting notes from the spotlight sessions with the whole team. They will no doubt come in handy when teams start making plans for the upcoming quarter.
- Give everyone access to a photo folder. Photos from events always put a smile on people’s faces, and encourage team members to share on social media if they wish—it’s great for employer branding.
- Carefully review your budget and spending and create a travel and expense report. Keep all receipts and invoices for your finance team and as a reference for future offsites.
- Start learning and planning for your next team offsite event!
Simplify your offsite planning with TravelPerk
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TravelPerk can help you organise group travel for events with ease — and take advantage of great group travel discounts!
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