A 350-person global team's first in-person gathering: company away day built for real connection
SERVICES DELIVERED
CONTEXT
That was the brief from a global energy group.
For many in the room, a colleague they had worked alongside for over two years existed only as a profile picture. The day had to serve as a company all-hands, a team-building programme and an end-of-day celebration, and the client wanted it to feel purposeful and reflect their sustainability values, without being lecture-heavy or over-produced.
That starting point changed what the day had to be. Standard team-building formats assume a base level of existing rapport. They rarely account for a room full of people effectively meeting for the first time, and anything that felt engineered or staged would undermine the very thing the day was trying to do. Aligning 350 people from nine countries needed a conference with genuine substance, but the day could not begin and end with leadership presentations. And the sustainability brief had to be expressed through what actually happened, not just the branding around it.
That set the structure before anything else. The day ran in three deliberate phases, alignment, collaboration and celebration, each with a different energy and a different purpose, sequenced so one built naturally into the next.
The morning all-hands was kept focused. Full AV production, staging and technical support, so the leadership message could land without distraction. Straightforward format, attention on the message. For the afternoon, we built the Eco Apprentice activity, a team challenge to design and pitch a sustainable product using only recycled materials. We chose it because it forced genuine collaboration between people who had never worked together, and it put the client's sustainability values into the action of the day rather than the décor. Teams designed a product, built a prototype, named it and pitched it in five minutes, any format they chose. The judging rounds created shared stakes, and people who had never spoken were suddenly arguing over packaging design.
The evening festival, Nextival, was built for decompression. No agenda, roaming entertainment, street food and a DJ to close. After a full day of structure, the evening gave people the freedom to find their own conversations, which is where connection actually happens.
£50 people from nine countries moved through a single full-day programme, from all-hands conference to sustainability team build to festival celebration. For many it was the first time meeting a colleague they had worked alongside for over two years. The Eco Apprentice activity produced cross-functional teams collaborating on a shared brief, with relationships formed through the work itself rather than a facilitated icebreaker.
The evening ran to schedule, with the full group staying through to close. On a day built to make a scattered, remote team feel like one company, the clearest sign it worked was that no one wanted to leave it.
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The event landed exactly as we’d hoped — clear, engaging, and genuinely memorable. It gave the moment the weight it deserved.
IF THIS FEELS RELEVANT
Planning a company away day or first in-person gathering?
If you're planning an away day, a first in-person gathering or any day that has to turn a remote team into one room, tell us what's coming and what it needs to do. We'll come back with relevant work and how we'd approach it.
