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Entering its 15th year of planning and executing summer events, WCF continues to provide large and small businesses with the best summer picnics throughout the city and suburbs. Whether your event is in the city or suburbs, at a picnic venue or on your company grounds, WCF’s team of expert planners provides you the tools to plan your best summer outing ever! Listed below are some key points for clients to consider when selecting the best event for your next summer outing. These key points have been developed over the years through client feedback and WCF’s experience from managing and executing over 2,000 summer outings. Please use these tips below to help WCF identify the event that best matches your mission and objectives while maximizing value, participation and fun. Most importantly, as the fantastic Chicago summer weather approaches, don’t wait! Many clients are already booking their summer outings to guarantee the location and date of their choice.
Mission & Objectives
The first step in the decision-making process is defining the summer outing’s key mission and objectives. Without determining these elements, it is virtually impossible to plan and select an event that maximizes participation, fun and value for employees and guests of all ages. WCF takes each client through a series of questions designed to help identify some key goals for the event. Some of the questions to consider in this step include:
Once your event objectives are determined, the planning and selection process for the ideal summer outing begins.
Weekday vs. Weekend Events
The next step in the decision-making process is determining if the event is to occur on a weekday or weekend. With benefits to either option, the mission and objectives determined by the client drive this decision. For instance, a company looking to provide a highly engaging and entertaining event for employees and their families would prefer to host a weekend event to ensure family members are able to attend. However, clients who want to guarantee a high employee attendance rate and want to focus on building relationships amongst employees are likely to choose a weekday event. In addition, weekday events are typically less expensive since family members do not attend.
Day vs. Evening Events
After selecting the day of the week, clients must choose the best time of day to hold the event. Traditionally, summer picnics are held in the afternoon taking advantage of the warm weather, time off work during the week and the optimum time for family members of all ages to attend, just to name a few. However, a recent trend towards evening picnics held from 5:00-9:00 PM has proved popular with many WCF clients. Evening picnics are a good choice for many companies for a variety of reasons such as cooler weather, lower costs, larger range of available dates and more!
Whether selecting a traditional afternoon picnic or opting for the newer evening picnic, your team must make sure to match the advantages of each option with your event goals.
Exclusive Interactive Event vs. General Admission Event
With the day of the week and time selected, the next step is choosing the type of event: an exclusive interactive event vs. a general admission event. Exclusive interactive events are private events strictly for the company, such as private summer picnics, company softball tournaments and interactive receptions. These events provide a great environment for internal networking and enhance relationships between the company, the employees and their families. On the contrary, general admission events take place in public environments such as amusement parks and zoos. These events focus less on the relationships between the company, the employees and their families and more on providing free admission to a destination.
More and more companies are selecting exclusive interactive events as the best return on investment. Both event types are intended to reward employees, however exclusive interactive events are much more likely to also motivate employees while enhancing employee morale and camaraderie. In addition, exclusive interactive events tend to develop goodwill with the employees’ families since the entire group is together (or in the same area) throughout the event as opposed to being spread throughout an enormous public area.
Book Early: Now that you’ve selected the details of your event, it is imperative to start the process of booking your event early. Certainly one of the key ingredients to a great event is booking the location and date of your choice. With thousands of proposals sent each year, you must request your proposal early – no later than February of each year and preferably sooner. Plus, if you book early enough, WCF is the only company in the industry to provide you with a CUSTOMIZED PICNIC WEBSITE including your logo, itinerary, menu, maps and even an area for post-event digital photos taken by WCF during the picnic. Returning clients have their photos posted from last year’s event.
Hopefully you have been able to utilize these tips to determine the best choice for your upcoming summer event. As you begin your summer event planning, WCF would like to thank you for having the opportunity to work with you in the past. WCF is also excited to utilize its award-winning experience and cost-conscious planners to assist you with your 2012 summer event. With activities designed for all ages, premier downtown and suburban locations and hassle-free planning,WCF has helped over 2,000 companies select, plan and execute their best summer outing. Don’t settle for anything less than the perfection WCF demands of its employees and trusted, quality vendors – all the best in the industry.
Make sure your employees have something to look forward to again this year and book your 2012 summer outing now with WCF. The sooner you book, the more value you receive on your investment throughout the year. For more information, contact your experienced event planner today Request a Proposal
Great Summer Outing Ideas
Looking for the perfect fun summer outing?
Do you want to work with a company with almost 15 years experience that has executed over 2,000 summer outings and received numerous awards for its work?
Find all your answers with Windy City Fieldhouse! WCF’s Fun Summer Outing Ideas are the perfect events to reward and energize employees this summer, guaranteed to provide a fun atmosphere for all attendees! From the Great “Amazing Race” Chicago and Scavenger Hunts to the Evening Summer Picnic and many more exciting options, WCF has the PERFECT summer outing for your group. But most importantly, don’t wait any longer to start your planning!
Choose from WCF’s fun and unique summer outing ideas:
- Interactive Summer Picnic for ALL AGES
- Great “ Amazing Race” Chicago
- Evening Summer Picnic
- Team Challenge & BBQ
- “Double Goal” Events for a Cause: Add a charitable twist to your Summer Picnic, Team Challenge or Race!
- Taste of Windy City Scavenger Hunt
- “Mission Impossible” Scavenger Hunt
- Gauntlet Challenge
- Interactive Barbecue
- BBQ Add-on – add an Interactive BBQ to your Race or Scavenger Hunt
Request a Proposal or contact your sales representative for more information on fun in the sun with WCF’s summer outing ideas.
