If our leadership team travels in from different cities for in-person sessions, how should we structure travel, evening dinners, and physical room setup to avoid travel fatigue compromising the session work?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Session days demand intense mental energy. If remote executives fly in on morning red-eyes and attempt to tackle difficult organizational issues at eight in the morning, the quality of your decisions will crater by mid-afternoon. Remote leadership teams must build a strict physical and logistical protocol.

All traveling team members must arrive the afternoon before the session. Flying in early allows flight delays to resolve without delaying the eight o'clock session start. The team should have a relaxed, low-stakes dinner together the night before to shake off travel stress and catch up personally. Keep the dinner alcohol light and wrap up early. The session day is an intense operational workout, not an industry convention.

For the physical room setup, rent a dedicated offsite meeting space or boardroom. Never host a full-day session in one executive's personal office or at an open resort lounge. The room must meet strict specifications:

- A large, flat conference table where every leader sits facing one another.
- Significant, uninterrupted wall space for flip charts and visual mapping.
- Strong climate control and reliable high-speed connectivity for digital records.
- Plentiful hydration, healthy snacks, and minimal heavy carbs at lunch to prevent afternoon slumps.

Book return flights no earlier than two to three hours after the scheduled adjournment. When executives watch the clock to make a rush-hour flight, they rush through quarterly Rock setting and skip vital issue resolution.