Goal Setting for Offsite Events

UNLOCKING EVENT SUCCESS: THE POWER OF DEFINING CLEAR OBJECTIVES In the dynamic world of event planning, one fundamental truth stands out: the essence of success lies in starting with the end in mind. 🎯 The foundation of successful event planning starts with a clear focus on business impact:   To drive business impact, it is critical to start with a laser focus on the outcome. This means having a clear vision of what you wish to achieve from the outset and holding yourself accountable to the results. This approach ensures that every aspect of the event design is aligned to your core objectives. 🔗 Aligning business and event objectives is the key to value creation:   Business objectives must drive event objectives and a misalignment between the two is a recipe for ineffectiveness. It is quite simple – if an event does not support the overarching goals of your organization, it simply won’t drive the desired value. 🤔 Ask the right questions:   In my experience many marketers and event professionals shy away from deep, outcome-focused conversations often because they are uncomfortable if the conversation goes below the surface level. However, these conversations are pivotal for the success of your event. Below are some essential questions that you can use as a guide to begin the conversation:   1.    What does the business need to achieve with this event? This allows you to understand the larger business context and how the event fits into it.   2.    How will we know if we have been successful? This allows you to define clear metrics or indicators of success to evaluate the event’s impact.   3.    What are the targets we need to achieve? This allows us to set specific, measurable objectives that align with the business goals.   4.    Who is our target audience? Know your audience, as they are the key to tailoring your event for maximum impact.   5.    What are their needs or challenges? Understanding your audience’s expectations and challenges ensure that your event is not just an event, but a solution.   Understanding these questions gives you the ability to design the right event experience to achieve the goals and design the right measurement program to articulate the event success or opportunities for improvement.   What are other questions you would add to the list?

Conferences are expensive, boring, and typically have low ROI....but company-led EVENTS on the other hand can be powerful signals. Here's the exact playbook we used at Onward to organize profitable events where prospects can have a great time AND move closer to buying: ➝ 1. Align on your goal. I used to make the mistake of expecting a close within 30 days of an event and would be continually disappointed based on that expectation. Now I consider events another "touch point" in the customer journey/funnel. Our goal is simply to usher the customer to the next stage of the funnel. So if all your leads are top of the funnel, don't expect to close at the event. It's about a) learning what moves the needle for them and b) educating them on our ROI. This will result in moving them to the next sales stage. Your mindset and intentions here are important because otherwise, your pitch will misfire and either come off too brash or too aggressive. ➝ 2. Set the agenda to be what the client would want—not what you want. One of our go-to tactics is mixing education and entertainment. We would create an interactive, immersive learning session w/ a world-class expert with a focus on equipping attendees with tangible takeaways in addition to networking. ➝ 3. Find great partners. In order to share the budget, we typically find like-minded companies that we want to partner with and share customer leads. We participated in Retention.com's marquee summer event in Malibu called Retox and it was one of the more lavish events we've been a part of with over 200+ brands attending. It takes a lot to move the needle for customers to get excited and sometimes you have to go all out! ➝ 4. Yet the simplest format is often the most effective—an intimate, private dinner. You'd be surprised at how much common ground you can find with a potential customer over a 2-hour dinner. Typically there are no pitches, just real connections. The sales pitches will come later—but upfront it's about getting to know one another and seeing how it would be to work together. Sales is about developing relationships and meaningful relationships are built when people can let their guard down and simply connect as human beings. And that's exactly what we aim for. So if you're tired of the same old networking scene and you're craving experiences that truly move the needle, I'd love to connect. What are some unique events you've thrown? I'm always looking for new ideas.

Last week, my team here at Google came together in NYC to plan for FY 2024. We had a productive end of year offsite and a topic surfaced that has been top-of-mind for me recently — purpose before action. 💭 Previously, I wrote about embracing progress over perfection, so it’s important to note that there is a difference between paralysis by perfectionism and intentional, often strategic, pauses to develop a purpose-driven approach. We operate in a world that often glorifies busyness and quick wins, so it’s easy to get caught up in hustling without a clear sense of direction. Intention makes all the difference, so start by assessing your current state of business and then focus on where you want to go. In my team’s offsite, we set clear business targets and priorities. Then moved to the how and who — execution and resources required. 📍Where We Are - Current State of Business Understanding our current position is the first step towards meaningful action. Embracing where we are and acknowledging our strengths, challenges & gaps sets the foundation for purposeful decision-making. This introspective step also aligns with our commitment to the new business targets and priorities — it’s about plotting our current state and moving forward from there. 🗺️ Where We Are Going - Business Targets & Priorities Purpose requires a destination. What are our long-term business goals, and how do they align with our mission and business objectives. Again, setting a clear vision isn’t about perfection — it’s about progress. Like the iterative mindset we championed at our offsite, finding purpose is an ongoing journey, not a fixed endpoint. 🎒What We Need - How & Who Identifying what the business & organization needs is a dynamic process, echoing the sentiment that “good enough” isn’t about settling — it means being realistic. Just as we emphasized at the offsite, perfection is often an obstacle to action. By understanding our needs, we empower ourselves to make impactful decisions while staying rooted in reality. By taking a moment to assess where we are, where we're going, and what we need, we pave the way for purposeful & progressive business actions. In a world that requires speed & adaptability, let’s move and be agile with intention. 🚀 #PurposeDriven #ProgressOverPerfection #Strategy #TeamOffsite #WomenInTech #WomenLeadership #DiverseLeadership #Leadership

Have you done your strat planning or goal planning for next year? It may seem like there is no time, but this is so important to do. It may seem tedious and there's always another part of the business competing for attention but this is so essential for a business. I schedule our strat planning session for the winery early December each year. First, Greg Frichette and I take two days early December to meet offsite. The following week we meet for a day with our leads to cascade goals and plan out the year. Prior to our meeting, we are studying the previous years scoreboard, pulling reports and reading data, and looking over surveys. Throughout the year, we've had leadership meetings with our leads each month to discuss business results and what's working and not working. We revisit those notes too. At our two day offsite, we have an agenda, which starts with reading our vision out loud to remind us of where we are going. We then do a quick recap of our current scorecard which rates us on our annual goals and how we did in relation to our vision. We talk lessons learned. Then we dive into looking forward and planning for the next year. The outcome is 3-5 SMART Goals for the organization, an action item list of SOP updates and next steps. We then communicate this to our leads so they are prepared to meet with us the following week to craft their cascading goals. By the beginning of the year, we are ready to meet with our full team to communicate the company goals and then work with each team member to craft their individual goals. This method of planning takes a lot of time. The results are great when we do this well. We are able to create realistic goals that guide our behaviors. And we are able to motivate our team with goals that tie to our vision so they understand the "why". The best part. As we meet our goals and grow, we can make a bigger impact and contribution to our team and our community. What tools are you using to plan for next years goals? Do share. #goalsetting #strategy #smallbusiness #planning #scoreboard #accountability #winery #winerygoals #growth #teambuilding

Planning a company retreat? Here are some top tips from Nango (YC W23) latest offsite in Catalunya: 🌿 Choose an Inspiring Location We opted for a calm, natural environment that boosted our creativity and relaxation. Our picturesque house, just a short drive from Barcelona, provided everyone with their own room, ensuring comfort after a day's brainstorming. ⚖️ Balance Structure and Downtime It's all about the right mix! We engaged in a quarterly planning session, a product brainstorm, and a challenging 2-day hackathon. The remainder of our time was dedicated to entertainment and strengthening team bonds. 🎯 Set Clear Objectives Our retreat goals were to strengthen team connections, align on strategic goals for the upcoming quarter, and drive innovation through our hackathon. The hackathon, in particular, proved excellent for forging stronger bonds while remaining productive. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you want tips on organizing a great hackathon!

One harsh truth about planning team offsites: No one cares about the work you put into planning them.  Sure, it took 40 hours on top of your actual job to pull it off. - You skipped lunch to research locations.  - You email vendors between meetings.  - You even spent the weekend figuring out the agenda. And that will probably get you some sympathy - but it won’t get you the recognition - or the results -  you want 🙈 As someone who’s worked in HR (and planned a lot of events!) I know - it’s frustrating! Here’s the framework I recommend for offsite clients: ✅ Define ✅ Design  ✅ Delegate Define Start with the impact you want the offsite to have. - Check the employee survey: where are people hurting?  - Talk with leadership: what do they want to see more of?  - Talk to your team: what have they observed about 1 & 2? Using the input you gather, define 1-3 areas of impact for your offsite. Then it’s time to design around that 👇 Design This is what the offsite looks like. Think: - The agenda - The speakers you invite - The team building activities  - The celebration The secret here is to map everything on the agenda to your impact points. The decisions become easier. No correlation to the impact areas? Get rid of it. And the last step is a breeze 👇 Delegate You know the impact and you’ve created the agenda. If you’re a VP or Head of HR, your job here is done. Delegate the planning to your team (or an agency). At the end of the offsite, measure for impact + report back to leadership 💫 What do you think? #offsite #hrsinghts #culture

I asked ChatGPT to draft me a typical team offsite agenda. I like asking these kinds of questions to GenAI because you get a perfect statistically average answer - It’s a simple way to access the global mental model on a topic. The agenda I got was not surprising and reminded me of most of the offsites I’ve seen or participated in. The day was broken up in topics and the goal of each time block was to make a decision or to get consensus on the next step forward. But I think this format is missing the most important point: 🔥Offsites should not be organized to take decisions or force commitment. Honestly, it’s probably the worst possible moment for that. 💸 Time is limited, focus is hard to enforce, decisions are taken because people are hungry or because the time is up and not because they are confident, etc. Every single decision made in this context is weak and untrustworthy, even by the people who pushed for them. But as the whole process was extremely expensive and painful, nobody will challenge the outputs. Don’t get me wrong, I strongly believe in offsites. Just not the ones that force commitments or are just a succession of useless presentations. 👉 Offsites can become extremely profitable if they focus on setting the right collaboration context until the next offfsite. Who do I need to talk with? What may be our next interactions? How could we adress our next challenges together? How do we want to organize? Do I have knowledge that could be valuable for them? 🔥 How might we collaborate better? 🔥 These are the questions that should be central during offsites.

October marks the true start of Fall - And with it, shorter days, the return of pumpkin spice lattes, and of course Team Offsites! I had the pleasure of facilitating the first in-person offsite for a mental health startup in Los Angeles. With team members spread across the country, it was the first time many of the attendees had met face-to-face! Keep reading for my top 4 takeaways for a successful and engaging company offsite: 1️⃣ 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: Set clear and achievable goals. A well-defined purpose for the offsite helps everyone stay aligned and focused on the outcomes. It's essential to communicate these objectives in advance to ensure everyone is on the same page. 2️⃣ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺-𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀: Engagement is key! Organize interactive workshops and team-building activities that encourage collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving. These activities foster stronger relationships among team members and help them tap into their collective potential. Bring in an external, third-party facilitator (hi! 👋) for a fresh and objective perspective! 3️⃣ 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Create a safe space for team members to share ideas, concerns, and feedback. It's important to encourage everyone to participate and make their voices heard. 4️⃣ 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄-𝗨𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: The impact of an offsite should extend beyond the event itself. Implement a follow-up plan to ensure that the ideas, strategies, and action items discussed during the offsite are executed. Assign accountability and set deadlines to keep the momentum going. 🎉 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀: 𝗦𝗲𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻-𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆: For remote companies, the value of in-person interaction during the offsite cannot be overstated. Use this time to strengthen personal connections and build rapport. Encourage informal gatherings, such as lunches or team-building activities outside of work sessions, to make the most of the in-person moments. Here's to many more successful offsites ahead! What tips would you add to the list? —- #RemoteWork #TeamBuilding #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipDevelopment #Startups