Open Air Business February 2017

FUNCTION VENUES
of firms that design corporate
experiences, and many of these are
looking for an outdoor venue to
host it. Unless your background is
in team building, it may be better
to trial some of these and work
out which suits your space best. If
there is one that works particularly
well you can invest at a later date.
By that time, you will also have
established what type of corporate
event your site is best suited for,
which will help target that audience.
What we provide at Home Farm
Glamping
At Home Farm Glamping, we are
aiming to stay very flexible in terms
of the types of corporate event we
host. In order to do this, we have
worked with other companies to
create a variety of options. For
smaller groups, Wildgoose Events
has created a mobile GPS-based
interactive quiz around Home Farm
which takes two to three hours, and
sees teams running across fields,
hiding in the woods, and competing
to do silly challenges that they
photograph or film for points on
a live leader board. The media is
stored automatically so the next day
they can be sent round the office for
everyone to laugh at them.
For larger scale events, we’ve
teamed up with Elsewhere, the
corporate off-site and conference
experts. The Elsewhere team
transforms Home Farm Glamping
into a best in class conference site
for groups of 100 plus employees
- a venue that’s different and
special, and a real break from a
corporate hotel. Elsewhere creates
all the content, from team building
sessions, presentation rooms,
break out areas and motivational
speakers. They also set up bars
and provide wonderful food and
entertainment. It is effectively
a mobile site that can pop up
anywhere.
How to market yourself into this
sector
You need to emphasise what makes
your venue different from every
corporate event to which a business
may have sent staff previously.
There is a well-trodden path to
hotel conference venues, but most
of them aren’t very memorable.
For most corporations, the point of
the event is to create an experience
that stays with the employee
throughout the year. Remember
to emphasise the elements that
might seem mundane to you: the
fresh air, the open space, the quiet,
the lack of phone signal. Even
just sitting around a campfire is
an unusual experience for most
people, and sitting around it with
your colleagues discussing the day
you’ve just had is a very relaxing
and unforced way of really getting to
know them.
What are the particular challenges
of this sector?
One thing to consider is that some
corporate clients won’t even want
to share tents, let alone beds.
Depending on your set up, it is
important that you work out how
many people you can actually
accommodate, which may be fewer
than your average family or friends
booking. You may need to consider
hiring in some mobile glamping
units, which could add to your costs.
The organisation side will
usually be more involved, and
there will be more hand holding,
particularly if it is a small team and
one staff member has taken on the
responsibility for organising the
event. They will be desperate that
everything goes smoothly, so I try
to anticipate the concerns they are
going to have, and in particular, I
always have a wet weather back-up
plan to suggest for them. But once
they are on-site, I have often found
that people are so pleased to be
somewhere different that they are
relatively undemanding. I always
suggest to the event organiser that
they circulate an itinerary so that
people have an idea of timing - if
the day is too unstructured, the
ultra-organised City-types start to
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jess Gibbs runs Home
Farm Glamping in
Elstree, Hertfordshire.
The Gibbs family have
farmed in Elstree for
over 300 years, and
lived in this beautiful
bit of countryside right
on London’s doorstep
since 1647. After
working in London
as a lawyer for eight
years, Jess returned
home to help run the
farm with her father
and now operates a
successful glampsite
and function venue
from its 100 acres.
jess@
homefarmglamping.
com / www.
homefarmglamping.
com
get twitchy. It is also a big space, so
it can be like herding cats if people
don’t at least know when meals are
or when they have to be somewhere
for an activity.
I have found that corporate
clients are messier, which I was
surprised about. They take less care
of the tents than private guests and
will often leave rubbish lying around
if you haven’t specifically told
them a waste policy. This is worth
remembering when you’re costing
things.
What can you charge?
The amount you can charge of
course depends entirely on what
you are providing. I always try to
ascertain the company’s budget and
what level of help they want with
organisation. I personally try never
to do things on a per head basis,
because you may end up bearing
the cost when people inevitably
drop out closer to the time. I also
try to assess how much free reign
the organiser wants and how much
hand holding before the event, and
on the day, is going to be required
before I set my fee.
There is a lot of potential to add
extras to your site hire. While it
is important to stay flexible, and
remember that each corporate
client is different, they all want to be
guided by you in terms of catering
and activities so the more options
you can offer the better.
As final words of advice, there
is huge potential in this market,
and it can be a very lucrative angle
to an outdoor venue or glamping
business. However, it is important
to be constantly thinking about the
new thing as catering for corporates
is a busy market.
22 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM