A company away or team bulding day should earn its time away from the day job. Done well, it sharpens focus, strengthens relationships, and helps teams tackle the issues that matter most. Done badly, it becomes a vague break from work with no impact once people return to their desks. This guide sets out how to plan a company away day that delivers real value, including how to choose top speakers to transform the experience rather than simply fill a slot.
How to plan your work away day
1. Start With a Clear Purpose
Every strong away day begins with clarity. Before you think about venues or speakers, define what success looks like.
Ask yourself:
What problem are we trying to solve?
What do we want people to think, feel, or do differently afterwards?
What would make this day worth the time and cost?
Common objectives include leadership alignment, strategy reset, cultural change, performance under pressure, or re-energising teams after growth or challenge. Pick one or two priorities. Trying to do everything usually delivers nothing.
2. Design the Right Format
The best away days are designed around outcomes, not activities.
Formats that consistently work:
Strategy and alignment sessions for leadership teams
Learning-led days with expert input and facilitated discussion
Team reset days that combine reflection, learning, and planning
Hybrid formats blending short talks, workshops, and working sessions
Avoid long stretches of passive listening. People engage when they are invited to think, question, and apply ideas to their own context.
3. Choose a Venue That Supports the Day
The environment shapes behaviour. Your venue should reinforce the purpose of the day, not fight against it.
For focus and decision-making, choose quiet spaces with good breakout rooms
For creativity and connection, prioritise light, comfort, and informal areas
For team bonding, minimise travel stress and maximise shared time
If people arrive tired or distracted, you lose momentum before the day even begins.
4. Build an Agenda That Respects Attention
Attention is limited, even with motivated teams.
A strong agenda:
Opens with context and purpose
Balances expert input with participation
Includes proper breaks for thinking and conversation
Ends with clarity on next steps
As a rule, no single session should run longer than 90 minutes without a change of pace.
5. How to Choose Top Speakers to Transform Your Next Company Away Day
This is where away days often succeed or fail. A visionary speaker does more than inspire. They bring clarity, challenge assumptions, and give teams practical ways to improve performance.
What Sets Top Speakers Apart
Relevance to your real challenges. The best speakers tailor their content to your organisation, industry, and moment. Generic motivation fades fast.
Practical, usable insight. Teams should leave with tools, frameworks, or decisions they can apply immediately.
Credibility with your audience. Senior leaders expect depth. Teams expect realism. The right speaker understands both.
Engagement, not performance. Strong speakers involve the room, adapt to the energy, and invite discussion rather than delivering a fixed script.
Match the Speaker to Your Objective
Different outcomes require different expertise.
Strategy and change: leadership and transformation experts
Performance and resilience: wellbeing, psychology, and high-performance specialists
Culture and inclusion: credible voices with professional and lived experience
Innovation and AI: practitioners who understand real-world impact
A big name is not always the right fit. The right fit is someone who can move thinking forward and support better decisions.
6. Turn Insight Into Action
An away day without follow-through wastes its potential. Close the day with:
Clear actions at team or leadership level
Owners for each commitment
A simple plan for the next 30 days
Reflection and accountability are what make learning stick.
7. Measure What Mattered
You do not need a long survey. Ask a few focused questions:
What was most useful today?
What will you do differently as a result?
What should we build on next time?
This feedback helps you prove value and improve future sessions.
The PepTalk View
A company away day is an investment in performance, not a perk. When it is built around clear outcomes, thoughtfully designed, and supported by the right speakers, it delivers alignment, energy, and momentum long after the day ends.
PepTalk helps organisations design high-impact company away days by matching you with expert speakers, facilitators, and workshop leaders who understand real business challenges. From leadership alignment and culture to performance, wellbeing, and AI, our team curates the right experts for your objectives, audience, and budget, whether in-person or virtual. Talk to our team about your goals and we’ll recommend speakers who can transform your next away day into a session with lasting impact.
Jamie is a Senior Client Partner at PepTalk and has been part of the team since day one. With over 11 years of experience at digital agencies like Outside Line and Saatchi London, Jamie knows the ins and outs of client services, storytelling, and communication. Before moving into the agency world, he spent five years with the Spice Girls management team, helping spread their zig-a-zig-ah to fans of all ages. At PepTalk, Jamie specialises in sport speakers (from cricket and rugby to athletics and football), as well as topics around wellbeing, including burnout, stress, mental health, and nutrition. He also has a keen eye for leadership done differently, and for adventurers who bring lessons in resilience, mindset, and goal setting.
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