Designing your offsite programme: what is possible on site

Reading time: about 6 minutes

The short version

• An offsite needs more than a beautiful place. The difference between “that was nice” and “that changed something” is the programme.
• You do not have to build the programme yourselves. Through our network we bring coaches, trainers and specialists directly to your location, from stress resilience to pitch training.
• Rule of thumb for the agenda: one content focus per offsite, not five. Plus movement, water, and at least one free evening.
• Below are four ready-made example programmes to copy: resilience, leadership, sales and product sprint.

Why we do not have to google this

Project Bay is connected to Founders Bay, an accelerator with a network of over 150 hand-picked mentors: founders, investors, coaches, people from established mid-sized companies. The expertise ranges from leadership and team building via pitch training, storytelling and negotiation to sales, product development and organisational development.

For your offsite that means: if you bring a topic, we find the right person for it. And not a trainer from a catalogue replaying slides from 2019, but someone who has lived the topic in their own company.

On top of that comes what the locations themselves offer: sailing training as a team format at Lake Plau, mudflat hiking on the Jade Bight, SUP before the morning stand-up on Rügen. The programme does not have to happen in a seminar room to have an effect. Sometimes the seminar room is even the wrong place for it.

Four example programmes for inspiration

All four are designed for three days and follow the same logic: one focus, heads in the morning, application or movement in the afternoon, evenings free.

1. Stress & resilience: the anti-burnout offsite

For teams that have been through a hard year. Growth, restructuring, constant fire in support — whatever it was, the symptoms are the same: everyone still functions, but nobody has reserves left.

Day 1: Arrival until noon. A gentle start in the afternoon: a walk by the water instead of icebreaker bingo, cooking together or a barbecue in the evening.

Day 2: In the morning a stress and resilience workshop with a coach from our network who works on healthy high performance: where does the stress in the team really come from, what is home-made, what is structural? In the afternoon individual reflection with movement, guided breathing exercises for those who want them. Evening free.

Day 3: Yoga session in the morning, on the beach or by the lake depending on the location. Then the most important unit: what do we take back into everyday work, concretely, with responsibilities. Lunch, departure.

Matching locations: Fleesensee with yoga, meditation and a spa right at the resort, or Rügen with the beach outside the door and a spa in the house.

2. Leadership retreat: from founding team to leadership team

For leadership circles of companies that have grown and notice the old routines no longer carry. The network includes people who accompany exactly this transition, from operational founder to a real CEO role, plus systemic coaches and experienced moderators who prevent the loudest voice from dominating the retreat.

Day 1: Arrival, in the afternoon a status check with external moderation: what works, what grinds, what do we never talk about?

Day 2: Leadership work in blocks all day, with one-on-ones with the coach in between. In the evening a deliberately shared dinner, without an agenda.

Day 3: Record decisions, clarify roles, set follow-up dates. Departure.

Matching location: Lake Plau with boardrooms for small groups and enough quiet corners for the one-on-ones.

3. Sales & pitch: three days, then the performance sits

For teams ahead of a launch, a trade fair or a funding round. The network includes sales and go-to-market strategists and pitch trainers from the startup world who know how to build a story that does not sound like a slide battle.

Day 1: Arrival, in the afternoon a stocktake: current pitch, current numbers, honest feedback.

Day 2: Story and structure in the morning, practice rounds in front of the camera with direct feedback in the afternoon. Whoever is not up works on their own part in the coworking space.

Day 3: Dress rehearsal in front of the whole team, final sharpening, departure. The phone booth on site is worth gold that day if real client calls are running in parallel.

Matching locations: Lietzow for small teams with focus, Hannover or Dresden when everyone needs an easy journey.

4. Product sprint: ship the thing

For teams that want to bring a concrete result home: a validated concept, a prototype, a finished feature. On request we bring in a design-thinking facilitator or an experienced product person from the network who structures the sprint and gets you from discussing to building.

Day 1: Arrival, sharpen the problem, nail down the scope. Evening free, heads need a break.

Day 2: Build. Long blocks, no meetings, catering comes to the team instead of the other way around. In the afternoon 30 minutes of water: SUP, kayak or simply a swim, then back to it.

Day 3: Finish, present internally, define next steps. Departure.

Matching location: Lietzow with 24/7 coworking, phone booths and zero distraction.

How the planning works

1. You tell us team size, time frame, goal and budget.
2. We propose a location, programme building blocks and, if you want, an expert from our network.
3. You receive one offer with everything in it: accommodation, rooms, catering, programme. One contact person, one invoice.
4. On site we take care of the rest — you are in the programme instead of on the phone.

Frequently asked questions about the offsite programme

Does the programme cost extra?

Yes — we price external coaches and trainers transparently into the offer, with the cost known before booking instead of a surprise afterwards. Activities like SUP, sauna or a barbecue evening are partly already included, depending on the location.

How much programme is too much?

When no block without an agenda is left. Our recommendation: one content focus, at most two sessions per day, one completely free evening. The best conversations happen in the gaps.

Can we book just the location, without a programme?

Of course. Many teams bring their own agenda and only need rooms, beds and Wi-Fi — that works just as well.

How early do we have to fix the programme?

The location needs lead time, the programme is more flexible. Six to eight weeks before the date is usually enough to organise the right person from the network.

Does this work for small teams too?

Especially for small teams. A workshop with six people and a good coach often achieves more than a large event. Locations like Lietzow, Schwerin or Sylt are built exactly for that.