In the dynamic landscape of today’s business world, fostering team cohesion, knowledge sharing, and innovation has become more critical than ever. Enter the often underutilized yet immensely impactful strategy; hosting a conference for your work team. Granny Mouse Country House & Spa is no stranger to hosting conferences, large or small. And given their accommodation options, they are one of the more popular destinations when it comes to getting the team out of the office. We recently asked General Manager, Sean Granger, for his top 5 reasons why companies should take the time out to regroup and strategise.

This powerful approach can yield a multitude of benefits that ripple across the organization, enhancing collaboration, employee engagement, and overall success.

1. Knowledge Exchange: Conferences provide a platform for team members to exchange insights, experiences, and expertise with peers from various departments and even external partners. The exposure to diverse perspectives ignites fresh thinking and innovative solutions to challenges. This sort of activity allows the company to foster a learning culture, and this leads to a more adaptable and resilient workforce.
2. Innovative Thinking: Granger commented that often when conference goers arrive, they are frazzled, and this is often a result of being so wrapped up in their work, that they have no time to disconnect and think clearly. Stepping out of the office space stimulates fresh ideas and perspectives, as people are placed in a more relaxing environment, where less distractions are present.
3. Skills Enrichment: Conferences often feature expert speakers and workshops that help team members enhance their skills and stay updated on industry trends. And with the ever-changing landscapes of most industries, this is critical to staying ahead.
4. Motivation Amplification: Conferences inject a dose of inspiration and motivation into team members. Engaging keynotes and success stories serve as reminders of the big picture, reigniting passion for the company’s mission, and may reenergise teams that were feeling a little flat.
5. Downtime: Breaking free from the confines of daily routines is not just a work problem, it’s often a home life problem too. For working parents, the juggle is real, and sometimes just having a night off, if you’re planning that for your team, is just what some workers really need. A night of adult company, food they did not have to prepare, and a good night’s rest.

Hosting a conference for your work team is a strategic investment that pays dividends in terms of innovation, collaboration, and employee growth. And hosting it at Granny Mouse Country House & Spa is idyllic. From decadent dining to tastings or spa treatments, your team will feel pampered, energised and ready to tackle whatever comes next.

Before the revelry begins and you get down to the real party, there are so many wedding traditions that one generally cannot go without, and one of them is the wedding toasts.

How did it all come about? The team at Granny Mouse Country House & Spa did some digging and found that it has its origins in ancient Greek and Roman culture, where it was first used to pay homage to the gods, and to raise a glass to everyone’s health which went on to be a standard practice at every meal.  Other sources of information say that it was a tradition that started in the 6^th century BC and the idea was to toast to a friend’s health and clink your glasses causing the drink to spill from one cup to another.

But getting back to wedding toasts as they are done these days, according to the banqueting team at Granny Mouse, the most important thing is proper planning. Try avoid impromptu speeches because everyone really wants to have a good time and they can fall flat. These are the standard roles that you can adjust to fit your traditional preferences:

The Parents

The traditional wedding speech order goes father of the bride, groom, best man and other toasts. In same-sex weddings, it is also common for both partners to speak but sometimes only one does.

The Maid of Honour and the Best Man

The best man’s speech finishes off the wedding speeches – no pressure! The best man’s speech is traditionally expected to deliver the laughs, so be sure to add in a few classic best man jokes. Coming before the best man speech, this is a chance for the maid of honour to share her own funny anecdotes about the bride. The bridesmaids may prefer to share a short speech between them. Some bridal parties are choosing to turn the maid of honour speech into a big occasion and prepare speeches, songs or videos that include all the bridesmaids and ushers.

The Bride and Groom

The groom should follow the father of the bride, and some elements of his speech should include thanking the guests for attending, thanking the parents, a few words about key members of the wedding party, thank the bridesmaids and, of course, compliment the bride.

If the bride is going to give a speech, or to join the groom in a joint speech, she should thank her guests for coming, thank her parents, compliment her partner, and maybe tell a funny anecdote about them, and of course raise a toast.

Finally some dos and don’ts

Whether you go the more traditional route or not, when deciding your wedding speech order, there are a few important details to consider:

1. Think about how the person before you will end their speech.If they let you know, you can then alter your speech so it starts referencing the ending of theirs.
2. Set time limits.For example, if you allot 10 minutes maximum to the best man he’s unlikely to speak for half-an-hour.
3. Ask the person before you to introduce you.This saves you from having to clumsily introduce yourself to the room.
4. Don’t have too many speakers. If you break the mold of having more than the traditional three speakers, then it can go on for too long.
5. Ask the other speech-givers what jokes, toasts, anecdotes and thank-yous they plan on including in their speeches.
6. Consider having a Master of Ceremonies. They can ensure that the speeches start at the appointed time and that the transition from one speech to another is done seamlessly.