2024 Meetings & Events Venue Guide
Players are warming up on the court at Target Center. The energy is high, the team is working together, and they’re landing baskets. The only thing missing is fans screaming for Ant-Man. But it’s not the Timberwolves playing, nor the Lynx. Instead, it’s executives from Winnebago Industries.
Every fall, the Eden Prairie-based manufacturer of outdoor lifestyle products holds an Executive Leadership Summit, bringing together nearly 80 execs from the company’s five outdoor brands—Winnebago, Grand Design RV, Chris-Craft, Newmar, and Barletta—for three days of employee recognition and team building. With a hotel to host the group and the formal meetings, the summit typically includes an off-site experience. In 2022, it was at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul; in 2023, with the Lofton Hotel in downtown Minneapolis as the home base, Winnebago Industries booked a behind-the-scenes evening at Target Center.
The venue aligned with the summit’s theme of “Together We Rise,” says Emily Benson, project manager at Winnebago Industries. “We wanted to take it to the next step,” she says. “Not only did we want an amazing place to eat our dinner as a team and award people, but we also wanted the [attendees] to have fun and have an opportunity to interact … it encompassed everything that we were looking for.”
Attendees could practice their jump shot on the NBA court, and each received a basketball jersey personalized with Winnebago Industries and their business unit. Dinner took place courtside, with the official Target Center scoreboard lowered to serve as a presentation screen.
Employees are still talking about that night. “It brought the entire Winnebago Industries together,” Benson says. “All of the business units—as siloed as they are, we’re still one large company. It allowed us to come together to see the values of our teamwork, our innovation, and the quality that we have, and then find all that within each other.”
“The No. 1 thing my clients say is they are looking for a memorable experience … They need to be inspired.”
—Angela Wynveen, director of sales at Target center
Winnebago Industries’ on-court summit reflects a bigger trend in corporate off-site meetings and events. To compensate for less face-to-face time in the office, companies are stepping up their events to create gatherings that are not only productive but memorable. Of course, going beyond the typical office meeting requires more planning, whether it’s programming, entertainment, food experiences, or the venue itself.
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That means thinking outside the box—or in this case, beyond the usual hotel ballrooms. Target Center, an arena known for its basketball games and concerts, has seen a 300% boost in private events since 2019, with around 40 corporate events per year. Other venues, from sports arenas to concert halls, also report an uptick in corporate requests.
Angela Wynveen, director of sales at Target Center, notes that many of the companies that host events at Target Center don’t have anything to do with basketball, but they’re leveraging the draw of the venue to encourage as many attendees as possible to participate.
“The No. 1 thing my clients say is they are looking for a memorable experience. A lot of people say, ‘We need to just get out of the blank slate.’ They need to be inspired,” she says. “They’re looking to give their clients, customers, and employees something different.”
This works in favor of the arena as well, which is strategically driven to fill its “dark days,” when it doesn’t host a basketball game or concert. With nine spaces, from the arena floor to the Lexus Courtside Club, Wynveen says any kind of event can be held at the Target Center. “We knew coming out of the pandemic that we had a product that was going to get people out of their homes,” she says. “We saw the trend of people looking for something different, and we have this beautiful space that we really want people to enjoy.”
It can also be good advertising—Benson says some Winnebago Industries employees were so inspired by their court time that they returned to Target Center for a Timberwolves game. “When your businesses are spread out around the United States, there’s a lot that can be said about coming together to share the growth mindset and find that unity. It’s important to celebrate the wins together as one big group.”
