While everyone knows that beachside locations easily fulfill vacation objectives, it may come as a surprise to learn that they can play a big part in fulfilling business objectives as well.
Team building, often with an environmental or CSR (corporate social responsibility) angle, is an increasing emphasis at many coastal destinationanges. Activity choices can range from picking up beach litter to improv-inspired training and building sandcastles.
Hilton Head Island
Destinations with a strong CSR focus include South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island, which offers a turnkey program for meetings that focuses on community activities and the environment.
"We have The Hilton Head Island Difference that we started last year to make it easy for organizations to include a CSR component into the meetings," says Jessica Gardo, marketing manager for the Hilton Head Island CVB. "We make all the appropriate local contacts , like United Way or our maritime culture center, to put these together."
The bureau customizes CSR programs for meeting groups of up to 25 people that can last from two hours to a half day. Examples include reading with children at a Boys and Girls Club, landscaping or picking up floating litter from boats.
More traditional team-building projects on Hilton Head include golf tournaments, beach olympics, ropes courses and a lot more, according to Gardo.
"Orienteering has become very popular, and we have Outside Hilton Head, a local company that uses seven tiny islands off Hilton Head for orienteering, ropes courses and other team-building programs," she says. "Paddleboarding is one option. One stands on a surfboard and uses a paddle to move the board."
Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina’s largest beachside meetings destination, has an array of activities for team building and corporate training. Among the options are training programs offered by locally based Carolina Improv that incorporate improvisational techniques related to singing, acting and environmental sensitivity.
"We take skills from improv theater and apply them to business settings," says Gina Trimarco, director of training and entertainment. "Improv requires you to be a good listener and hyper-aware of what is going on around you. And you need to be able to read your audience and body language.
We do a lot of exercises, for instance, that get people to be more open to accepting ideas from others," she continues. "Improv trains people to slow down their thinking and work with a team."
Sessions, which can be conducted at a wide variety of settings, including the beach, are ideally designed for about 30 people, a number that "lets everyone get involved in the process," she adds.
"Improv is very much a team sport in its own right, and a means to make a partner look like a rock star," she says.
South Padre Island
Think sandcastle building is only for kids? Not along the strand at Texas’ South Padre Island, where a company called Sandcastlelessons.com organizes team-building activities for groups built around creating sculptures out of sand.
"We specialize in getting people to communicate and talk to each other," says owner Andy Hancock, a professional wood and ice sculptor. "Business groups who stay in the hotels here learn we are the best kept secret on the beach."
According to Hancock, sand sculpting activities are ideal for groups of around 20, who are divided into teams of two or three people, and work for all skill levels.
"You don’t have to be an artist to get into the action," he says. "The point is to get people in sales to talk with the accountants, to get to know people throughout the company. What we teach in as little as an hour here helps people do that. I like to put people together who have never met each other and watch them get acquainted."
Little Simons Island
Scavenger hunts, beach cleanup and wildlife excursions are popular options for groups based at Georgia’s The Lodge on Little St. Simons Island, according to locally based naturalist Abby Sterling, who arranges environmentally focused activities for groups.
"We divide groups into teams and send them out to explore the island for things like shell and plant identification," she says. "Points are awarded for successes. We are a tiny island with space for only 32 overnight guests. This environment allows people to focus on business when they need to, and interact with each other during these kinds of exercises."
