Planning the 2027 Kick-off: Why the January Slot Gets Booked in October

Four weeks sound like a lot, but they shrink quickly: in many companies, the first week is dedicated to the operational start of the year, and Mondays and Fridays are impractical when there's multi-day travel or evaluation work involved. What remains is a hard core of Tuesdays to Thursdays in the second to fourth weeks of January, on which demand concentrates. Two ways out if your preferred date is taken: the last week of January, which is often freer, or a deliberately later kick-off in early February, which has the advantage that the first figures from the new year are already available.

Before you request rooms, decide what the day should achieve. A purely strategic workshop needs a focused room, good lighting and few distractions. A team kick-off thrives on shared activity, from cooking to a winter hike. Most successful year-start events combine both: goals and figures in the morning, a shared experience in the afternoon. This decision determines everything else, from the room layout and technology to the question of whether a venue with activities within walking distance is needed. Ideas for the active part can be found in the team event overview.

The same room area can hold very different numbers of people depending on the seating layout: theatre-style seating fits the most people, classroom-style seating with tables considerably fewer, and a U-shape for genuine discussions requires the most space per person. So never ask for "a room for 40 people", but rather "40 people in classroom-style seating plus two breakout corners". Our listings show the capacity per seating type, so you can compare this before making your enquiry. How much space each layout needs is shown in our comparison of seating types. Basic equipment you should ask about: projector or screen, flipcharts, stable Wi-Fi, daylight and adjustable temperature, plus microphones for around 50 participants or more.

A day format saves budget and organisation, but requires everyone to arrive in good time. Distributed teams often fare better with a seminar hotel and an overnight stay: the evening before becomes an informal start, and the day itself begins on time instead of with delayed trains. In January, the weather also plays a role: those heading up to higher altitudes should plan travel buffers and check how the venue is accessible in case of snow. You'll find suitable options in the mountain regions, for example among the seminar rooms in Graubünden, in Valais and in the Canton of Lucerne.

Calculate using a daily package rate or individual items, but calculate completely: room hire, technology, catering (coffee breaks, lunch, aperitif), facilitation or external speakers, an afternoon activity, and if there's an overnight stay, rooms and dinner, plus transport. Prices vary depending on location, size, facilities and duration; central locations cost more, and weekdays are priced differently from weekends. As always, get two to three comparative quotes for the same date and the same number of participants, so you can see exactly what each package includes.

Define the goal, number of participants and two preferred dates, then enquire with two or three venues in parallel, so you compare quotes instead of a single figure. What to include so the quote fits is covered in Planning a seminar: What belongs in a good room enquiry.

You'll find rooms and seminar hotels throughout Switzerland in the seminar room overview, with dedicated pages for the Canton of Zurich and the Canton of Bern. The Help Centre explains how an enquiry works and what happens afterwards.