Planning an executive retreat requires plenty of legwork
By Paul D. Kretkowski
If you were one of those kids who dreaded homework throughout high school, then planning an executive retreat may not be for you.
Advance preparation is the name of the game. Work on an executive retreat starts with getting inside the client's head, and planners thoroughly survey potential retreat participants ahead of time. This provides baseline knowledge about executives' personalities and, crucially, their input about where they believe their firm is heading, says Ed Tilley, president of El Cerrito, Calif.-based Adventure Associates.
"Let's say I've got a group dealing with a key leadership-position change,” he says. “We'll offer an electronic team assessment ahead of time, and we'll massage the agenda based on what the rest of the team reveals about their strengths and the opportunities. At other times they know they want to assess personality types, so that involves Myers-Briggs [personality tests]."
Heather Ramsey, a Redwood City, Calif.-based performance specialist for Insperity Inc., agrees.
“Let's say there are seven people on a board retreat,” she says. “I'm doing probably somewhere between 30-60 minutes per person of work to understand them, so up to seven hours total for a retreat. I'd probably do a personality assessment—we do Myers-Briggs or DISC, or use the StrengthsFinder book, which comes with an assessment."
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CSR Tips and Trends
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
1:00 PM EST, 12:00 PM CST,
11:00 AM MST, 10:00 AM PST
Corporate social responsibility programs in many cases have become an integral part of a meetings program. This webinar takes a look at some of the more innovative CSR options and provides tips on how to organize and promote a program that gives back to the community while energizing attendees.
Join Meetings Focus and tech team-building expert John Chen to discover unique new ways to incorporate CSR (corporate social responsibility) elements into your team-building programs. Learn how a good CSR program can invigorate attendees while also reinforcing organizational branding and giving back to the community.
Participants will learn the following:
- At least three new ideas for CSR
- How one company incorporated CSR into its 2,000-person product launch
- How to measure CSR impact
- Choose at least one action item for your next CSR program
Earn CEUs: This webinar is worth 1 clock hour of continuing education toward the initial CMP application and recertification through the Convention Industry Council.
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Contracting with Sovereign Nations
Original Air Date:
January 16, 2013
Join Meetings Focus and Lisa M. Koop, an attorney for Washington state’s Tulalip Tribe, to discover the many considerations, and advantages, when entering into a contract with a sovereign people, such as Native American tribes. This free one-hour video webinar travels to the Tulalip Resort Casino for the presentation, where we catch up with Linda Botts, the resort’s national sales manager, and take a look around the property with a group of meeting planner FAM participants.
As a result of participating in this session, you will:
- Understand the differences involved when working with a tribal organization
- Discover what conflict resolution tools are offered by tribal councils
- See what advantages, such as with staffing and amenity inclusions, a property operated by a sovereign nation can provide
Earn CEUs: This webinar is worth 1 clock hour of continuing education toward the initial CMP application and recertification through the Convention Industry Council.
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Las Vegas Sands, the world's largest casino company, is asking as much as $1 billion for the Bethlehem casino, according to sources.
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The iconic Clift Hotel, located nearby San Francisco’s Union Square at 495 Geary Street, has reportedly been purchased by an affiliate of Hospitality Properties Trust for $120 million.
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The world’s first Nobu Hotel, at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, is set to open and welcome its first guests on February 4.
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To conclusively establish the link between travel and its effect on relationships, education, business and communities, the U.S. Travel Association is launching "Travel Effect," a multiyear, multimillion-dollar advocacy and awareness campaign.
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Loews Hotels & Resorts have announced that the company and Universal Parks & Resorts have broken ground on Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, currently one of the largest hotels under construction in the United States.
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Visit Jacksonville has announced the selection of Paul Astleford as its next president and chief executive officer. Astleford arrives in Jacksonville after heading Experience Columbus, in Columbus, Ohio, where he served as president and CEO since 2000.
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The San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau changed its name to the San Diego Tourism Authority, to better reinforce its mission as a tourism promotion entity.
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Ernest (Ernie) Wooden, Jr., a long-time senior hospitality industry executive and Los Angeles-area resident since 1999, has been named President and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board (LA Tourism).
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The Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau (FWCVB) announced that Bob Jameson has been named as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the bureau.
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No More Bored Meetings
The right setting, food and content create the ideal small meeting/executive retreat
By Michael Bassett
While there are many factors that determine whether an executive retreat will achieve its goals, content and venue usually trump them all.
The venue really can enhance the small meeting/executive retreat experience, says Anne Thornley-Brown, president of Executive Oasis International, a Toronto-based consulting company that specializes in team building and executive retreats.
"For example, something like a desert survival simulation has been popular forever," she says. "You have people sit in a boardroom and engage in an exercise about what happens if you're lost in a desert and you try to draw parallels to business. Well, that's much more possible if you actually take your attendees to the desert. The environment is there and all of the senses are engaged, and people really do have the experience."
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