The Profit Motive Driving Business Meetings onto Yachts

Imagine a small corporate meeting on a private yacht. You are sitting in the main cabin, overlooking the water, with views of San Francisco and the East Bay Hills. You notice that the calm of this environment is encouraging everyone involved be more relaxed, open-minded, and more productive in discussing the business items at hand. You congratulate yourself on making the decision to choose a private yacht charter as the venue for this important meeting.

The Value of Offsite Meetings on Yachts

Everyone would agree that conducting a business meeting on a yacht is more impressive than having it in the conference room of a nearby hotel. More critically, it might just net you a nice return-on-investment, too.

Adrian Gradinaru, who runs a peer-to-peer boat rental marketplace based in New York, finds the setting conducive to more productive business conversations. “You tend to be a bit more open to things when you are really happy, so people tend to be happy on the water, looking at New York. You are a little bit more cooperative when you are on the water.”

In Commodore’s case, we replace New York with San Francisco Bay’s vistas. But the point is the same. Taking a team out on a boat for the afternoon is not the least expensive way to host a meeting, but if it means getting the team out of a rut, reenergized and realigned with the organization’s mission, then it is well worth the investment.

The ROI of special-event business meetings

The return on investment of any executive meeting or team-building activity is found in a measurable jump in productivity. That could be a higher percentage of deals closed by a sales team, better safety records of a production team, or sharper execution of a strategic plan by a team of executives.

Mid-level managers, when pressed to be honest, will estimate that they get about 60% of their employees’ potential contribution over time. What if you could raise that contribution rate just 10%, using interactive engagement activities? Frankly, it is hard to keep employees fully engaged without such programs. Annual Gallup employee polls consistently find engagement levels hovering around 25% for all employees. Given the high cost of employees in the Bay Area, a 10-15% bump in productivity generates a strong ROI.

To raise engagement, and productivity, get the team offsite together to forge more effective working relationships. Time away from phone, desk and e-mail allows people to drop some of the stress, get to know their colleagues more personally, and separate the person from the job. Future conflicts are addressed more professionally, because the ego is no longer tied up in defending a specific idea.

If you are looking for a Bay Area meeting space, contact our event planners.  You may find we have event options that meet your budget needs. We can arrange a meeting at the dock or take the yacht out for a tour of San Francisco Bay while the business meeting is in progress.  Our yacht venues are available for all businesses, large and small, that need a special place to achieve the deeper cohesion needed to raise productivity.