Introduced at Reston-Herndon Meeting Planner’s Summer Camp.
LEESBURG, VIRGINIA – The National Conference Center, a leader and enabler in learning, development and training meetings, has launched eight innovative experiential learning concepts. The concepts were introduced at the recent Reston Herndon Meeting Planners’ (RHMP) Summer Camp hosted at The National. RHMP is a membership organization of meeting and event industry professionals that are located in the Northern Virginia and Washington, DC metro area. RHMP focuses on educating meeting planners in the most relevant issues and important trends in their industry. The National enhances learning and meeting experiences by offering these value-added, innovative meeting room concepts to encourage experiential learning.
Experiential learning is an exceptional method to create memorable learning experiences with high recall. In addition to the 14-element Challenge Course at The National, the Center’s expert conference planners created eight engaging and interactive experiential learning rooms utilizing meeting rooms, each with an individual theme, to be used for teambuilding, communication and problem-solving exercises.
Approximately 230 meeting professionals attended the annual RHMP Summer Camp for the second consecutive year at The National.
“The experiential learning room concepts and features like the Tiki bar gave the venue a festive atmosphere to help generate extensive networking among planners and suppliers. The room setups enabled our educational sessions to deliver on their content objectives and helped to cultivate the shared learning and best practices among the meeting professionals that we strive for,” said Phil Rappoport, Vice President, Sales & Marketing for AgendaPop Mobile Event App. Rappoport is programming chair of RHMP and one of the six members of the steering committee of RHMP.
The RHMP attendees experienced a tropical theme camp that allowed attendees to experience the new experiential room concepts, live and in person. The one-day meeting ended with The National’s Executive Chef Frank Estremera’s Tiki Taco bar setup at the entrance of the meeting rooms.
Under the direction of Chef Frank, attendees were welcomed to the Tiki Bar where they could get into the tropical theme by tasting house-made tacos with local pork belly, savory Mexican chocolate and poblano pepper brisket tacos, or Smoky Chipotle Chicken tacos with a variety of traditional toppings to complement the chef’s creations. Chef did a hands-on presentation of Nitrogen Ice Cream. Themed breaks and food options are just one of Chef Frank’s favorite contributions to memorable experiences.
Attendees then visited each room, which was outfitted with a theme to encourage teambuilding, conversation, and engagement. Each room is designed with props, lighting, music and aromas, along with food and beverage breaks that stimulate the senses and complement the themes. For example,
The Color Room, a creative artist workshop brings joy to any meeting with sights, smells and taste of color, as doodlers dream with paper covered tables, crayons and markers with colorful balloons covering the ceiling, creating a fun, colorful interactive experience.
The Nerf Room, great for a team or every person for themselves, and creates an environment of competition – every right answer wins a free throw or winner(s) taking the prize. Competition teambuilding allows true personalities to shine and brings all levels of participants to the same playing field, breaking down barriers whether choosing nerf guns or nerf basketballs.
The Bean Bags and Bubbles Room creating an overall relaxed meeting environment with bubbles floating in the air, bubble wrapped-floor, shoe cubby and bean bags, presenting a relaxed meeting room that is airy and stress-free.
The Get Fit Room is created for those challenged to sit still during a meeting. Participants bust the boredom with lively, upbeat workout music, and add aerobics or games to let off steam. Get the jiggles out with exercise balls, pedal stands, arm weights and more.
The Green Room is a step above the meeting room with windows. Bring the meeting outside, with complimentary sunshine and fresh air. Because The National has the space and Mother Nature has the final word, this room can be recreated inside with artificial grass, trees and flowers and all the aromas of the great outdoors.
Water Wars Wahoo bring out the kid out in every attendee, with water toys, kiddie pools, games and balloons. Get wet with great teambuilding.
The Challenge stimulates the mind with puzzles, games, and challenges. Experiential learning meeting rooms can be set up for healthy competition, teambuilding, or as a way to work through communication issues. Finish the day on the 14-element Challenge Course, designed for outdoor teambuilding of all levels.
The Meditation-Zen Room is a unique, relaxing environment with low lighting, soft music, water fountains, pillows, and other relaxing items to create a healthy atmosphere for the mind and soul to breathe and create.
The innovative Experiential Learning Meeting Rooms are available for half day, full day or even just for a few hours. Program cost based on programming design, detail and agenda.
With its reputation as an outstanding member of IACC (formerly known as the International Association of Conference Centres), The National has hosted thousands of learning and training meetings and conferences over the years and has perfected delivery of the meeting experience.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
