How to make your team event by train a success
4-point plan with tips, tricks and a comparison
Article by Gregor
Intro
A successful team event is far more than a shared meal or a short trip. When planned properly, it becomes an experience that brings employees together, motivates them, and will be talked about long afterwards. Formats where the shared journey, an overnight stay and professional organisation come together are particularly effective.
1. The journey itself is already part of the experience – travelling by train
A key factor for a successful team event is starting together. If the team does not travel separately but is on the move together, the event begins from the very first minute.
Travelling by train (possibly even straight after work on the ultra-modern ÖBB Nightjet in a sleeper carriage) has a special advantage: it automatically creates space for connection. On the train, a relaxed atmosphere develops in which conversations start, hierarchies soften and colleagues connect who rarely work directly together in day-to-day work.
Compared to other modes of transport, the train offers many advantages for team events
– Car: Everyone travels individually and there is no shared experience
– Coach: Also good for togetherness, but on long journeys there is little opportunity to change seats, stretch your legs for a bit of variety, or go to the restaurant car.
– Plane: Travellers sit in rows with little space and, above all, among other passengers. The atmosphere is not conducive to conversation.
The train is therefore by far the most suitable way to travel for a shared experience.
INFO: We make sure you have a contiguous area. Depending on the number of people, even an entire carriage?
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2. An overnight stay strengthens the team effect
A team event with an overnight stay has a significantly stronger impact than a day trip. As soon as the professional setting is complemented by shared accommodation, there is automatically more time for informal encounters.
Over a shared dinner, a drink at the hotel bar or a walk after the official programme, conversations arise that have no place in everyday office life. It is precisely these informal moments that build trust and deepen relationships within the team.
The evening winds down and everyone can stay as long as they like. At breakfast you meet again and have one or two stories from the night before to share. The moments in the morning are often very personal, and starting the day together makes it possible to get to know your colleagues on a more personal level.
In addition, the overnight stay ensures that no one “escapes home” – the shared experience remains constant and intense.
3. Put the organisation in professional hands
Many companies underestimate the effort behind a successful team event: transport logistics, hotel coordination, programme items, scheduling, special requests and budget control.
Often, an employee handles this in addition to their regular job. However, outsourcing this to a specialized tour operator offers significant advantages:
– Time savings for the company: internal resources are preserved
– Cost savings through special rates: highly specialised organisers get these, but an “individual booking” does not
– Professional processes: experienced providers know typical stumbling blocks such as, for example, riskily planned programme items or processes
– Better experiences: local contacts and creative programmes increase quality and can be used for external communications
– Stress-free delivery: on site, the team can focus on the experience; it does not fall on one single person
Overall, this turns an organisational project into a genuine experience format.
4. The greatest added value: strengthening team cohesion
The real purpose of a team event is not the programme itself, but what remains afterwards. Shared experiences outside the work context change team dynamics in a lasting way.
When colleagues travel together, laugh, discover new places and spend time with one another, the following emerge:
– more trust in everyday work, as you get to know each other and possibly also discover skills that were not previously apparent
– better communication, through the unconventional conversations that take place during the trip
– stronger identification with the team, as the hierarchical level is reduced for a few days and a sense of “we” instead of “I” develops.
The combination of travelling together, an overnight stay and a professionally designed programme is particularly effective. These three elements reinforce each other and create an experience that has an impact far beyond the event day.
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Conclusion
A successful team event does not happen by chance. It is the result of a well-thought-out combination of travelling together, deliberately planned stops and professional organisation.
Those who already see travelling by train as an experience and leave the organisation to experienced hands create space for what matters: genuine encounters within the team. And it is precisely these that turn colleagues into a strong, connected team.
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