Consider the goals of the meeting. Do you want to develop a team spirit? Are you going there to get away from the daily grind and hammer out new sales strategies? Will you be motivating the sales team to try harder over the next few months? Is this your yearly sales-team celebration where you give out awards and try to drum up enthusiasm for the new fiscal year? For team spirit and togetherness, you’ll want to look into a place that offers facilities for group activities and competitive, team-oriented sports.

A yearly sales meeting may require a dedicated meeting site complete with sports facilities, a large meeting room, possibly a banquet hall, a ballroom and more. If you want your yearly bash to have all the trimmings, don’t scrimp on the site.

Are you going to show motivational films? Be sure the meeting site offers a screen, projection facilities and a good sound system. Will you need a presentation hookup for a computer and a big screen? Does your presenter need high-speed Internet access to surf your competitors’ Websites during the meeting? Don’t choose a site that hasn’t joined the technological age. Are you going to show a multimedia slide and sound show? If you plan to have a working sales meeting where technical accommodations are paramount, the site’s golf course and pool may be less important.

Many a sales meeting has failed to produce bottom-line results simply because managers who chose the site failed to consider beforehand some of the basic needs of the meeting. The next time you choose a sales meeting site, be sure you know what you want to accomplish and that you have checked out the site for all the specific tools you’ll need. Then you’ll be ready to sit back and enjoy the show.