Category Archives: Toronto

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Terrific Toronto Events for Corporate Teams

Toronto Events for Corporate Teams

With many Toronto companies putting their incentive travel programmes on hold, luxury events are now an accessible and affordable alternative for corporate teams. For a fraction of the cost of a foreign sales incentive trip, your team or your clients can experience everything from polo to luxury car events. Even if your company still needs to tighten the purse strings this year, there are still many cost effecive options for corporate team events in Toronto. Keep reading.

PACE Polo for Heart

Just North of Toronto, you can hear the thunder of hooves and take in 2 exhilirating polo matches every day. Whether you book a corporate table or tent and enjoy gourmet cuisine or pay $15 for general admission, take a picnic and enter the picnic contest, it’s the perfect way to kick off the summer. Mark your calendar June 17 – 19, 2011.

Polo Team Building

If you find that your team gets bitten by the polo bug, why not arrange a 1 day Introduction to Polo event or a full 2 -3 day polo team building retreat complete with facilitated exercises. A trained facilitator will help you uncover valuable business insights and lessons from the strategies and tactics you learn on the polo field. A polo playing executive can deliver a keynote about the links between polo and business.

Luxury Car Events

Available for only a few weeks during the summer, you can get behind the wheel of a BMW. Start the day with a short classroom briefing. Then head out to the track for obstacle courses, skid control and a variety of in-car challenges. The fun continues in the afternoon after a gourmet lunch. Believe it or not, it’s more expensive than a one day introduction to polo but it’s worth every penny.

Moderate

Wilderness Survival Team Building

A scalable programme that can be offered at a 5 star resort, wilderness inn, or campsite, Wilderness Survival integrates outdoor team challenges with facilitated business exercises. Orienteering, firestarter challenges, GPS treasure hunts, campfires, horse riding, treetop walking, and canoeing in a lush wilderness setting will ensure that your team relaxes and bonds in the great outdoors. You’ll definitely want to camp out overnight for one night.

Learn to Row

Restaurant Inc.: Cooking Team Building

A trained facilitator will introduce you to a brainstorming tools so that you can come up with a theme and a menu for a restaurant using the ingredients provided. You’ll be given a budget to shop for decorations for a restaurant table and some of your ingredients. Then, you’ll bring it all to life and cook and enjoy your signature dishes.

Christmas by Lamplight

Every year, as the Christmas season approaches, Black Creek Pioneer Village is transformed with all of the trimmings of Christmas in a bygone era. If your budget is limited, you can stroll the village during the day. Alternatively, you can bask in the glow of a Christmas by lamplight complete with a traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for less than $100 a person. It’s become a tradition in our family. I can’t think of a better way to start the Christmas season.

Winter Team Building

The winter version of  Wilderness Survival can include snowshoeing, tabogonning, cross country skiing, dog sledding, and quinzhee building (seen in the video below). Yes you can sleep out in a quinzhee for one night.

Cost Effective

Toronto Easter Seals Regatta

This full day of circus-themed activities is an affordable $15 per person. It includes the Children’s Cruising Fleet,a race for the Toronto Easter Seals Cup and the post-event party with a BBQ at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club’s Snug Island. Mark your calendar for August 28, 2011.

For Chocoholics

Chocolate Factory Visit

Immerse yourself in a world of chocolat and get an upfront, first hand view of the workings of a micro chocolate factory. The chocolate makers don’t work on Monday.

Starting in late July, 2011 chocolate tastings for a minimum group size of 10 will be available for $35 per person. Plans are also underway to offer cooking classes at their new location that opens during the summer of 2011.

Gladstone Chocolate Factory

Toronto Chocolate Festival

Every year Toronto becomes a chocolate coated metropolis as delicious events throughout the city celebrate everything chocolate. With a wide range of events including chocolate relays, luxury chocolate shows, luxury chocolate tours, and the chocolate ball gala, you’re sure to find an event that fits your team’s budget. Mark your calendar. This year’s Toronto Chocolate Festival takes place from October 2 – 23, 2011.

Lowes Toronto Christmas Market

If your budget is really tight and you can’t afford to take your team to Germany this year, just hop on the King streetcar. Even if you have no budget, your team can still have a fabulous time. Admission is free. In December, The Distillery District is transformed into a Christmas fantasyland in Toronto’s version of a traditional Christmas market. Refreshments are available for purchase and team members can finish their Christmas shopping early.

If you have a budget and you want to kick things up a notch, a visit to the Toronto Christmas Market can also be incorporated into a Toronto Urban Safari or a Luxury Amazing Race inspired event. Mark your calendar for December 2 – 18, 2011

For more information about the range of possibilities for Toronto Events for Corporate Teams, contact Executive Oasis International.

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Luxury Car Events to Reward Corporate Teams

Luxury Cars: A World of Possibilities for Sales Incentives & Corporate Events

by Anne Thornley-Brown, M.B.A., President

Executive Oasis International

 

 

In 2008 & 2009, many companies put their incentive travel programmes on hold due to “optics” or a decline in corporate performance. Some companies are not ready to re-instate their foreign incentive travel programmes. Instead, they are on the lookout for memorable and unique experiences closer to home to reward their team and build customer loyalty.

Inspired by the day I spent with BMW Canada at their Toronto Advanced Driver Training Programme and my recent visit to Montreal during the Formula 1 (F1) Montreal Grand Prix in June, I decided to showcase luxury driving experiences around the world. Luxury driving incentives offer great possibilities as an alternative to foreign incentive travel.

Remember, if you do want to offer any of these incentives for your team, it’s important to make your plans early as all of these experiences sell out quickly.

This blog entry is light on text and heavy on incredible, fast action videos. Pick a location close to you:

Sit back, relax, and explore.

 

 

Canada

Toronto

BMW Advanced Driver Training

This experience was great fun and a sure-fire strategy for improving the driving skills of your sales teams and the other members of your team who are on the road.

 

 

It’s a combination of classroom instruction and exercises in a BMW training vehicle on their closed track.

When? July

  • Full Day: 20 People
  • Half Day: Two Groups of 16

This is the video of the oversteering exercise that I shot during the day I spent with BMW Canada. I learned a lot . The instructors were very supportive but I must admit that I was too much of a “fraidy cat” to make may car spinout when it was my turn to try it. Oh well, next time.

 

 

Honda Indy

 

 

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series

  • When? July

Mosport International Raceway

When? All Year

 

 

Montreal

BMW Winter Driving School

When? Late January – Early February


  • Full Day: 16 People


F1 Montreal Grand Prix

When? June

 

 

USA

Winter Driving School

 

 

South Carolina

 

 

United Arab Emirates

Dubai

BMW Advanced Driver Training

Abu Dhabi

Formula 1 – F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

When? November 12 – 14, 2010

 

 

Ferrari World

When? Year Round (Opening November, 2010)

 

 


Bahrain

BMW Driving School

 

 

Formula 1 (F1) – Bahrain Grand Prix

When? March

 

 


Japan

Suzuka

Formula 1 (F1) – Japanese Grand Prix

When? October 8 – 10, 2010

 

 

Singapore

Formula 1 (F1) – Singtel Singapore Grand Prix

When? October 8 – 10, 2010

BMW Advanced Driver Training

 

 

Malaysia

Bukit Tinggi Downhill

Every October, adrenaline junkies get to experience the thrill of racing like stunt drivers down one of Malaysia’s tallest hills. Take a peek at what happens.


Sepang International Circuit

BMW Advanced Driver Training

 

 

 

Kuala Lumpur

Formula 1 (F1) – Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix

When? April

 

 

Other Destinations

BMW Advanced Driver Training

Also Available in Japan, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia, South Carolina

 

 

 

When You’re Ready to Go

Whether you decide to stay home in 2010 and 2011 or you’re ready to venture further afield, we’ll take you there. Executive Oasis International would be pleased to arrange:

  • a day excursion to a local adventure with time for your business meeting
  • a full package bundling a luxury driving experience with transfers, hotel, transportation to and from the track, meeting facilities, business facilitation, tours, excursions, gala awards dinner

Contact Executive Oasis International for more information about any of these luxury driving exeriences for corporate events and incentives:

 

Luxury Corporate Events

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Toronto Incentive Travel

 

Incentive Travel & Corporate Events in Toronto

Toronto City Hall

Toronto City Hall

by Anne Thornley-Brown, President
Executive Oasis International
Incentive Travel Specialists

This blog entry focuses on opportunities for Toronto (GTA) based companies to reward their teams locally when funds aren’t available for foreign travel. It will also of value for foreign companies (particulary in the USA, the Middle East and Asia) that are considering Toronto as an incentive travel destination.

Toronto Based Companies

There are many reasons that some Toronto based companies are deciding to forego foreign travel this year and reward their team by staying closer to home.

  • due to the economic downturn, funds are tighter this year
  • companies that are doing well want to conserve their resources so that they will have a cushion in case they run into turbulent times up ahead
  • the local economy could use a boost
  • domestic travel is important to bridge the gap in tourism revenue created by US and other foreign companies staying closer to home this year

Explore the World without Leaving the GTA (Toronto)

Fortunately, Toronto now has enough a multi-cultural flavour that it’s possible to experience many of the elements of  foreign travel without getting on a plane.  Here are some of the elments that you can build into your itinerary to give your team the feel of  foreign travel:

  • Explore a full size, replica of a 19th Century Canadian village at Black Creek Pioneer Village – Come in December and experience Christmas by Lamplight
  • Enjoy sushi and terriyaki at a Japanese teppanyaki  restaurant
  • Visit a Japanese shopping centre
  • Hunt  for bargains in Chinatown or an Asian shopping centre
  • Cheer for your favourite team at the Dragon Boat Races
  • Treat your team to afternoon tea or high tea at a traditional English tearoom in York Region
  • Enjoy  Middle Eastern cuisine complete with entertainment by a belly dancer at a Morrorcan or Persian restaurant
  • Sample crepes and other French cuisine at a variety of French restaurants
  • Discover treasures from every corner of the globe in Kensington market
  • Savour the delights of a scrumptious paella dinner and watch Flamenco dancing without setting a foot in Spain
  • Tickle your palette with Jamaican jerk chicken
  • Dance at Caribana, an authentic West Indian carnival that takes place every August
  • Dress up for a Bralizian Carnival Ball
  • Feel the thunder of hooves at Polo for Heart in June
  • Relax at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and Horse Show in November.
  • Spend time at a casino without travelling to Las Vegas, Atlantic City or Montecarlo.
  • You don’t have to go to Dubai to take a dinner cruise (and enjoy fireworks if you come in late June or early July)
  • You don’t have to go to Dubai to take a dinner cruise (and enjoy fireworks if you come in late June or early July)
  • You don’t have to go to Paris or New York to spend an afternoon at an art gallery or museum
  • You don’t have to go to London or Broadway to take in a theatrical production. You’ll have a wide selection from which to choose in Toronto’s theatre district, the Shaw Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Stratford’s Avon or Festival Theatres


A local event planning firm like ours, will help you time your visit to take advantage of the multitude of concerts, ethnic festivals and international film festivals that take place throughout the year. Toronto has a lot to offer. Whether you’re flying in for a visit or a Toronto based company considering staying at home to reward your team this year, you’ll be glad you took the time to get to know it.


 

Toronto Inbound Incentive Travel

With the low value of the Canadian dollar relative to the US dollar and some other major currencies, Canada is an affordable destination for companies that are seeking an interesting incentive travel itinerary to reward their teams or express appreciation to clients. One benefit of the economic meltdown is that airlines like Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airwyas and Air Canada have some really competitive fares that make travel to Canada affordable. A number of hotels and resorts currently  have recession friendly pricing  for 2009 and 2010.  Book early and you will stretch your budget.

Every region of Canada has something special to offer, however, today we are focusing on Toronto and areas that are no more than a 2  – 3 hour drive from Toronto.

Accommodation Options

If you’re planning to take your team to the Greater Toronto area (GTA as locals call it). There are numerous options to lend variety to your trip. In downtown Toronto, there are large hotels with full amenities and historical significance. If you venture 45 minutes to 2 hours away from Toronto, you can find:

  • conference centres with full amenities
  • country lodges on several acres
  • lakeside hideaways that are perfect for meetings and strategy sessions for small teams
  • luxurious resorts with extensive recreational facilities

Other areas to explore nearby include York Region, just North of Toronto, the Muskokas, Niagara Falls, and picturesque Niagara-on-the-Lake.

In Toronto and all of these areas, there boutique hotels, small inns, and lodges where, with a little flexibility in dates, your team can have enjoy exclusive use.

Areas to Explore

Of course you’ll want to see the CN Tower.

In a future blog entry, I’ll go into detail about what else you can see in various parts of Toronto. For now, I’ll just list the areas you can explore and identify areas near Toronto  that would be ideal for day or overnight excursions.

Toronto

    • Chinatown
    • Kensington Market
    • The Underground City
    • The Distillery District
  • Yorkville

York Region

Niagara-on-the Lake

The Muskokas

Port Carling

Pitfalls to Avoid

  1. Don’t cram too much into a stay that is too brief.  Instead, arrive early in the day, stay for at least 3 days and leave late on your last day. There is a lot to see and do and you want to get in all of the key elements of your business meeting and allow enough time for exploration.
  2. Traffic can be heavily congested so a commute to the downtown core from an airport hotel or North of the city can be a long and uncomfortable experience for your guests. (Torontonians refer to the Don Valley Parkway as the “Don Valley Parking lot”.)  So, definitely avoid travel during rush hour. Instead, move your group to and from  the downtown core after dinner when traffic is lighter. Then, they can wake up refereshed the next morning,  ready to enjoy what the city has to offer.If you decide to forego a stay downtown, allow at least an hour to travel in each direction ( 1 1/2 – 2 hours during the winter).
  3. When a local planner is honest enough to give you feedback that a plan you are considering is not viable…..listen. This advice is applicable whether you are considering a trip to Toronto, Dubai or anywhere else in the world.There will always be firms that are so determined to obtain your business that they will smile, take your money, and tell you that whatever you are requesting is viable. By contrast, incentive travel planners and event planners who will let you know about pitfalls to avoid are worth their weight in gold. They’ll make you look good and help you avoid mistakes.

I recently handled an inquiry from a prospective client that insisted on staying at an airport hotel and ending their meeting at 3:00. They simply would not listen to advice that, given traffic patterns in Toronto, the team building session they were planning would be much too rushed to be enjoyable.

Another prospective client demanded a BBQ on or near the beach in downtown Toronto even when they were advised that this would exceed their budget and that there was a strong liklihood that the experience would not be pleasant due to the odours near Lake Ontario on certain days.

Finally, consider the company that was  intent on staying in downtown Toronto when their main reason for coming to Ontario was to go dog sledding.

A planner with integrity may not always tell you what you want to hear but they may save your group from some unpleasant experiences and hours of uncomfortable traavel  to ensure that you have a fabulous stay in Toronto.

Tips to  Get the Most Out of Your Time in Toronto

  1. If you venture North of the city to York region, you will enjoy unique and more spacious accomodation and dining facilities for a fraction of what it would cost you in downtown Toronto.
  2. Consider splitting your time. Perhaps stay at a Muskoka, York Region, Caledon, or Niagara-on-the-Lake property for most of your trip and spend a couple of nights in downtown Toronto.
  3. See Toronto the way that many Torontonians do by getting a TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) Pass. For $9 Canadian, an adult can enjoy unlmited Bus, Subway and Streetcar transportation (except for a few rush hour routes).
  4. If you plan to enjoy unique winter activities like dog sledding, book them well in advance, they sell out fast. I would strongly recommend booking dog sledding at least 4 months prior to your arrival….6 months in advance would be ideal.
  5. If you come during the winter, definitely be prepared. You will need to rent or purchase winter coats (or jackets), sweaters, boots, scarves, hats, and mittens. Dress in layers for maximum warmth.
  6. Double check the visa requirements based on the countries of birth and citizenships of your employees.

For more information visit about what you can do in Toronto & the GTA:

Incentive Travel Toronto

Team Building available in and near Toronto

Companies located in or near the GTA can stretch their budget by having business and strategy sessions on-site at their company premises and enjoying recreational and dining facilities at a local hotel or resort for part of the day.

Just for fun:

      • Great Canadian Race
        If you want to give your team the opportunity to explore downtown through a Great Canadian Race or by making room in the schedule for shopping, consider staying at a downtown hotel for 1 or 2 nights.
      • Cooking Team Building

Executive Oasis International offers one stop shopping for local or foreign companies wanting to plan exciting itineraries to reward their team. We’ll help you:

      •  find a hotel or resort that’s a perfect fit for your selected activities
      •  arrange transfers, handle logistics re: meeting room and AV
      • plan recreational activities and entertainment to help your team relax and unwind
      • design effective team building sessions and facilitate them expertly

Most of all we’ll give you solid advice about how to get the best out of this destination.

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Rewarding Your Team Even During Tough Times

This post  was inspired by comments made by Marie Hunter on Tuesday, March 10, 2009, in her blog. It is a response to her questions:

Meetings, Events, Travel and Hospitality Industry: Leaders Needed, Marie Hunter wrote:

“When it comes to meetings, travel and entertainment, America is in a temporary state of gridlock. Headlines condemning corporate entertainment next to headlines about ponzi schemes and secret bonuses have caused public outrage and boardroom paralysis. This panic may be understandable based on the events of the past few months; but, the panic itself has dire consequences for the economy.

What questions should we be asking?
Now more than ever, corporate leaders, elected officials, regulators, industry associations, small business owners and salespeople nationwide are struggling to understand what is and is not appropriate when it comes to client entertainment and employee perks. When is it appropriate to spend money to recruit, educate or incent employees? A question that is not getting as much press, but that I would like to see on the table, is when, if ever can public companies allow employees to engage in entertainment practices that implicitly or explicitly condone gender bias?

Marie, I decided to take a stab at answering your questions and accept your challenge but my response became too long for  the comments section.

Before we begin, here is the White House’s position on business travel and meetings:

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama was not discouraging travel when he said last month that businesses receiving federal bailout money should not be taking junkets.
“The president believes it’s important to have a strong tourism industry and that it’s important that, as the president said earlier … that we shouldn’t retrench,” Gibbs said. “He would encourage people to travel.”

Gibbs said Thursday that the president was referring specifically to companies “that are getting large amounts of public funding.”

“The President does have great concern with public money being used for that,” he said. Gibbs added that the president’s comment was “very clear,” and passed on a chance to express regret.

So,  here is my take on your questions.  I encourage other management consultants, meeting and business travel professionals to respond to your challenge and answer your questions in their blogs. Since I am based in Toronto, I’ll be giving some Toronto examples but they can be applied at other locations.

 

How to Reward Your Team Even During Turbulent Times

What meetings and events do you feel should be green-lighted immediately and why?

When companies are in trouble, they should be spending THOUSANDS of dollars to bring in management and business team building consultants to help  them resolve their problems instead of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars on junkets and luxury events. Either through on-site meetings or off-site retreats at AFFORDABLE local venues such as community centres and conservation areas, consultants can steer organizations through a structured brainstorming process to identify:

  • cost saving measures and strategies
  • new target markets
  • new sources of revenue
  • strategies for improving efficiency

Depending on your location, here are a couple of ideas. These sessions can be offered at luxury resorts when the good times roll and conservation areas when times are tough. The content remains the same, the recreational components are the only things that change:

  • Wilderness Survival
  • Desert Survival
  • Arctic Survival
  • Visexecutaries - loosely based on the Apprentice, this session can be delivered at a luxury resort or a local community centre. When times are tough, the “task” can consist of developing a strategy to address some specific business challenge your organization is facing 

Save the lavish celebrations for when your company is back on track. In North America, we seem to want to party all the time.  Unfortunately, all too, often the emphasis seems  to be on strictly recreational events that organizations try to pass off as team building. Definitely we get far more calls for recreation and entertainment than consulting. This is quite surprising during a recession. People seem to forget that they are running businesses not social or country clubs. This bandaid approach is merely offering placebos instead of getting to the root of organizational problems and generating solutions.

What gender-related entertainment practices should be discontinued?

Strip clubs, male only golf clubs, etc. are highly inappropriate and they have NEVER had a place in a  corporate setting PERIOD!! Ditto for bringing porno movies to coroporate retreats and skinny dipping on the corporate dime. Grow up. You’re running a business not a fraternity house.

While we’re at it, it’s time to cut back on alcohol consumption and the open bars at corporate events for a while. This will save a bundle.

What constitutes lavish entertaining?

When companies are in trouble, they should postpone expensive events and partying until performance has improved. Focus instead on resolving business problems.

If everyone has worked hard and you’ve had a successful year, pull out all the stops. Lavish entertainment to reward employees and express appreciation to clients is perfectly in order when you’ve earned it. Depending on  your location, some ideas might include:


When is it okay to spend money on Employees?

Even when a company is facing a challenging year, it’s important to reward top performers, build skills and boost morale. The key is to gear the spending to organizational performance.

Hint: When a company is in trouble, more money should be spent on resolving business issues than on entertainment and recreation. Far too often, it’s the reverse.

How should recruits be entertained?

Again it depend on whether or not the company is performing well. If the company is facing challenges, you can still entertain recruits but choose a cost effective strategy such as:

If a company is doing,  well consider some of the options I’ve already listed and other luxury options like:

These are perfectly in order when a company is doing well.

If you’re located in the Middle East, a desert safari would be perfect. If you’re in the Caribbean perhaps a beach barbeque would work.

What other questions should we be asking?

I posted these suggestions on Marie Hunter’s blog. I’ll take a stab at anwering them now.

 What can companies that are having financial difficulties difficulty do to reward their people?

Companies can reward top performers and top performing teams and still provide a meaningful experience for hundreds of dollars instead of thousands of dollars. There is no need for gift cerfiticates starting at $1,000 per employee.  People seem to be lacking imagination.

Under $250 per person

  1. Give top performers gift certificates for spa TREATMENTS or a local Day at the Spa rather than spending a weekend away for a spa retreat.
  2. An overnight stay at a nice local inn with dinner and breakfast for top performers and their spouses.
  3. Get a corporate table at Polo for Heart or a similar event and invite top performers and their spouses.
  4. Dog sledding afternoon and lunch at a local inn or resort.
  5. Morning of horse riding and lunch at a local inn or resort.
  6. A day at  Canada’s Wonderland for top performers and their families.
  7. Seasons passes to Canada’s Wonderland for a family of 4.
  8. A day at the zoo for the top performers and their families.

Under $100 Per Person

  1. Dinner at a nice restaurant
  2. Afternoon Tea
  3. Movie passes for teams that have gone above and beyond the call.
  4. Theatre tickets.
  5. Concert tickets.
  6. Take a group of top performers and their spouses to the Royal Winter Fair including the horse show and dinner at the upscale restaurant that is on site every year.
  7. Get a table at the gala for tournament of champions.
  8. Tickets to local hockey, baseball or basketball games.

How should companies that are experiencing financial difficulty entertain their staff?

  • Picnics at a local conservation area
  • Christmas party – for heaven’s sake, don’t cancel the Christmas party. Insted, do it at a venue in the suburbs instead of a costly downtown venue. Consider using a community centre with an ice rink to save money and keep everyone entertained.
  • An evening at a comedy or improv club.

Anne Thornley-Brown is the President of Executive Oasis International, a Toronto based firm that regularly organizes incentive travel and executive retreats in  Dubai, Oman, Jamaica, Malaysia, Singapore, and Canada. They provide  one stop shopping service with  a  personalized approach to incentive travel for corporate groups of up to 40.  Customized itineraries include travel, transfers, hotel, tours, team activities, and special events.