Team Dinners
Team Dinners
When I worked in trade shows, we would often be onsite for a week at a time, with 16 hour days confined to hotel and convention center meeting rooms with no windows, clocking 20k steps per day. We would have anywhere from 6-12 staff onsite to support the Association that was hosting the event, usually working nonstop.
As you can imagine, it was tough to get them to get out of the venue at the end of the day - most of us wanted to go straight to our rooms and collapse. But I always tried to organize a staff dinner or two that was at a cool restaurant or local attraction.
I would research in advance, make a reservation and a plan for transportation. It was a fun challenge to find places that everyone might like, and I always opened up the opportunity to explore the area after dinner if anyone wanted to.
Why did I go to so much trouble to make these dinners happen?
-Teams that played together were often more cohesive. We were often overworked and it didn’t leave much time to enjoy each other’s company in non-stressful environments.
-We all needed a break from the venue - that much time without seeing the sun was not good for our mental or physical health!
-For some people, that dinner would be their only opportunity to explore the city that they were visiting, and since most were young women, they were unlikely to explore on their own for safety reasons.
#EventPlanner #Tradeshows #EventProfessional #Teamwork
