Budget should be at the front of your mind when planning your retreat. With your budget in mind the next thing to decide are your dates.
Dates effect everything when it comes budget and that’s because dates effect the location, local amenities, transport and of course climate. Confirming dates with your team as early on as possible is integral to ensuring as many can make it as possible.
So with that in mind here are the things to consider when you’re looking at selecting your dates.
Geography
Taking into account where the majority of your team are based is important. Ideally you don’t want a large number of your team taking 20 hour flights across the globe for reasons such as - environment, energy levels and flight costs can really absorb your budget.
Climate
Then you’ve got climate. Having a warm and sunny period of time together sounds like the dream. But if it’s heating up and there’s no working space with air-conditioning then that can have a dramatic effect on comfort and therefore productivity. Cold rainy get togethers can dampen the mood and mean you loose precious break out space.
Transport
Importantly dates can also effect the frequency in which flights come and go from the most local airports to an area. For example - there will be a lot more flight options for a retreat on the island of Mallorca in peak northern hemisphere summer, but also they become more expensive.
Holiday time
Your dates could also be effected by national and global school holidays and it’s often something that is overlooked.
Your team members will have to consider child care arrangements if a retreat is planned during their own national school holidays, or could have already booked time off during those periods. Taking into account when the majority of your team are going to be able to attend is really important.
National holidays in potential retreat locations could squeeze your budget. For example - costs for a retreat in Austria during European ski season could end up being astronomical, whilst a late Spring, early Autumn retreat could cost considerably less. Businesses at these times will be desperate to attract business, and there could be heavy discounts on offer during these times.
Whatever type of accommodation you decide to go for, if your retreat is longer than ~ 4 days, your team will really need to escape those four walls. Being able to go for dinner off site, or take a trip to a local town is integral to giving your team space, choice and freedom. If it’s off-season then it’s possible that restaurants, taxi companies and even whole towns could be closed down.
Business operations
Last but not least you need to consider when it’s best for your company to potentially stop production, customer support and general business operations and gather up your team in one corner of the world.
Additional days
Properties will have check-in/check-out times that suit them, but not a team of 20 + people turning up from all over the world and leaving.
Having early access to the property to allocate bedrooms, get shopping delivered, getting to know the property and staff onsite is worth its weight in gold.
Similarly having to chuck your team out at 10 am on the last day is not cool. Especially if they are catching a 20 hour flight at 10 pm that same day. Being able to let your team leave when it suits their transport plans better reduces a huge amount of stress for everyone.
If budget allows, booking additional days either side of the official retreat dates can reduce a lot of stress for you team, especially the organisers. If the dates aren’t available ask if you could pay for extended hours. You’ll be so grateful for the additional time and space when the time comes.