---
aliases: ["Team Offsite Planner"]
tags: [pm-skills, skill]
skill: team-offsite-planner
description: "Plan a team offsite from goals to full agenda. Use when asked to plan a team offsite, away day, team retreat, quarterly offsite, or team-building event. Produces a full agenda, session designs, facilitation notes, and logistics checklist."
---

# Team Offsite Planner Skill

This skill designs a complete team offsite — from goals to minute-by-minute agenda, including session facilitation guides and a logistics checklist.

## Required Inputs

Ask the user for these if not provided:
- **Team size** (number of people)
- **Duration** (half day / full day / 1.5 days / 2 days)
- **Primary goal** (e.g. Q3 planning / team bonding / strategy alignment / retrospective / all of the above)
- **Location type** (office / external venue / remote-first hybrid)
- **Key topics to cover** (if known)
- **Any constraints** (budget, accessibility, team dynamics to be aware of)
- **Remote attendees?** (Yes/No — affects session design significantly)

## Output Structure

---

# Team Offsite Plan: [Team Name]
**Date:** [TBD or as provided]
**Duration:** [X days]
**Attendees:** [X people]
**Goal:** [Primary goal from inputs]

---

## 1. Offsite Objectives

State 3–5 clear objectives. Each objective should be answerable at the end of the offsite — the team should be able to say "we achieved this" or "we didn't."

- By the end of this offsite, we will have [specific outcome].

---

## 2. Full Agenda

For each time block, produce:

**[Time] — [Session Title]** *(Duration: X min)*
- **Type:** [Opening / Working session / Workshop / Decision / Social / Break]
- **Owner:** [Who runs this — Facilitator / Specific person / Group]
- **Goal:** [What this session produces or achieves]
- **Format:** [How it runs — e.g. "Whole group discussion", "4 breakout groups of 3", "Silent async doc read + Q&A"]
- **Output:** [What leaves the room — e.g. "Agreed list of H2 priorities", "Updated team norms doc", "Go/No-go decision on X"]

---

**Day 1 Example Structure:**

| Time | Session | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Arrival & coffee | 30 min | Social |
| 09:30 | Opening & objectives | 20 min | Framing |
| 09:50 | [Strategic session 1] | 90 min | Working |
| 11:20 | Break | 15 min | — |
| 11:35 | [Workshop or decision] | 75 min | Workshop |
| 13:00 | Lunch | 60 min | Social |
| 14:00 | [Working session 2] | 90 min | Working |
| 15:30 | Break | 15 min | — |
| 15:45 | [Team session / retro] | 60 min | Team |
| 16:45 | Day close — commitments | 30 min | Close |
| 17:15 | Social / dinner | Open | Social |

Adapt timing to duration and goals.

---

## 3. Session Facilitation Notes

For each working session, provide:

### Session: [Name]

**Time needed:** [X minutes]
**Materials:** [Post-its, Miro board, printed docs, etc.]

**Step-by-step facilitation:**
1. [What the facilitator says/does to open — 2–3 min]
2. [Core activity — describe in detail]
3. [How to gather/consolidate output]
4. [Closing move — decision, vote, or commitment]

**If the group gets stuck:** [One facilitation technique to unstick — e.g. "Dot voting if no consensus", "Parking lot for off-topic items"]

**Watch out for:** [Common pitfall for this session type — e.g. "The loudest voices dominating. Use silent individual writing first."]

---

## 4. Pre-Offsite Prep Checklist

For the organiser to complete before the offsite:

**2 weeks before:**
- [ ] Book venue and confirm capacity and AV
- [ ] Send calendar invites with travel info
- [ ] Share pre-read or pre-work doc (if any)
- [ ] Confirm dietary requirements and accessibility needs

**1 week before:**
- [ ] Send agenda to all attendees
- [ ] Assign session owners and brief them
- [ ] Prepare materials (print, Miro boards, name cards)
- [ ] Confirm remote setup if hybrid

**Day before:**
- [ ] Test AV and video conferencing setup
- [ ] Prepare room layout
- [ ] Confirm headcount and catering

---

## 5. Post-Offsite Actions

Template for the summary document to send within 48 hours:

**[Team] Offsite Summary — [Date]**
- **Decisions made:** [List]
- **Actions and owners:** [Table: Action | Owner | Due date]
- **Parking lot items:** [Topics deferred for follow-up]
- **Next check-in:** [When the team will review offsite commitments]

---

## Quality Checks

- [ ] Objectives are measurable at end of day
- [ ] Sessions alternate between high-energy and reflective
- [ ] No single session runs longer than 90 minutes without a break
- [ ] Remote attendees have equal participation in working sessions
- [ ] Each working session has a stated output
- [ ] Agenda has social/informal time built in

## Anti-Patterns

- [ ] Do not fill the entire agenda with structured sessions — unstructured social time is essential for team bonding and must be built in
- [ ] Do not schedule more than 90 minutes of intensive working sessions without a break
- [ ] Do not design an offsite without clearly linking each session to the stated goals — purpose must be explicit
- [ ] Do not neglect logistics — venue, travel, dietary requirements, and accessibility must be confirmed before the agenda is finalised
- [ ] Do not plan without an energy management arc — high-energy collaboration sessions should not appear directly after lunch

## Example Trigger Phrases

- "Plan a 1-day offsite for my team of [size]"
- "Design a 2-day team retreat for [goal]"
- "Build an agenda for our Q[N] team planning day"
- "Help me plan a hybrid offsite for [team size] people"

---
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