Many athletic competitions don’t take place in stadiums, and are open to anyone. The meetings industry is seeing a trend toward places—including the following—where attendees can play, instead of watching others do so…and still have productive meetings.
Topgolf
This Dallas company now has 54 locations in the United States, with eight more now under construction. Topgolf realizes there’s a lot of business to be had in the corporate meetings market, and its facilities are built accordingly.
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Some Topgolf facilities have three or four elevated levels of golfers teeing off into the night sky. There’s plenty of food and drink, often drawing on local culinary favorites and craft beers. Each facility has several venues for groups, among them conference rooms, lounges and terraces, and each one is available for buyout. Topgolf also offers team-building activities emphasizing trust, cooperation and strategic thinking.
Bowlmor Lanes
Bowlmor, owned by New York City-based Bowlero Corporation, now has more than 300 venues, almost all of them in the United States. This company, too, sees great business opportunities in the meetings market, and is taking steps to embrace the possibilities. There’s bowling, of course, and plenty of food, in a festive atmosphere that emphasizes team building. In addition, Bowlmor Lanes has its own event planners, who can work closely with other planners to accomplish their goals for the event.
Pinstripes
This restaurant chain, with 11 restaurants concentrated mostly in the East and Midwest, and three more on the way, bills itself as “Bistro. Bowling. Bocce.” This concept’s most unique feature is that it brings back the old game of bocce, which developed into its present form in Italy. Pinstripes has planners who work with you to combine food, games and fun, with the goal of helping to make your team more cohesive and more focused.
Read more about the options sports facilities offer in Steve Winston’s story, “Game On: Many Sports Venues are Creating Big Wins for Meetings Groups” in the January issue of Smart Meetings.
