In person meetings offer the opportunity for networking and team building. Photo Courtesy of IMEX America

Engagement. In the events industry, there’s no other key buzzword that’s causing more conversations since the in-person events regained dominance after the pandemic.

In-person meetings provide a platform for leaders to engage with employees, address concerns and motivate teams, fostering a sense of commitment among employees to their company and coworkers.

Engaged employees are more likely to contribute positively to the company’s growth, according to Kimsacha Williams Clarke, director of global accounts at Global Cynergies, who also plans corporate meetings.

“Getting employees engaged means that you’re showing that you value their opinions, and as human beings we like to feel valued,” she said. “Once you get them involved, especially if you decide as an executive team to implement some of the ideas that have been brought forth as a result of the meeting, then employees will feel a lot more willing to be loyal to the company. They will say, ‘You know what, here’s a company that listens when I speak, and they have a vested interest in what I have to say.’” In-person meetings offer the ability to establish personal connections and build relationships more effectively than virtual interactions, which is vital to company culture. Physical presence can stimulate creativity and innovation and can also facilitate spontaneous discussions, as well as valuable networking opportunities with more informal conversations.

“The whole point of meetings is really to get people together in order to get ideas flowing, and also to solve problems,” Williams Clarke said. “Attendees can collaborate on information in order to strategize and grow, because the whole point of having the meetings is really to see how best you can have that growth factor for corporate companies.”

Aside from leaving the door open for brainstorming sessions, in-person meetings provide a platform for direct and clear communication. Executives and team members can express ideas, share information and discuss strategies in a more nuanced manner, fostering better understanding among participants.

“When you come together each person can bounce ideas off of each other; then you realize that it does contribute towards productivity,” Williams Clarke said. “People can also help to put strategies together that will help increase business output, especially in sales meetings. You will have people giving ideas and coming up with creative ways in which they’re able to see that increase in sales and revenue.”

Meetings can also boost efficiency in communication, and potentially speed up decision making for a company. “It’s always good to encourage people to collaborate and to make unified decisions, so that there’s no time wasted on differences. Whatever time is wasted is a retraction from having growth” Williams Clarke said.

Corporate meetings also provide an opportunity to reinforce and promote the company’s culture, including its values and goals, which can help align employees with the organization’s mission and vision.

The Benefits of Team-Building Activities

Aside from the benefits during the meeting, the corporations can build stronger internal relationships through pre- and post-meeting networking as well as during team building activities. Trust is crucial within a team. Team building activities provide opportunities for team members to build trust by working together, relying on each other, and gaining a better understanding of individual strengths and weaknesses.

Williams Clarke agrees that offsite excursions and teambuilding exercise can boost morale as well as help forge new friendships. “Having anything outside of the typical meeting, like team building exercises will definitely help people collaborate together and will help them to say, ‘You know what, I may have thought of John as this kind of person, but you know, after being out there with him, John had my back.’”

Through team building, employees can identify their own strengths and the strengths of their teammates, which allows for more effective task allocation and collaboration. Team building can also help address and prevent conflicts by promoting better understanding and communication. Teams that are equipped with effective conflict resolution skills can navigate challenges within the company more smoothly.

“Humans are social beings; we need each other,” Williams Clarke said. “It’s innate in us that we need support from each other. We need the encouragement; we need the collaboration. You can have a great idea but when you have two persons coming together and gelling and putting those ideas together and just maximizing the power of the brain, then you can definitely see better results with group efforts than you can with just one individual.”

Team building activities often require a collective effort and can help foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills within the team, and can help employees identify their own strengths and the strengths of their teammates.

LaToya Williams, CEO of LNW Enterprises, a Military Spouse Owned Enterprise that focuses on personalized event planning, is seeing a trend with her corporate clients requesting more creative opportunities for networking and bringing conference-goers together. She said that can entail making the conference longer with attendees arriving the night before or possibly staying a day later for a team building opportunity. “Team building isn’t always climbing a wall,” Williams said. “We could be building something together or having a mocktail-making class or doing a first time Pilates or yoga class — something that shows that we’re all human and we all can connect in one way or another.”

She said she often hears back from the CEOs of the companies after their meetings that the morale at their company has increased. For sales team meetings or incentives, she has heard feedback that attendees either exceeded or met their numbers sooner than expected, which is attributed to add-ons like extra time spent on a team building activity. “It may cost the owner of the company money initially, but they’re going to get that return on their investment. A lot of companies now are starting to invest in their staff, so they don’t have high turnover,” she said.

One example of a creative team building activity she helped arrange was a take on a Jenga game with the pieces lettered with words like “dedicated” or “hard working.” She said, “Now not only are you moving pieces but you’re moving the pieces that resonate with who you are.” The result was participants learning more about themselves and their coworkers.

One of Williams’ clients is a car dealership with 12 locations across the Northeast. They have organized incentive trips for the 20 highest producing salespeople. She said that they have allowed the attendees to bring their families to experience the trip at no extra cost to them. “They’re trying to be inclusive, because those that have spouses and those that have children — a lot of those people aren’t able to come. If you are a single man or woman and you have a child, you can’t unless you know you have childcare and things lined up, and then you’re worried about that. When you take that stress off, you’re going to get more from that person. And while they did increase the budget adding these people on this trip, when they returned, the owner of the dealership saw that his company was making more money.”

Williams said she asked some of the spouses how they felt joining their partners for the first time, and the feedback was all positive, saying it was a great idea. “They said, ‘I’m so glad I was able to experience this. I was so glad that my kids were able to see what their father or mother does. Or the kids say their dad is always gone the last day of the month, and then to see the smiles on the children’s faces, when their mother or father is on stage. It speaks volumes when that typically didn’t happen before. So, I think that a lot of these companies are seeing that they have to be invested in the family versus invested in just one employee.”

One of the leading team building companies for corporate groups is TeamBonding, headquartered in Boston, but with a vast network across the U.S. David Goldstein, founder of TeamBonding, said pre pandemic the company produced about 1,200 events a year, with the number this year at about 1,600 — 500 of those virtual.

“We work with Apple and Google and Microsoft, and a lot of the big companies and smaller departments within the big companies. Sometimes, in the beginning of the year, we’ll do a kickoff where they’re trying to align,” he said. “They have 10 goals and are getting really excited about what the year is going to bring.”

Team building exercises can span the range from mobile escape rooms, which require problem solving skills and collaboration, to Corporate Survivor, which entails dividing groups into smaller “tribes,” each facing a series of physical and problem-solving challenges.

“I think when you work together with someone in an office, you know a little bit about them, but you don’t really know what they can do or what their talents are and what their skills are,” Goldstein said. “Sometimes, you can see within a team building event what people are really good at, and in a safe way where you can’t really fail. You can build trust amongst team members — you understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses, perspectives. And once you’re more likely to trust and support one another, that fosters a stronger team dynamic.”

Programs with a corporate social responsibility (CSR), element are popular with corporate groups, where they can participate in an activity that gives back to the community, such as building bicycles. “You’re working together. You’re donating to your community and giving back. You’re building cancer care kits. You’re building skateboards. You’re building water filters. We have a program in California, where they are building prosthetic hands, so people who lose their hands will be able to eat and feed themselves and be a little bit more self-sustaining. That give back has been a real focus for us this past year. You’re able to do something together that feels good, and is good.”

Another example of a TeamBonding activity is traveling on the Mystery Bus, where the group will visit three or four locations selected to fit its interests, timeframe and budget. It can be arrange for an itinerary to include at least one culinary adventure, one cultural experience and one low-stress physical activity.

“Basically, it’s kind of a retreat on wheels,” Goldstein said. They’re all mystery related, so they don’t know where they’re going or what they’re doing.” One can be a charitable outing where participants will go to a food pantry or a homeless shelter, or someplace where they can help and do volunteer work. The mystery bus can also be more of a physical activity. “We do all the work. The food’s included, the transportation is included. Everything is done for them.”

By investing in team-building activities, companies can create a positive company culture that that will help with the overall growth and success of the organization.

“There is something about when human beings connect,” Williams Clarke said. “There is a different level of exchange, and communication. There’s a different level of unity and there’s a different level camaraderie. They are wanting to be together and wanting to talk to each other and wanting to exchange more, and so on. So, persons tend to look forward to those annual meetings.” C&IT