Are you considering choosing Santa Cruz for your next business conference or team building event? Conveniently located a short drive from Silicon Valley and San Jose International Airport, our culturally rich community provides the perfect atmosphere for any business function. Your company and employees do not have to travel far for your next corporate event.

Looking for a little inspiration this conference season? Think outside the meeting space for an experience that goes beyond the banquet room! Here are some of our favorite reasons to Meet in Santa Cruz County!

If you’re planning a meeting in Santa Cruz County, set the tone for your guests by suggesting a scenic coastal drive along California HWY 1. Encourage attendees to head south of San Francisco; skip the traffic (and stress) that comes with the inland route through Silicon Valley. This is a simple way to hit the reset button and get into a calm and creative mindset. Zipping past u-pick farms, coastal access points, and scenic vistas beats enduring traffic and can take as little as 10 extra minutes. Arrange a shuttle to take groups along the “Slow Coast”, or individuals can enjoy this route in their own vehicle.

Remind your meeting guests to pack walking shoes and seek out trails and paths near the meeting hotel location. Making time to sneak away for a quick change of scenery outdoors can be incredibly rejuvenating. It also offers a great chance for attendees to get to know their colleagues better. With 14 state parks & beaches county-wide and a temperate year-round climate, any meeting location in Santa Cruz County will have quick and easy access to beautiful redwood forest trails, beach bluffs, and sandy shores. The abundant natural surrounds can be the pick-me-up needed for getting through back to back seminars, or reason enough to stay a day or so extra to enjoy.

No Santa Cruz experience is complete without a visit to the vibrant downtown. Incorporate a group meal or activity at one of the quaint establishments along the tree-lined promenade of Pacific Avenue. A charming corridor of specialty shops, eclectic dining, markets, arts, and entertainment make for a multitude of convenient and satisfying activities for many tastes. Foodies will enjoy popping into tap rooms, sampling infused olive oils, grabbing a cone at the from-scratch ice cream shop, and noshing on artisan eats created from fresh local ingredients at the pop-up spaces and farmers markets. Salons, boutiques, comic shops, and art supply stores mean plenty of options for unique souvenirs and memorable gifts to bring home when your conference is over.

Jim Greiner, owner of Jim Greiner’s Hands-On! Drumming Events, demonstrates the benefits of purpose-driven percussion sessions for corporate and group team building.

Ed Guzman from Club Ed Surf Schools demonstrates the benefits of surfing for corporate and group team building.