Away-days: the workshops that don’t work and how to fix them
19th November 2026
11am - 1pm via Teams
£20 per participant
When we plan a workshop, we plan it with a goal in mind. Somewhere along the way, the away-day got left behind. It is one of the biggest opportunities an organisation has to move something forward, and one of the most expensive. There are the direct costs of salaries, room hire and refreshments, and the opportunity cost of everything that isn’t getting done while people are out of the office.
Done badly, an away-day frustrates people and nothing changes afterwards. Done well, it unlocks what the team is capable of and acts as a catalyst, with progress made in the room and carried on in the weeks that follow.
If you want to reinvigorate your team’s or organisation’s away-day, join us to find out how.
If you’ve ever felt any of these while planning an away-day, this webinar was built for you:
You’re planning the away-day and you don’t know where to start
You have a list of topics to cover, but no clear sense of what the day is meant to achieve
You have a goal like “we want staff to know each other” or “we want staff to have fun”, and aren’t sure how to build a day around it
You’ve been in away-days where the ideas went on the wall and were never seen again
You’ve been to away-days that felt fine on the day, but nothing changed afterwards
This 2-hour webinar will teach you how to plan an away-day where your team does the work that matters, so that the time together is well spent and what comes out of the room carries on afterwards.
Key webinar takeaways
A worksheet to support planning your own away-days
A plan for your own away-day, started during the session
Access to a recording of the session for future reference
Webinar logistics
Thursday 19th November 2026, 11am to 1pm (2 hours).
The webinar will run on Microsoft Teams, and you will be sent the link before it starts. You do not need a Teams licence to join, but you will need access to:
A computer or laptop with access to the internet
Microphone and speakers, or a headset
A webcam, as this is a participatory session and conversation is encouraged
A quiet space to concentrate and participate (or as quiet as you can get, we understand life happens!)
A notebook and space to write/draw
An away-day in mind, either one you are planning or one you own
Who should attend: anyone who owns or organises an away-day. The owner is the person who asks for the day and is accountable for it, and the organiser is the person who plans it. This may be two or more different people. If that is the case, priority should be given to the owner.
About your facilitator…
Sarah has worked at different levels within Students’ Unions, from Membership Engagement Manager at NUS to Director at Birmingham Guild of Students. As a Director, she was responsible for delivering away-days.
She brought collaboration tools and methodologies into her own work, learning what it took to facilitate effectively in the students’ union sector. She has been in those rooms as a participant, a leader and a facilitator, so she knows what goes wrong and what changes when you get it right.
This webinar is part of the collaboration and facilitation toolkit she wishes she’d had as a Director.