Good Location For A Team Meeting

[Valjean]

I’m planning two day, one night meeting for my team of twenty-five. Normally we head-off to the beach somewhere but this time we want to go upcountry someplace different. Ideally this would be within a couple hours drive of Bangkok. Two areas that come to mind are Khao Yai and Kanchanaburi – both at what I’d consider the driving limit.

We could do something like Kirimaya in Khao Yai but that blows the budget and overall the team doesn’t mind smaller resorts because it lets us save money for other fun trips, nights on the town, etc. We’re happy to share rooms so it doesn’t have to be that big of a resort. We need a meeting room but even that could be outside – we don’t need a full conference facility. For instance one thought I’ve had is go to Kanchanaburi and do the day’s meetings on one of the party boats on the Khwae Noi or Khwae Yai rivers and then stay at one of the floating hotels.

If there was a nice quiet place within an hour or so of Bangkok that would be great. Any ideas or suggestions?

[Spee]

I’m planning two day, one night meeting for my team of twenty-five.

Just a few random thoughts ...

What is the purpose of the meeting? Reward for efforts? Typical off-site business meeting? Trouble-shooting & team-building workshop? Are families invited or just the workers?

If reward for efforts?

- Push the budget to the max. Find the nicest place that the company is willing to pay for. Focus on employees enjoyment and R&R with business as a far secondary consideration.

- Definitely look for a resort-type place, either on the ocean or in the country. Survey your people. What would they like?

Typical off-site business meeting?

- The business meeting should be the priority. Select a place that primarily accommodates your business needs. R&R and comfort are important but secondary.

- You will probably need to be near a larger town or city, with a decent hotel and business center.

Team-building?

- Here you kind of have the most freedom to choose. Do you want to be adventurous? Could go into the country, rent out some guest cottages, to do some group activities or something where people could partner up or team up. Perhaps something like a cooking competition where everyone is staying at a country guest house. Could also mix and match business with play in a moderately priced resort area.

Also ....

- What kind of people in the group?

- All females? All males? A mix? Expats? Thai nationals?

- Where have people been before? Not been before?

- Travelling by bus? Car? Train? Plane? Leaving/returning to common location?

Regardless, to me these are always fun times to be creative, a chance to do something out of the ordinary. For example, if the group is a mixture of Thai and Expat, maybe do reverse role playing. Think of little prizes or awards for any kind of friendly or business competition. If families are invited, then perhaps a small gift for the wives. Little things like that are important but independent of the surroundings.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is figure out what you want to do, how much you have to spend, who all are invited, how much room you have as far as creativity and working outside the norm, etc., and then maybe where you want to go will present itself.

Hope this helps ...good luck ... cheers!

Edited July 26, 2007 by Spee

[Valjean]

Hi - thanks for all the questions and ideas. I should have provided more info.

Group is all Thai but me. Mix of male and female. Average age 30's. This partucular team isn't a hard core party group - they enjoy quiet places and hanging out together. The last party we had was at my house -just drinking, singing karoke and eating all evening.

This is a team building meeting and adventurous is OK. We might get two vans or a bus and might just car pool. Depends. Most people on the team have traveled around Thailand and to the US. Probably 30% have done other internation travel.

I'd like to keep things around 4000 THB per person. At all company events we share rooms so helps with the cost. We went to a nice resort that I forget the name in Hua Hin last time. I think the rooms were around 4000 a night with the package. But for this I think we all might be happy to go down market a little, maybe 2000 a night just because we like casual and then have money for more fun. I just manage an overall budget for fun for the year and it's up to us what we do with it.

Your cooking competition is a good idea. I did that at a team building event in Singapore and it was fun.

We may have some people that stay a 2nd night and families come but for this a team only event for 1 1/2 days and 1 night. At the party at my house people brought partners and kids if they wanted. It's nice to get to know families.

Thanks again,

[Spee]

This is a team building meeting and adventurous is OK.

I'd like to keep things around 4000 THB per person.

Here's a couple of thoughts from my limited experiences.

The Hilton Millenium is across the Chao Praya from the Chinatown area. It is a relatively new first class hotel with an awesome view from the rooftop restaurant. Because it is kind of out of the way, the room rates are very reasonable, only about $100 USD (about 3200 ThB) per night. You might even be able to do better with a group rate, or get some business services thrown in for free if you are booking 15 or 20 rooms. Then for a team-building activity, Bkk would seem to be a perfect place for a scavenger hunt. There are all the different sections of town, each with its own character, several different modes of transportation, and plenty of places for pre-arranged check-points during the day, etc.

Up near my area in and around Phetchabun, there are some reasonably priced country resorts and hotels. Last time I checked Kosit Hill is only about 1500ThB per night. There are also some country resorts with cottages heading out of town towards Khao Kor. There are a lot of hiking areas, caves to explore, etc. It's not particularly posh, but very pleasant, comfortable and relaxing. The downside for you would probably be all the driving, probably about 3-3.5 hours each way.

Hope this helps ...

[jumnien]

Casuarina Resort near Cha-am. Google it. Great place on the beach across the street from my grass airstrip.

[kratindaeng]

Jatujak Park

[Valjean]

thanks everyone for the good ideas!

[rono]

thanks everyone for the good ideas!

I have a guesthouse in khao yai, will pm you.

cheers, rono