You might know the expression ’small town USA’, but have you ever heard of ’small town Denmark’?
Denmark might be a small country (very small compared to the US!), but there is still a great psychological distance from the capital of Copenhagen in the far Eastern-most part of the country to some of the quaint towns scattered around the mainland, Jutland, to the West (and all over the rest of Denmark). And that is a pity because these lesser known cities and villages boast a magnitude of fantastic meetings and events experiences.
Things to do in Denmark when you are out of the big cities
If you leave the tried and tested venues and experiences in cities like Copenhagen and Aarhus or the area around Vejle Fiord, Kolding Fiord and Lillebælt (Trekantsområdet), you will find all sorts of gems:
- castles and inns with Michelin starred restaurants
- beautiful and relaxing nature (readily available for walk ‘n talks, teambuilding or soulworking)
- or a hotel awarded Best Hotel of Denmark 2017 (according to Tripadvisor) and Luxury Hotel & Restaurant of the year 2018 (according to Luxury Travel Guide)
Just to mention a few of them. But it requires that you have your eyes and ears open and are willing to put your event in a place out of the ordinary.
Advantages of leaving the well-known
Even though it might seem to be a lot of trouble to bring your attendees far away from Denmark’s main airport hub, big hotels and congregated restaurant opportunities, you will find that there are a lot of advantages of bringing them there.
First of all, having events outside of Copenhagen is usually more inexpensive – your money goes a long way outside of the Danish capital.
Second, there is a great advantage in having your attendees gathered at a venue where you will need a ride of some sort to leave. You have their full attention as there are no distractions of nightclubs, shopping or the like right outside your door. And none of them can pop into the office on their way back home after a full event day – they all have to stay in the moment.
Still fearing the unknown?
It might be a ‘mental journey’ for some, but going back to comparing to the US you will see the difference: Over there they are not afraid of transportation and happily fly for hours to attend an event. In Denmark, you only need to rent a bus for the trip.
And if you would now argue that “all that time spent on a bus is just wasted”, I will turn the argument down and tell you that there are plenty of activities you can do on a bus. How about having a get-together/networking session (facilitated, of course!), a workshop (the windows of a bus are perfect for acting as whiteboards/to attach sticky notes) or a lecture (no, the lecturer does not have the possibility of using Power Point…but do we really need those, anyway?).
So, are you ready to go out on a regional limb?
