In fact, studies show that by 2030, 59 out of 100 workers will need training. So keeping skills current is now essential for both individual and organizational success.
L&D events play a vital role in addressing employee skill gaps and upskilling them. This ensures that the workforce remains agile and able to adapt to market shifts. L&D offsite events are fundamental to sustainable learning within a company, as they help nurture effective collaboration and upskill employees outside their typical office setup.
In this blog, we explore some of the best practices to plan a successful L&D offsite event.
What is an L&D Offsite Event?
An L&D offsite event is a structured learning and development program that takes place at physical venues like banquet halls, convention centers, or community centers. They consist of live hands-on workshops, lecture-style presentations, mentorship sessions, peer-to-peer learning, and more, to upskill the employees’ skills and abilities. L&D offsite programs encourage greater employee engagement in the firm, stronger relationships with coworkers, and a culture of continuous improvement within the company.
Why Do You Need an Effective Strategy to Plan an Off-site L&D Event?
Before we delve into the tips for planning an L&D offsite, let’s understand why you need to invest in a solid strategy to plan one.
1. To ensure it closes the current skill gap
Designing L&D sessions to target specific skill gaps will make employees more competent and improve their performance.
2. To keep employees focused on learning
Having a strong L&D strategy will help lock in employee focus and ensure a superior learning environment to boost knowledge retention.
3. To align L&D events with overall business goals
Aligning the two will help achieve your ultimate business goals and objectives.
4. To boost employee engagement
A solid L&D strategy helps build an engaged workforce, which in turn contributes to organizational growth.
5. To provide employees with skill development opportunities
If employees receive a structured skill development program, they are more likely to grow professionally and add greater value to the company.
6. To improve the organization’s overall learning culture
Building a continuous learning culture in your organization makes you more adaptable in the long-run.
7. To increase communication and collaboration among teams
L&D also helps strengthen teamwork, building a stronger workforce within the company
How to Plan a Successful L&D Offsite Event?
1) Define Learning Objectives
Identify what you want to achieve by organizing the L&D event. Whether it is to teach employees new skills, strengthen existing ones, or both. Now, based on that, set a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-based) goal and ensure it aligns with your business objectives.
For example
If you are having trouble getting your employees to use a new project management tool like Jira or Asana, the purpose of your L&D off-site event might be to train employees on how to use the tool effectively so they can manage tasks, track progress, and create reports with ease. The event might include
- Hands-on workshops.
- Live demonstrations of the project management tools.
- Guided practice sessions & more.
2) Set an Event Budget
Budgeting is one of the key steps in the event planning process—especially if it is an offsite event. It helps you
- Manage your spending
- Avoid unexpected costs
- Ensure that all financial aspects of your event are well-managed
First, categorize all your expenses, such as venue rental, decor, accommodation, travel, food and beverages, facilitator or speaker fees, training materials, and so on. Then reach out to multiple vendors, get their pricing details, compare their quotes, and negotiate for the best outcome.
Most importantly, create a contingency fund so that you are prepared in advance for any unexpected expenses.
3) Choose an Appropriate Event Venue
Choosing the right event venue is important to provide attendees with a memorable and engaging experience. Look for event venues that are within your budget and offer the features you need. Select a location that is easily accessible to all. For instance, if most of your employees are based in San Francisco, USA, choose a venue in the city so it is easily accessible to them.
Ensure the venue has comfortable seating, high-speed Wi-Fi, a whiteboard, AV equipment, enough parking spaces, breakout rooms, enough facilities, and can easily accommodate all of your employees. Research multiple event places and get quotations from them, and then finalize the one that fits in your budget.
4) Select Event Date and Time
When planning an offsite event, consider dates and times carefully, as they can drastically impact employee attendance. Consult your company calendar so your L&D event doesn’t clash with other important events. Try scheduling the event mid-week, i.e., on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between 10 am and 2 pm. Because Thursday is the most popular day for business events, accounting for 40% of all organised events. Wednesday follows with 21% and Tuesday with 17%.
5) Craft an Event Agenda
You need a thoughtfully planned agenda to make your L&D event a success. Since you already know the objective of the event, it’s easy to create an agenda that drives results. Include keynote speakers’ sessions, icebreakers, interactive activities, hands-on activities, networking, Q&A, gamification, and more in the L&D agenda. Also, add short breaks in between to keep the employees relaxed and refreshed.
Here is a sample agenda for the L&D event
Time | Activity Name |
9.00 to 9.30 | Welcome address and event goal recall |
9.30 to 10.00 | Keynote speaker session |
10.00 to 10.30 | Introduction of new software & hands-on session |
10.30 to 11.00 | Interactive Q&A |
11.00 to 12.00 | Tea/Coffee Break |
12.00 to 12.30 | Networking |
12.30 to 1.00 | Q&A session |
1.00 to 1.30 | Lunch Time |
1.30 to 2.00 | Feedback session and closing speeches |
6) Incorporate Engaging Activities
Employee engagement is important not just to make the event atmosphere energetic, but also to foster team-building among teams. Incorporate icebreakers or team-building exercises to engage attendees during an event. Icebreakers will energize the teams, while the team-bonding activities will strengthen the collaboration among team members.
Here are some icebreaker ideas to incorporate into your event
- Two Truths and a Lie
- Scavenger Hunt
- Rapid Fire Questions
- Bingo
- Would You Rather?
Here are some team-building exercises to incorporate into your event
- Team Trivia
- Escape room
- Murder Mystery
- Charades
7) Host the L&D Offsite Event
Welcome all employees on the day of the event and tell them why they have gathered and what the goal of the event is. Follow your L&D agenda and ensure every part of the session goes smoothly.
During the event, encourage employees to ask questions on the main topic and answer their questions. Engage team members in hands-on workshops and team-building activities to inspire them to be involved in the event.
8) Gather Employee Feedback
Collect your employees’ feedback post-event. Share a feedback form through email and request their feedback while the event is still fresh in their minds, to know how the event went overall. Plus, you will know whether the event met its objective. Based on their feedback, you can optimize your upcoming learning and development (L&D) events.
Final Thoughts
Learning and Development (L&D) is a vital part of the US organizational culture. Whether it’s addressing persistent skills gaps or developing an employee upskilling plan, L&D strategy directly affects organizational growth and success.
Investing in an L&D event won’t just empower employees with new technology or upgrade their skill set – it also builds a culture of learning and a more resilient, innovative team that grows alongside your business.
By implementing the L&D offsite event planning steps covered here, you will host a well-structured learning and development program that bridges employees’ skill gaps and helps build an agile workforce capable of adapting to rapid industry shifts.
FAQs
Begin planning for an off-site L&D event 3 to 6 months in advance, as this timeframe allows you to secure the best event venue, book a keynote speaker and facilitator, design engaging content, and create a structured agenda that aligns with business objectives.
It completely depends on the topic you address during your L&D session. Internal leaders are more effective for company-specific topics, while external facilitators are best suited for developing employees’ soft skills, technical skills, and other areas. Ideally, a combination of both works best.
Some key goals and objectives of any L&d event are:
- Strengthening employees’ technical skills
- Enhancing soft skills like communication, listening, and problem-solving
- Providing cross-training opportunities
- Preparing employees for leadership roles
- Offering continuous learning, upskilling, and reskilling opportunities
- Providing effective communication and negotiation skills to a sales team
- Providing hands-on training on project-related tools
To measure the success of your off-site L&D program, track employee engagement rates and feedback scores through post-program surveys. Throughout the week, see if the employees are applying the new skills you’ve taught. Additionally, verify whether employees are efficiently utilizing newly introduced tools or software in their daily tasks. If so, it means your investment in your event has paid off.
