The best professional development facilities

Looking for the best place to host your next company retreat? Do you have a major convention coming up in the next few months? Here are the best places to host your next work-related event.

Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa

Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa is tucked in southwestern Pennsylvania with a lot to offer in the corporate realm. According to Tom Smith, assistant director of sales at Nemacolin, the resort offers 33,000 square feet of meeting space and hosts anything from board retreats to very large sales meetings to association events.

“When someone wishes to organize an event of some sort, they would contact our sales office and then we ask them a series of questions to try to make sure they have the right fit,” Smith said. “We make sure we meet all of their goals and objectives and we like to make sure our VIPs are well taken care of.”

Smith said Nemacolin works to make sure events have a small, intimate feeling.

Nemacolin offers many amenities to its patrons. The resort is home to a PGA golf course and an equestrian center.

“We also have a shooting range,” Smith said. “All you have to do is pull the trigger; we do the loading and teach all of the techniques.”

Nemacolin also has a lot of team-building exercises. Smith said the resort has an entire staff that works on the team-building side. Exercises include a survivor challenge, a low-ropes course and wacky Olympics. A scavenger hunt and paintball are also offered. Nemacolin stresses all activities as “character-building sports, and a great time to learn about teamwork, gain self-confidence and develop leadership abilities.”

According to Smith, March through November is typically the busiest time for professional development events. “Usually people get their budgets approved in November and they start making decisions as to where they want to go,” Smith said. “We have a great skiing facility that works well for corporate groups in the wintertime. We have all four seasons covered here.”

Nemacolin’s most popular professional development package is the corporate rewards package. For more information on planning your next corporate event, call Tom Smith directly at 724-329-6385 or visit its website at www.nemacolin.com .

Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center

Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center is located just minutes from D.C. in Prince George’s County. The resort is part of the new National Harbor project.

According to Jamey Walls, director of training and development for Gaylord Entertainment and dean of corporate Gaylord University, as a brand, Gaylord has cornered the convention market. “We have state-of-the-art meeting facilities,” he said. “Gaylord National has almost 500,000 square feet of meeting space. We cover anything from corporate events to weddings.”

When customers call Gaylord wishing to organize a corporate event, they are referred to the sales team. Walls said the team sold $1.5 million worth of room reservations before the hotel was even out of the ground.

Visitors to Gaylord can expect plenty of onsite amenities at the resort, including seven restaurants, a full-service spa, salons and fitness centers.

“Each of our restaurants offers an entirely different experience. Our properties are all freestanding but under the same roof, with the same level of service,” Walls said.

One of the newest additions to Gaylord is the Pose nightclub. “Pose offers an ultra-lounge environment,” Walls said. “It’s located on the top of our hotel on our 18th and 19th floors.”

It’s unusual for a building to be that high in the D.C. area due to the 1899 Height of Buildings Act, which allows no buildings higher than the U.S. Capitol.

Overlooking D.C., the nightclub has spectacular views of the monuments and the Potomac, Walls said.

Gaylord maintains the same level of busyness year-round. According to Walls, the busiest times are the best opportunities to learn. “Gaylord is a whole virtual learning platform,” Walls said. “We apply principles to things we have learned.”

The majority of the most popular packages are typically during summers and holidays. Walls said that Gaylord National’s summertime weekend rates are $199. “Marketing does a great job with coming up with packages that really fit the time of the year,” he said.

The easiest way to make reservations is to call the hotel’s main line at 301-965-2000 or visit its website at gaylordnational.com .