So you’ve decided that a corporate retreat is the right idea for your team, and your business. The next step is figuring out where to go. Is your business in an urban area, with lots of noise, movement and sensory stimulation? If so, you may want to consider the contrast of a rural setting.
Another great feature of a corporate retreat in a mountain or rural area is cost. Often, more out-of-the-way destinations will impact the bottom line just a little less than metropolitan settings.
Now that you may be a little closer to knowing where the ideal area is for your company retreat, it’s time to think about what that event will look like — the setting and mood. Here are a couple of ideas to consider that will really take your team to another time (and depth…).
- Get wet. What better way to shake things up than getting your feet off the ground and onto the water. Well, not literally onto the water, but onto a boat. Depending on your location, a local or regional river, especially larger ones like the Sacramento River, offer riverboat event venues that include a restaurant and lodging. When the day is done, relaxing on the deck of a boat, enjoying a meal and exploring river communities of the Sacramento Delta via the water is possible thanks to excursion services that can be hired for a few hours or even a half-day.
Another water-based getaway for company retreats is Lake Tahoe, which straddles California and Nevada and offers plenty of outdoor and indoor recreation year-round. Lake Tahoe is loaded with event venues for any size team, from the towering casino hotels to vacation rental estates on the water, depending on your budget and the number of employees attending. Your team can truly capitalize on a totally new environment for brainstorming, goal-setting and collaboration time.
- Time travel. Anyone who’s watched Back to the Future knows how well time travel works to shake things up, and you don’t need a DeLorean to do it. In city setting, this might be a museum or historical estate that offers conferencing facilities or even an entire property. If history is really your thing, especially California history, one idea to look for in an event venue is not just historical property, but an entire town.
In Northern California, options are plentiful in the Gold Country, along the Golden Chain Highway – Scenic Highway 49. This 295-mile route is named for the 49ers (miners, not the football team) who flooded the regions from Plumas County to the north and Yosemite to the south, in search of their fortune during the Gold Rush. Small towns packed with Old West flavor, including gold mines, are everywhere, especially in Amador County. It is there that two of the deepest and at one time, most profitable gold mines in the United States are located, the Kennedy and the Argonaut. The Argonaut Mine alone produced more than $25 million in gold before being shuttered in 1942 due to the war, making it one of the richest mines in the United States. What better team-building activity than taking a tour of the Kennedy Mine, looking straight up at towering headframes, or winding through a historically accurate and to-scale mine shaft that’s been recreated to help visitors appreciate the conditions the miners endured.
Built in 1851, the historic Hotel Sutter, in the heart of the Gold Country, Sutter Creek, is a perfect business event venue with everything your team needs: a unique setting, privacy, a restaurant and two water holes, technology capabilities for every need, and plenty of interesting things to do after the workday is done. Painstakingly restored and preserved, this property is perfect for a mid-week corporate take-over that everyone can enjoy.
If you’re thinking about a Northern California event venue that’s close to both the Bay Area or Central Valley, and that offers a unique historical setting, technology capabilities for every need, and local wineries, contact the Hotel Sutter for more information or to book your corporate event today.