There’s a reason people glaze over by hour two of a meeting. It’s not always the agenda.
Sometimes the real culprit is the setup.
Jill Vallo, sales manager and retreat strategist, has helped many teams plan their events, and she says one of the biggest mistakes planners make is failing to use the environment around them.
It sounds simple, but it’s wildly overlooked.
Teams do not magically become engaged because they were invited to an offsite. A change of zip code is not the same thing as a change of experience.
Put people in one conference room all day, and even the sharpest group starts to fade. Put them in a setting that wakes up their senses, gets them moving, and gives them reasons to interact — now you have a shot at real engagement.
As Jill says, “One of the biggest mistakes is not using the environment that you’re in.” That line should be pinned to every planner’s wall.
Bring Your Team Back to Life
A Beautiful Venue Means Nothing If You Treat It Like a Cubicle
Companies book destinations because they want something different. Then, oftentimes, they recreate the office the moment everyone arrives.
Jill says people come to Vermont because “you want to be in that Vermont fresh air, see the mountains, and experience all the activities.”
In other words, the place matters. It shapes mood. It shapes attention. It shapes whether people feel like they are part of something worth showing up for.
This is not just a hospitality point. It is a performance point.
Exposure to natural environments has been shown to improve working memory and attention—even short visual breaks can sharpen focus.
When people experience novelty, their brains pay more attention. When they move between spaces, the day feels segmented instead of endless. When they step outside, reset, and come back in, they are more likely to re-engage rather than mentally check out while pretending to take notes.
Jill nails the practical takeaway: “You can really keep your team refreshed by getting them out of the same room constantly.”
That word — refreshed — matters. Most meetings do not fail because people are incapable. They fail because people are tired, passive, and overstimulated by sameness.
Engagement Is Not About Attendance. It Is About Involvement.
A full room does not equal a fully engaged team. Bodies in chairs are not the same as minds in the moment.
Jill defines engagement in a way planners should pay attention to: “Making sure that they feel involved is a big one.” Not informed. Not present. Involved.
That is a higher bar.
She adds that people should not be “only sitting down in the meeting, but also participating and spending time with their coworkers and getting to know their coworkers.” That is where engagement gets real.
Teams work better when they know each other as people, not just job titles on a Zoom square.
Bonding with co-workers is especially important for high-performing teams, where the pressure to produce can quietly squeeze out actual connection.
Many organizations assume strong teams need less intentional engagement because they already perform well. Usually, the opposite is true. High performers often move so fast they skip the human glue that keeps collaboration strong under stress.
Shared experiences outside the usual workflow help fill that gap. A walk between sessions. A breakout on a terrace. A fireside discussion instead of another fluorescent-light slideshow marathon. These moments may seem small, but they build trust, and trust makes hard conversations, bold ideas, and faster decision-making possible later.
Sitting Still Is the Fastest Way to Lose the Room
Jill says what most attendees are already thinking: “I can speak probably for most people [who] don’t like to just sit stagnant in a meeting.”
Yet many agendas are built as if human attention has unlimited shelf life. Session after session. Slide after slide. Maybe a coffee break if everyone is lucky.
That model is outdated.
To keep high-performing teams fully present, Jill says planners should be “leaving room for some engagement for activities” and “keeping people moving.” Not because movement is trendy, but because it works.
Movement breaks monotony. It resets attention. It lowers the social friction in a room. It also helps people participate without feeling like every contribution has to take place in a stiff, formal setting.
Her example is perfect because it is a little unexpected and a lot memorable: “We had someone that did ice sculpting in the middle of their meeting and then went back into their meeting.” That is not filler. That is pattern interruption. It jolts people out of autopilot.
And that is the larger lesson. The best meeting design often borrows from good storytelling. You need pacing. Contrast. Surprise. A reason for people to wonder what comes next.
The Best Meetings Turn the Venue Into Part of the Agenda
Jill’s standout example makes the case better than any theory could.
She describes a meeting centered on a scavenger hunt on the Equinox property. Rather than keeping the meeting separate from the location, the planners wove the two together. At each stop, attendees got both a presentation point and a piece of the hotel’s history.
That is smart design.
Jill says the magic came from “movement and feeling and excitement of what is the next fact gonna be?” paired with “what is the next talking point from my boss going to be.”
That blend of curiosity and business content is the sweet spot. People stayed engaged because the meeting had momentum.
It also had texture.
Too many meetings treat content like something that must be delivered in a straight line. But adults learn better when information is attached to experience. Add place, movement, story, and discovery, and suddenly the content has somewhere to stick.
A scavenger hunt works because it creates anticipation. History adds narrative. The physical setting makes the meeting feel lived, not just scheduled. No one remembers slide 43. They remember the clue, the next stop, the surprise fact, and the conversation they had while walking there.
The Real Fix Is Simpler Than Planners Think
You do not need to turn every meeting into summer camp. You do need to stop designing for containment and start designing for energy.
Jill’s comments point to a better approach:
Use the setting instead of ignoring it.
Build participation into the agenda instead of hoping it happens.
Give people motion, novelty, and connection instead of expecting focus on command.
Or, in her words, make sure teams are “outside the office and in a new space and excited to be in a new space.”
That excitement is not fluff. It is fuel.
The Biggest Planner Mistake
The biggest planner mistake is not a lack of effort. It is a lack of imagination.
Jill Vallo’s insight is refreshingly practical: engagement rises when people feel involved, connected, and awake to their surroundings. Great meetings do not trap teams in one room and ask them to stay alert through sheer willpower. They use the environment, create movement, and give people something to experience together.
Because the truth is simple: nobody brings their best thinking to a meeting that feels like a waiting room.
Turn Your Next Meeting Into an Experience
Ready to stop hosting meetings that your team forgets by Friday?
At the Equinox Resort, the environment does half the heavy lifting for you. Historic charm meets wide-open Vermont landscapes, giving you built-in opportunities to move, explore, and actually engage your team—without forcing it.
Trade stale conference rooms for fresh air, flexible spaces, and experiences your team will talk about long after the meeting ends.
Whether it’s an outdoor strategy session, a team activity that breaks the ice (literally), or a fully customized offsite, Equinox makes it easy to design meetings that feel less like obligations and more like momentum.
If you’re serious about engagement, don’t just change the agenda … change the setting.
Start planning your next offsite at Equinox Resort. Reach out here >>