Company offsite: a gathering held away from the office, usually for one or more days, that combines working sessions (strategy, planning, a kick-off) with time for the team to connect: activities, meals and an evening together.
Away day: the one-day version. No accommodation, a full day out of the office, and back home that night.
For most teams, a single well-designed day does the job. Spread it over several days only if people are travelling and need a hotel anyway, or if the content genuinely needs more time.
More and more of the requests we receive come from outside Spain: a European team that wants to meet in Madrid, a regional kick-off hosted by the Spanish office, or a company that simply wants to bring everyone somewhere with good weather and good food. We have produced more than 500 events for over 400 companies, and the same questions come up every time. Here are the answers.
Choosing the city
Start with three questions: where are people flying in from, how many of you are there, and how much of the programme is work versus experience? The answer usually points to one of these.
We are based in Madrid and travel with our own team and equipment. We have run events in Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Cordoba, Zaragoza, Avila, Aranjuez, Las Palmas and other cities. You can see all of them on our team building in Spain page.
One day or several?
This is the decision that has the biggest impact on cost and complexity, and the one teams most often get wrong by going too long.
- One day (away day). Working sessions in the morning, a team activity in the afternoon, dinner to close. It covers what most teams need, and nobody has to pack a bag. Ideal when everyone is based in the same city.
- Two days or more. Makes sense when people are flying in and need accommodation anyway, or when the content (a strategy offsite, an annual kick-off) genuinely needs more time than fits in one day. The second day is usually shorter: a final working session and a goodbye lunch. We manage transport and accommodation for attendees as part of the programme.
A useful test: if you removed the hotel night, would the agenda still need the extra day? If not, a single, well-produced day will probably have more impact.
Building the agenda
The offsites that people remember balance three things: focused work, time to connect, and a moment of celebration. A typical structure:
Arrival and welcome
A welcome breakfast or coffee, so people coming from different places start the day together rather than drifting in.
Working sessions
Strategy, results, plans for the year. Keep them in the morning, when energy is highest, and leave the afternoon for the team.
The team activity
The part that turns a meeting into an offsite. For mixed groups, formats like a Master Cooking, a Master Cocktail or a game show get everyone involved at the same time. Our activities last 1.5 to 2 hours and start from 10 people, so they fit easily between the sessions and the dinner.
Dinner and closing
Dinner, music and the moment where the year is celebrated. It is often what people talk about afterwards.
Two real examples of how this looks: for the Serveo team we designed a full day at a country estate in Madrid for 90 people, with a welcome breakfast, a corporate meeting, a Master Cocktail with AV and a dinner with open bar and music. For Colegio Aquila we produced a staff away day for more than 300 people in Madrid, combining a team gymkhana, a DJ and dinner in a single day. You can see more in our case studies.
Planning an offsite in Spain?
Tell us how many of you there are, the city you have in mind and the dates, and we will suggest a programme.
Request a proposal →How far ahead to plan
- Groups of 100 to 300 people: three to four months is a reasonable lead time.
- With accommodation, travel or external speakers: at least six months.
- Smaller groups and single-day events: can be organised with less notice, but early booking gives you more choice of venue and dates.
Booking early does not make the event cheaper. What it gives you is choice: more venues, more dates and more options for catering and extras.
Language
If your team is international, decide early whether the offsite will run fully in English, bilingual, or in Spanish with support. It changes how activities are designed and how teams are built. We run activities in English regularly, and we explain how to get it right in our guide to team building in English in Madrid.
Budget
As a reference, a team activity starts from around €40 per person (excluding VAT) and a full day with venue and catering is around €120 per person. Multi-day programmes with hotel accommodation and several meals a day sit well above that. Outside Madrid, the travel of our production team is quoted separately and itemised, so you can see exactly what it adds.
We explain how a quote is built, and how to compare proposals, in our guide to how much team building in Madrid costs.
Choosing an organiser
When you are planning from another country, the organiser on the ground matters more than anything else. These questions separate a producer from an intermediary:
At Froggy Events we are a 360º producer: we design and deliver every event with our own team, we help you choose the venue, coordinate the catering, manage transport and accommodation for attendees when the programme requires it, and travel with our facilitators and equipment from Madrid. Teams from companies such as Amazon, Google, CaixaBank and Iberdrola have worked with us, and we have more than 500 Google reviews with an average of 5.0.