A laptop open at the edge of a pool, feet in the water

The Offsite

Planning the company trip wasn’t in your job description.

It’s about to eat your next three weeks anyway. The venue, the contract, the rooming list, the flights, the dinner everyone still mentions a year later. Hand it over.

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The turn

The whole program, off your desk.

I take the entire program off your desk. You go back to the job you were actually hired for, and the trip comes off anyway, and comes off well, with your name on it. That last part matters. When it goes well, and it will, you’re the one who made it happen.

It’s not all or nothing. Some clients hand me the whole program. Some hand me the one piece they dread, the venue hunt or the contract negotiation, and keep the rest. Either way works. Tell me where it hurts.

What is included

What “handled” actually means, in order.

  • The handoff

    You give me the mess as it exists. Half-decided dates, a budget that’s not final, a CEO with a strong opinion about golf. That’s a normal Tuesday. I take it from there.

  • Venue and contract

    I source the venue and negotiate the contract, which is where most internal planners get quietly eaten alive. Attrition clauses, force majeure, what happens to your deposit when six people cancel.

  • Room block and housing

    The rooming list that would have swallowed your weekends, the executive who needs a suite without an email thread about it, and billing that reconciles cleanly for finance.

  • Getting everyone there

    Eighty people, eleven cities, one start time. Flights, ground transport, transfers timed to actual arrivals instead of the schedule someone imagined in a spreadsheet.

  • The reason people are glad they came

    The trip earns its budget in the hours between sessions. A dinner hosted by a chef in a place with a story. A sailing afternoon that doesn’t feel like assigned fun. A closing night with an actual awards moment.

  • The day of

    The AV dies mid-keynote. The restaurant lost the reservation for forty. On-site, one person’s only job is catching every one of those before anyone in your company notices. You get to attend your own event.

How it works

Three steps.

1

We talk

Twenty minutes. Who’s going, roughly when, what a great trip looks like to you, and the budget you’re comfortable with. I’ll tell you honestly what’s possible, including when the answer is “go somewhere else, and here’s why.”

2

I build

A real proposal: the property, the rooms, the day by day, the transfers, the reservations, and the reasoning behind each choice. We revise it together until it’s yours. Planning is complimentary.

3

You go

I book every piece, confirm it, and stay reachable for the length of the trip. When plans meet reality, you make one call and go back to your dinner.

Questions

The things people ask first.

How fast can you turn a program around?
Faster than you can while doing your real job, which is the honest benchmark. A venue search with negotiated options typically comes back within two weeks. A full program depends on size and season, and I’ll give you a real timeline on the first call instead of a hopeful one.
What does it cost?
Much of what I do, hotel sourcing and contracting especially, is compensated by the properties, so it often comes at no direct cost to you. Complex, full-service programs may carry a planning fee. If yours does, you’ll know the number upfront, before you commit to anything.
Can you work with our finance and procurement process?
Yes, and I’d rather know the constraints early. Clean invoicing, consolidated billing where the hotel allows it, and a rooming ledger that reconciles are part of the deliverable, not a favor.
What’s attrition, and why does everyone warn us about it?
It’s the contract clause that charges you for rooms your group reserved but didn’t fill. It’s also where unmanaged room blocks quietly bleed budgets. I negotiate the percentage, watch the release dates, and close the block so the clause never activates.
How small is too small?
A twelve-person leadership offsite gets the same treatment as a two-hundred-person kickoff, and honestly benefits more from it, because at that size every detail is visible to everyone.
Who’s actually on site during the event?
For programs that include on-site coordination, one dedicated person owns guest movement and problem-catching for the duration. Whether that’s me or my vetted local lead depends on the program, and you’ll know who by name before anyone flies.

Contact

Four ways to reach me.

Twenty minutes, no obligation. Tell me roughly what you have in mind and I’ll tell you what’s possible. Planning is complimentary.

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Email steph.irwin@fora.travel
Text or call (408) 420-0126