From sports stadiums to wineries, if you want a unique place to have a meeting, you can find it in Northeast Wisconsin.
From sports stadiums to wineries, if you want a unique place to have a meeting, you can find it in Northeast Wisconsin.
Same brown upholstered chairs as the last meeting. Same windowless room. Same dusty fake philodendrons as the last meeting. Same mayonnaise-colored walls. Same old menu as the last meeting. Maybe even the same coffee.
Meetings tend to be the working stiff’s equivalent to the funeral meal in the church basement: No imagination, no flavor and no reflection of the goals or ideals they serve.
But what if a little creative planning could yield a meeting spot that would make participants look forward to the next summit, rather than mortally boring them?
It’s possible, say people from some of Northeast Wisconsin’s attractions.
"We’re not your usual banquet hall," says Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Assistant General Manager Aaron Hahn. Not that there’s anything wrong with banquet halls, he adds.
But with seating for 5,500, a professional-scale baseball diamond and a bratwurst-shooting cannon on wheels, Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium isn’t even an un-usual banquet hall.
Companies choosing to meet at the home of the Timber Rattlers get a change of pace and scenery for a reasonable price, Hahn says.
The Rattlers’ stadium packages accommodate groups of 10 people or á
several hundred. Meeting rooms and a private bar area can be closed off before the game for private business cogitations.
Climate-controlled skyboxes, for smaller (but bigger-spending) groups, provide wait staff and bar service, although overall, it’s a more laid-back milieu than your typical business conference center, Hahn says. People usually dress casual to business casual.
"Being America’s pastime, we’re usually a big hit," says Hahn — even for serious business functions.
You’re spending anyway, so …
Meetings cost money. They cost time. They cost energy. Even the dull ones.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the typical CEO in the U.S. spends 17 hours a week in meetings, costing their company more than $42,000 per year. Middle managers aren’t much better — their average of 11 hours a week in meetings sucks around $20,000 a year from their company.
Senior execs are the worst — they spend 23 hours a week in meetings, costing $46,000 a year in productivity, according to the WSJ.
Which begs the question: When they’re expending those sums of money, why do so many employers seem determined to make professional powwows as lifeless and unmemorable as possible?
Don’t ask Tiffany Niederwerfer, marketing director at The History Museum at the Castle in Appleton. The groups that seek out her site are looking to keep the magic in their forums.
"It’s unique; the atmosphere here is different because it’s got artifacts and exhibits and you aren’t in a large banquet hall," Niederwerfer says of The History Museum at the Castle, home of the ongoing Houdini exhibit.
"People like the fact that the exhibits are part" of the experience, she says.
The 1923 Norman Revival castle-like former Masonic lodge has been the gathering spot for companies such as Fleet Farm and Kimberly Clark, Niederwerfer said. It’s also been the site for piano recitals for Lawrence University students, costumed swing dances and wedding receptions.
"Its uses are quite diverse," says Niederwerfer.
Whether it’s a Spanish Mediterranean theater, King Ferdinand’s Court at dusk, or a yacht on Lake Winnebago, here are a few ideas that may get you thinking outside the banquet hall.
