How choosing Unicoi State Park & Lodge elevated our convention and created lasting impressions.

When was the last time you hurled a hatchet toward the bullseye of a target? Or used your legs to power a pedal boat? Or enjoyed the best laughs at the end of a workday at an onsite pub?

This was part of our retreat recently hosted at Unicoi State Park & Lodge! I’m still in awe of all the enthusiasm and enhanced collaboration that came out of our convention.

When I was choosing destination locations for our industry retreat, Unicoi rose to the top primarily because the attendees would never have to leave the property to eat, play or be entertained after the day’s work sessions and team building adventures.

From seminars to lively celebrations, Unicoi Lodge has 10,000 sq. feet of conference and meeting spaces. My contact with the meetings team at Unicoi ensured that every detail was handled. She worked out customized food and beverage service with dietary considerations, Wi-Fi and audio-visual equipment needs, meeting space planning, overnight accommodation packages and planned group activities.

• Masters Hall is the place for large events and conferences for up to 500 guests.
• Dogwood Meeting Room has capacity for up to 100.
• Fireside Meeting Room accommodates up to 200.
• Beach House holds up to 75 guests.
• And, there are additional rooms and lobbies.
• Outdoor spaces such as picnic shelters and an Amphitheater are also available.

The spacious Georgia Conference Center at the Lodge offers both formal and casual spaces that accommodate small groups requiring concentrated work time to groups of up to 500 people. Our smaller conference also took advantage of breakout sessions offered in the Beach Pavilion with calming views of Unicoi Lake.

Adventures in Team Building

Need to get your team in a different environment that is fun and refreshing but still enables them to build on their communication, problem solving and trust building skills? Through Unicoi State Park & Lodge’s customizable activity schedule, we combined experiential adventures with team building challenges so that our participants had both fun and learning.

Other team building activities designed for groups include Forming Shapes, The Maze, Puzzled and Zombies vs. Humans. *Schedule through the Activities and Programming Manager at activities@unicoilodge.com or call 706-878-4727.

While we stayed on property for work, fun, play and sleep, some did leave briefly for a cultural event. Oktoberfest has begun in Alpine Helen and we took the Unicoi State Park Lodge shuttle to and from the town’s Festhalle Sunday afternoon. The 54^th Helen Oktoberfest is underway weekends through October and is the longest running Oktoberfest in the United States.

The surveys from conference participants have been coming in. They are all glowing about the Unicoi State Park & Lodge experience. I have a feeling we’ll be doing this annually. It’s too much fun, easy to plan, and allows for positive relationship building and partnerships in business.

Thank you, to all the staff at Unicoi State Park & Lodge. They are the main reason everything is amazing, and we are grateful, energized, and looking forward to returning!

• Sarita S.