Planning a Corporate Retreat at Ristonchi

Planning your destination company retreat at Ristonchi Castle can actually be pretty painless. We’ve done it before and we’ve streamlined the company offsite planning process for you:

1. GOALS AND VISIONS: 

   Meet with your leadership team and get a full idea of what they envision for this retreat. Start with the basics
   Who is going?
   What are we doing?
   Where are doing it?
   When are going?
   Why are we going?
   Your answers may look like this:
   Who: All employees
   What: A three night retreat with company-wide sessions, mixed team breakout sessions, a fun team building activity, a nice dinner party, a dance party and an off-site tour.
   Where: Warm location within EU. Flying distance within 2 hrs.
   When: Ideal Date One (plus possible back-up dates).
   Why: To integrate new hires and allow people on different teams to connect in an out of office setting. Get everyone out of the office and in a creative environment. Create unique bonds and give everyone a chance to be themselves.

2. THE BUDGET:

    With a clear idea of the goals and requirements for the offsite from your team you’ll be able to complete a clear budget as well.
   Break it down per night based on the following categories and start allocating an amount per required activity for the retreat.
   Transportation
   Venue
   Accommodation
   Workspace
   Food and Drink
   Team Building and Activities.
   These are the bones of the experience. Our recommendation for teams planning their first overnight retreat is to allocate at least $500/night/person for all-inclusive retreat experience. As your count goes up you may be able to lower the per person costs based on shared rooms and lower food costs for additional participants. If your leadership is still stuck on a random low-budget number they came up with in their head, our recommendation is to focus on eliminating some of the goals and requirements and plan a single day experience without transportation or venue costs.

3. BUDGET ALLOCATION:

   Whatever your budget is, in the beginning of a new project, work in terms of percentages to help find the perfect venue for your upcoming offsite. The lower you can go on the venue costs, the more budget you're going to have to invest in the WHY your team has decided to plan and execute this retreat for your team. Budget Allocation: Venue (30-35%), Food + Drink (30%), Team Building & Activities (25%), Workspace (5%), Transportation( 5%), Other(5%).

4. FIND THE PERFECT VENUE: 

   If one of the goals is to inspire a more cohesive and connected team, we always recommend starting with sourcing a buy-out option for offsite venue. Gather a list of destinations based on your leaderships vision, goals and requirements and start making a more condensed list of properties of interest. Once you have 5-8 seemingly PERFECT properties, boil that down to the top 3 and get in touch with them. Venues, most often, will be willing to provide a discount to get your team on-site, especially mid-week.

5. OUTLINE THE ITINERARY: 

   Once you have a venue locked in, build a sample itinerary that hits on all of the things you want to accomplish on this offsite. Don't be afraid to dream big here, we can always dial it back once we cross off a few essential items. A typical sample itinerary would have transportation, check-in, team bonding activities, a structured team building event, work sessions, and meals.

6. PLANNING FOR TEAM BUILDING: 

   No one knows your team or the inner workings of your company culture better than you do. Use this to design team-building events that allow everyone to showcase their individual skills, personality and expertise as part of a small group within your team. To keep to your budget stick to onsite activities. What does your venue offer? At Castello di Ristonchi we offer pizza and pasta-making classes which are meals and team-building activities in one! You can also take a guided foraging hike, wine tasting, and a party with a bar and DJ. You can even design your own events like scavenger hunts, the team Olympics, relay races, etc.

7. PRE-RETREAT HYPE: 

   Don’t keep your corporate event a secret for long! Give hints and info internally to build momentum and excitement for the retreat. Setting up a simple landing page with a high-level idea of the activities, the work that's going to get done and the experience to expect is a fantastic way to spread the news.

Whether planning this event is one of the highlights of your role within the company or you dread it every year - take it one day at a time and find people who can help you create a memorable experience that is within your budget. At Castello di Ristonchi we can help you through every step of the process and be your guide. As long as you have a clear understanding of your company’s offsite goals, vision and budget; the corporate event planning experience will be simple, streamlined and maybe even fun!

Corporate offsite party at Castello di Ristonchi in Tuscany, Italy

Corporate retreat dinner at Castello di Ristonchi in Tuscany, Italy.