How to Plan a Fun Company Retreat

Written by Catherine Seda and Jen Seda, M.D. of Entrepreneur.com

Say "company retreat" at the office, and suddenly employees cringe imagining stuffy conference rooms and mind-numbing lectures. That's not a retreat; that's a meeting -- and it's neither inspirational nor effective. If you want a new way to motivate a dream team, try "play" first and "work" second.

Drew Warmington, 41, founder and CEO of iLeads.com in Newport Beach, Calif., lets his employees choose where to hold their annual retreat. The multimillion-dollar business, which matches professionals in the insurance and mortgage industries, has taken trips to Hawaii, Las Vegas and Wyoming.

"People like having the power to say where they go," Warmington says. "You also learn a lot about your co-workers by getting to know them outside the office. Everybody comes back ready to move mountains, and they're juiced up for months."...