company retreat

The Perfect Corporate Retreat Location in New York

The Berkshire Retreat Center Is the Perfect Location for your Corporate Getaway

When your team needs to step away from the office and reconnect, refresh, or refocus, the venue you choose plays a crucial role in the success of your corporate retreat, whether that be a boardroom at your offices, hotel, or a retreat center. Located in the beautiful Capital Region of New York, the Berkshire Retreat Center offers the perfect combination of tranquility, amazing facilities, and accessibility. Whether you’re planning a leadership summit, company-wide strategy session, or a team getaway, here are 6 reasons why the Berkshire Retreat Center at Camp Schodack should be at the top of your list.

Burden Lake - Berkshire Retreat Center

1. Inspiring Natural Surroundings

Tucked away on 150 private acres of privately owned land for 4 generations, the Berkshire Retreat Center provides a peaceful, natural setting that helps groups escape from the daily grind. Surrounded by rolling fields, woodlands, and tranquil walking trails, our retreat environment is designed to reduce stress and inspire creativity, while keeping you active and engaged. Nature becomes part of the agenda and is ideal for outdoor meetings, casual team walks between events or evening fireside brainstorming sessions - with s’mores of course!

2. Flexible Spaces for Meetings and Breakout Sessions

One of the challenges of planning a corporate retreat is finding a venue that can adapt to your agenda. The Berkshire Retreat Center offers a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces suitable for both group meetings and informal gatherings. Large multipurpose rooms can be set up for presentations or training workshops, while smaller spaces are perfect for breakout sessions or department-specific strategy meetings.

Outdoor meeting spaces, including picnic areas, a huge outdoor patio, covered gazebos and verandas, create relaxed alternatives to traditional conference rooms, which are ideal for fostering open discussion and team bonding.

Cabins on the main lawn - Berkshire Retreat Center

3. Comfortable Lodging and Customizable Meals

You want your staff to feel comfortable and well cared for, and with our accommodation options ranging from beautifully renovated, dorm-style camp cabins to more private accommodations, we can give your team flexibility based on group size and preference. All cabins are clean, well maintained, and located just steps away from meeting and recreational areas, simplifying logistics for your retreat planners - You’ll often hear our staff say, that you are never too far from your next activity!

Our on-site catering team offers meal packages that can be tailored to your group’s dietary preferences and schedules. Healthy meals made with fresh ingredients ensure your team stays energized throughout your stay, and there are menu choices to cater to every dietary need - If we can cater to 500 campers and staff all summer, we are confident we can take care of whatever your group needs!

Yoga on the lawn - Berkshire Retreat Center

4. Built-In Recreation and Team-Building Activities

Corporate retreats should strike a balance between work and play, and the Berkshire Retreat Center makes it easy to incorporate both. As a private summer camp for 8 weeks each year, the venue includes access to sports fields, challenge courses for team-building exercises, ATVs, and firepits for evening gatherings. Whether you schedule structured team-building events led by our team or leave room for your team to choose their own recreation, we have plenty of options to encourage collaboration and camaraderie, as well as some friendly competition.

Need ideas for off-site activities? How about white wafter rafting at nearby CrabApple Rafting in Deerfield MA. However, if leaving the venue is not in your plans, then simply head down the road to our shared 400 acre lake for canoeing, kayaking and paddle-boarding.

Guests engaging in some friendly competition - Berkshire Retreat Center

6. Proven Experience Hosting Corporate Groups

With a repeated 5-star track record of successful retreats, the Berkshire Retreat Center team understands what companies need to create a memorable and productive experience. From initial planning and on-site coordination with our experienced events team, to catering and equipment setup, our staff is committed to helping you execute your retreat seamlessly from inception to completion.

Our testimonials from past guests highlight the professionalism, flexibility, and hospitality that set our venue apart.

Plan Your Team Getaway Today

Whether your goal is to launch a new initiative, build team trust, or simply give your staff a well-earned break, the Berkshire Retreat Center has everything you need to make your corporate retreat a success. Discover how our natural surroundings, incredible on-site activities, and thoughtful and attentive staff can elevate your next corporate retreat.

Visit the Berkshire Retreat Center website to learn more and start planning your next corporate getaway today.

5 Reasons To Plan A Company Retreat

5 Great Reasons To Book A Company Retreat

Organizing a company retreat can be a challenging task. It takes a lot of planning to take your entire team, department or company away from the office together.

Once you have scheduled the time and got your team excited for the idea, the benefits will be seen for weeks, months and even years after you have packed up and returned to the office.

Below we have listed 5 reasons why you should seriously think about booking a retreat for your company. We hope that you find ideas below and are inspired to take the first step toward holding your own.

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Get Out Of The Office!

It may sound obvious, but your employees love being out of the office. Whether it is a site visit, a trip to the coffee shop down the road or any excuse to be away from their desks, everyone loves the opportunity to stretch their legs and enjoy a bit of fresh air..

By scheduling a few days or perhaps even longer, you are letting your employees know that you recognize that this ‘break from the office’ is important and you are making it a a focus within your company to participate in a break together.

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Bond With Colleagues

Spending time with colleagues outside of meetings and boardrooms may not sound like everyone’s first choice of social activity, yet we are always amazed by the bonds that are formed once people are put in situations that are designed to get people working together as a team.

It can be simple challenges and puzzles or perhaps something energized and competitive. The benefits of having your colleagues split up and worknig with people that they do not normally work with can have the double benefit of bringing your team closer together, as well as encouraging a more cohesive workforce. Not to mention that it is fun to play games!

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Get Inspired

Being on a company retreat doesn’t mean that you aren’t going to get any work done. Many teams we work with find that once they set their staff a specific task or share in discussions about projects that are coming up, the ideas just keep flowing. Changing the environment we are in, changes the way we think and opens us up to new ideas and chains of thought.

Mix up your schedule so that it includes some downtime where your employees can relax by the pool or take the opportunity to go hiking, then book in time to have group discussions or brainstorming sessions to make sure that there is a focus on work and shared projects. After that you can switch to a team activity to make sure that people are able to socialize and stay active.

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Have A Digital Detox

The big distraction points of many meetings and office environments are the temptations to
”just check one more email” or scroll through social media. It takes up time, slows productivity and offers very little in the way of substance to either the employee or the employer.

By having your team together on a retreat means that you can suggest that everyone leaves their phones and devices in the cabins. This means that everyone can be focused on the task at hand, whatever that may be. This increased attention can have amazing benefits over the weekend and also beyond the retreat.

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Relax and Recharge

It is as simple as that. By getting out of the office and into the great outdoors, our brains and bodies react differently to their new surroundings. There are hundreds of articles and journal entries out there that can tell you the benefits of time spent in nature and the good it does for our physical and mental wellbeing.

Whether you want your retreat to be about preparing your team for a specific project you have coming up, a chance to get out of the office and relax and bond together, or simply as a way to let off steam and reward your team for their hard work, the benefits of a company retreat far outweigh the effort that goes into planning it!

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Camp Schodack is set on 400 acres of privately owned playing fields and surrounded by 60 acres or private woodlands. We have dining and accommodation for up to 500 guests and a whole host of specialist and non-specialist activities available to our guests, in addition to a highly skilled and experienced events team that will help create the perfect timetable and schedule for any style of group event. Take our exclusive use offer r share the site with another company. Whatever your plans, we are ready to help you have an incredible experience away from the office.

Click below to find out more about us and find out whether we may be the perfect place for your next event.