top of page
Cotswolds Falconry Corporate Away Day

Corporate away days that know what they're for

Celebrating 25 Years of Events

Away days can be valuable occasions because they can actually deliver three goals in one go. For example, an away day can coalesce a leadership team around a new or modified business strategy. It can also further develop the trust and connection that a great team runs on. Finally,  it can reward people for getting a great result.  
 
Away days that fail to hit the mark are usually those that try to do all three equally. In our experience, the ones people still talk about are those that identified a core purpose initially and then had the day built around that.  If you need some real insight based on experience, then talk to us. We've been designing and building corporate away days now for over 25 years - single days, overnight sessions or multi-night events.

​

  • Award-winning end-to-end event management

  • SafeContractor accredited

  • Away days designed and delivered across the M4 corridor, Oxford to Bristol, since 2001

  • Venue finding, logistics, catering and programme under one contract

​

Like to talk to us about your event ideas | 01793 772999 



Looking for inspiration perhaps?

​

  • Cotswolds Mindfulness Retreat​

  • Paris Treasure Hunt 

  • Rigid Inflatable Boat Adventure 

  • Wild Cooking Away Day

  • Charity Event 

  • Clay Shooting Away Day 

​

​​

​

​

 The three jobs an away day can do

Strategy.
 

An off-site leadership or project team meeting to discuss strategy often works very well. This might involve:

  • annual planning

  • problem solving

  • product roadmaps

  • to have conversations that never really get talked about in the office.

​

The Chosen Venue is generally not about a wow factor but is more about being able to focus. We're talking about good rooms, good lighting, no interruptions - a good, comfortable space where people can walk between sessions and focus on the business to be discussed.
 

Connection.

​

This type of day is really more about the team and less about the agenda. Colleagues who have little opportunity to really get to know each other, get to do just that during a day of actually being people - just working and relaxing together.  These are away days that can often change how a team actually talks to each other for months afterwards.


Reward.

 

It might be a milestone hit, a year completed, or a major target beaten. Maybe something else. This is the kind of day (or the overnight) that can be seen as a thank you and it should feel like one. The venue, the food, and the pace all say that the company took notice.


In practice, most of the briefs that we receive contain a bit of all three. That's to be expected but the real question to focus on is which one actually leads in priority for your planned day? .

Focus on the aim of the day

This is what a disappointing away day really looks like. The managing director wants decisions. HR wants a bonding opportunity. Finance signed the day off as a reward. In practise the day becomes a third planning workshop, a third activity, a third treat - and ends up satisfying nobody.  

Leadership didn't manage to complete the agenda. The team felt the fun was rationed and the reward really didn't feel like one because everyone worked half the day.
 

Fixing a disappointing away day is fairly straightforward to say but takes discipline to actually do. You must pick the primary purpose of the day and let the other two support it, rather than challenge and compete with it.

A strategy offsite with a genuinely good dinner at the end makes sense - the dinner that serves the thinking. A reward overnighter with a short optional session works as well - the session doesn't steal the day.

When we take an away day brief, the very first question we ask is always the same: "What does this day most need to achieve for our client?" Everything else will follow on from the answer.

Different days in the same venue

Strategy leads - Your day runs in two or three blocks of work with proper breaks, lunch kept light and quick, phones parked and the social element held back until the evening. Which is where it belongs.

 

Connection leads - You aim to fit the working content into a short morning time scale. The middle of the day opens up and meal time stretches because the conversations at the table are the point.


Reward leads - The schedule loosens altogether - late start, long lunch, free time that's genuinely free, and the only fixed point is the dinner.

Of all possible goals, the schedule loosens most with this one. It's the late start, a long lunch, free time that's genuinely free, and the only fixed point is the dinner.​

In the final analysis we still have the same venue, the same headcount, same budget. Three different types of day are possible as you can see. This is exactly why we ask about the purpose of your day before we ask about venues and other details.

What we handle for you

We can look after venue location across the M4 corridor region - options include country houses, hotels with proper meeting space, private-hire venues, racecourses and the unusual options a search engine won't surface for you.

​

We can take care of logistics and transport, accommodation blocks for overnight and multi-night formats, catering and dietary requirements, evening arrangements, audio-visual support for working sessions and the day-to-day management that lets whoever booked the day actually take part in it.

​

For workshop-led away days, we set the stage. We ensure you have the right room, the appropriate layout, the required facilities and the schedule you need - whether the workshops are run by your own leaders or an external facilitator you bring in.

​

We serve the M4 corridor and surrounding areas including West London, Reading, Newbury, Swindon, Bath, Bristol and the popular areas of Oxford and Cheltenham.

A recent away day example

Client: eToro

Event: Clay shooting event

Venue: Holland & Holland, Rickmansworth

Delegates:  12

​

Format for the day

Pre-event invitations sent with a signed copy of the Holland & Holland story
 

10:00 Meet, reception breakfast of bacon rolls, tea, coffee etc 

10:30 Gun measuring and historical briefing in the gun room

11:00 Introduction to clay shooting, gun handling, shooting techniques 

12:00 Light lunch

13:00 - 15:00 Clay shooting competition over 6 stands, 1 instructor to 4 delegates

15:30  Tea and cake

16:00 Transfer to Watford Grange hotel, check in and free time

19:00 Pre-dinner drinks

20:00 Dinner and clay shooting results and prizes

How we work away days

Our process runs the same five stages on every project - first chat, design and venue work, build, the event itself, a proper catch-up afterwards. On away days, the first chat is mostly about purpose: what the day needs to achieve, who's in the room, and what a good outcome looks like three months later.  Simon Maddison founded Planet Pursuits in 2001 and personally leads the first chat on every brief.

What we've learned about away day events

We've been doing this for quite a while now and we've worked with some pretty amazing organisations who have their own creative thoughts about engaging staff and associates. 

​

Sometimes we are there with practical advice on how we will execute this style of event and support them with logistics, suppliers, and the health and safety aspects. Other times, we are employed to bring our own creativity to this style of event. 

​

​What we have learned is that fresh ideas keep your associates engaged and rewarded but they also create a natural environment for creativity and innovation.

​

​

Questions about corporate away days

How far ahead should we book an away day?

For a single day at a non-peak time, six to eight weeks is workable. For overnight and multi-night formats, or anything in the May to September window, three to six months is more realistic - the venues with the best working space and accommodation under one roof book out first.

Day, overnight or multi-night - how do we choose?

Purpose and pace decide it, not budget alone. A single day suits strategy or a reward when people can travel in and out easily. An overnight earns its place when the evening is the point - a reward dinner or a connection day (where the best conversations happen after hours). Multi-night is really for genuine offsites - heavier agendas, dispersed teams or brainstorming/thinking get togethers that need more than one day to land.

Can an away day include workshops?

Yes, and many do. We design the day around your sessions - room, layout, kit, timings and breaks - whether they're run by your own managers or a facilitator you bring in. What we add is everything around the workshop that determines whether it works: the setting, the schedule and the parts of the day that aren't the workshop.

Do you run team building activities on away days?

We can build activity into an away day where connection is the purpose - our team building services cover this in detail here. 

What size group suits an away day?

We've designed away days from eight-person board retreats to full-company days in the hundreds. The purpose usually sets the size rather than the other way round - strategy formats work best small, reward and connection formats scale.

If an away day isn't quite the right format

 

For events better matched elsewhere in the corporate events service set:

​

Pick up the phone or drop us a line

Let's start the conversation. Just pick up the phone, and we'll start throwing around a few ideas, or if you feel more comfortable, just send us an email with what you're thinking.

​

​​​​Phone us today  01793 772999

Corporate away day for Nationwide wild cooking by Planet Pursuits
bottom of page