Offsites with
Purpose

Our leadership offsites are the events that your team members will be talking about 5 years later. (and for good reasons!) Most offsites are forgettable, “check the box” experiences. Deliberate Offsites are not.

Most offsites are planned by professionals who have never walked a mile in your shoes. They don’t understand. Our team at Deliberate Innovation has attended hundreds of corporate offsites as participants. And we have hosted dozens of corporate offsites and events as consultants. We know what it takes to create a purpose driven and fun offsite.

What makes a Deliberate Offsite different is:

Deliberate offsites are fun but not frivolous

Deliberate offsites are productive but not tedious and boring

Deliberate offsites are led by people who know how to inspire people

Deliberate offsites are customized to your needs, your culture and your people

Deliberate offsites will push your people to think differently

We follow a systematic and multi-step approach to planning your offsite.

It starts with our team conducting a fact-finding session with your sponsor and/or planning team to define your goals, outcomes, wishes and concerns. We turn those findings into an offsite planning brief that will enable us to start designing a highly customized offsite experience.

During the planning process, we conduct regularly scheduled (often weekly) planning meetings to ensure alignment.  And weeks prior to the offsite, we conduct a comprehensive “run of show” review with the planning team.  We also frequently host a “Participant Briefing” session to prepare and inspire participants in advance of the offsite.

Every offsite is customized for our client. That said, there are several elements that we design that are loved by our clients and we routinely incorporate. These include:

Purposeful Games and Energizers: We incorporate a variety of thoughtfully constructed games that are both purposeful and fun at the same time.

Interactive Competitions: We have adapted more than a dozen favorite games and competitions (e.g. Jeopardy, Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune) into games and exercises that help with briefing and preparing participants while competing and having fun together.

Moderated Discussions: Our team of professional moderators and interviewers turn a convention panel discussion or interview into an experiential session for all participants. By incorporating interactive technology and behavioral mechanics into the discussion, your participants will not only learn but they will be deeply immersed and entertained

Mini-Keynotes and Inspirational Talks: As a professional keynote speaker, Dan Seewald will often customize a short talk that is related to the theme of your offsite to inspire and energize your participants

Mini-Ideation Sprint and Workshop Exercises: We design elements from trainings and workshops to be embedded into your offsite so you can ensure a productive offsite.

These are just a sampling of exercises and activities that we have custom designed over the years. If you don’t see an activity listed above, chat with us to discuss how we can create it for you.

Our team is primarily focused on the design, hosting and facilitation of your offsite. We are also directly involved in the logistics and production of the event. However, Deliberate Innovation generally is not responsible for the procurement of the venue (although we make recommendations) or participant travel. For those services, we either subcontract an event planner from our network of partners or work with your preferred event planning team.

It depends.

We have hosted offsites as short as 4 hours. And we have corporate offsites that have lasted 2.5 days. On the average, most offsites are 1 full day.

We will customize the design and agenda to your time constraints, agenda, goals and outcomes. This will happen during the scoping phase at the outset of the project.

Team building events are usually short events that have the singular purpose of encouraging colleagues to collaborate and have fun together. They serve an important purpose but can also become very kitschy if conducted in a more traditional way. Some common team building events are: Team cooking class, scavenger hunt, escape room and more.

A Deliberate Offsite is very different. The goal of a Deliberate Offsite may include team building but that is not the singular purpose. Our offsites may focus on strategic alignment, learning and upskilling, problem solving as well as play and competition. Team building is one element that can be incorporated into a deliberate offsite.

At Deliberate Innovation, our offsite experiences are crafted to empower teams to collaborate more effectively and innovate more boldly. By blending engaging activities, cutting-edge technology, and a focus on actionable outcomes, we create an environment where great ideas are born and transformed into real-world solutions. Here’s how we do it:

Building a Collaborative Atmosphere: We understand that true innovation emerges from a collaborative atmosphere where every team member feels valued and heard.

Engaging Activities and Workshops: Our offsite activities and workshops are crafted to stimulate creative thinking and collaborative problem-solving.

Leveraging Cutting-Edge Technology: Incorporating state-of-the-art virtual facilitation tools, we enhance the offsite experience by promoting active participation and real-time collaboration.

Focused on Actionable Outcomes: Through structured follow-up sessions and detailed action planning, each team leaves the offsite with a clear roadmap and the necessary tools to implement their innovative ideas.

All to often participants come to a leadership offsite and all of the positive energy, learning and momentum that is built is lost.

That’s why your Deliberate Offsites are designed to build a community and retain the experience. At the start of every offsite, our team has built an event portal that includes participant backgrounders, event materials, outcomes and recommendations as well as photos and videos from the event.

Additionally, as part of the planning process, our team works with your sponsor and planning team to ensure there is structured follow-up sessions and actions.

We believe that an offsite is most worth it when you walk away with stronger bonds and tangible outcomes.

Internal teams can certainly plan and execute their own corporate offsite. But I would highly recommend against it. Here’s why:

Time: The amount of time it takes to plan and host a workshop is vastly underestimated. One research study found that corporate employees who do not regularly plan meetings spent more than 40% of their work hours planning the offsite. This is a very poor use of your time and is more expensive in the long run for the organization.

Expertise: Long ago, I learned how to do basic electrical work. It’s not THAT hard. But I don’t do it every day, or week or even month. The relearning curve can be steep. The frustration can be high. And if not done professionally, there can be a risk of significant breakdowns and failure.

Being Present: The most important reason, however, is being able to be present in the offsite. If you’re responsible for planning, hosting and leading, you will be unable to truly be participant and engage with your colleagues. Allow yourself to be present and be a participant.