How long should a corporate offsite event be?

Q: How long should a corporate offsite event be?

A corporate offsite should run 1 to 3 days total, with each programming block kept to 60 to 90 minutes. The total length depends on team size and travel; the block length is non-negotiable. Beyond 90 minutes per block, retention drops fast.

The story

The 60-to-90-minute block is the same length we use for SideHustle Labs in classrooms at Mars Hill, the University of Oklahoma, Penn State, Xavier, and the University of Wisconsin. The reason is biological: humans can sustain high-engagement, participation-heavy work for about that long before they need a break. We use the same constraint for live shows at Pershing Hall, where the format runs four rounds of pitching, scoring, and rotation inside a tight window. Push past 90 minutes and the room loses the thread. Push under 45 and you do not get enough reps to make the format land. The same applies to corporate offsites. Stack 60-to-90-minute blocks with real breaks between them. Anything else collapses into a long meeting with snacks.

What it means

Design your offsite as a series of tight blocks with explicit goals. Resist the temptation to fill all available hours. The total length matters less than the discipline of keeping each block focused.

Try it

• Play free at playsidehustle.com
• See us live: Sept 25 at Pershing Hall in Austin. luma.com/playsidehustle
• Email team@playsidehustle.com