Smart Meetings

For a good overview about the city, check in with the Laramie Chamber of Commerce (laramie.org). Another good site is the home page of the Albany County Tourism Board (laramie-tourism.org).

For a taste of the wild, wild West, groups can pay a visit to (or enjoy an event at) Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site (wyoprisonpark.org), a 190-acre facility dating back to 1872 that once housed Butch Cassidy. The property includes the old prisoners’ dining area, warden’s office, furnished cells and other facilities. During October, ghost tours are available to groups.

The University of Wyoming (uwyo.edu) offers a variety of event space that can be used by groups, particularly when school is not in session. The University is home to several interesting museums, many of which can be rented for events, including museums for art, geology and anthropology.

The Laramie Plains Museum (laramiemuseum.org) also offers guided tours, and hosts events in the Alice Hardie Stevens Center, a gymnasium with french doors leading out to a large lawn. The Nici Self Museum (wyshs.org/mus-nici.htm), in an old train depot, depicts the history of the Centennial Valley by showcasing the area’s mining, lumbering, ranching and railroading.

Our final word of advice: encourage your group to take a risk. If they’re asking for the same-old mountain conference, try to throw in some backcountry exploration. If they just want to go rafting, see if they’d consider an overnight horseback trip—anything to make folks feel a little less comfortable in their day-to-day saddle. After all, from the pioneers to the cowboys, bold adventure is what Wyoming is all about. Yee-haw! 

Getting There

Getting to Cheyenne is relatively simple: Cheyenne Regional Airport (cheyenneairport.com) is the stopping point for 35-minute flights to and from Denver on Great Lakes Airlines, which partners with United and Frontier. If driving, Cheyenne is just a couple hours (about 100 miles) from Denver by car.

Several major airlines fly to the Jackson area daily, mostly via Salt Lake City and Denver. Downtown is nine miles from Jackson Hole Airport (jacksonholeairport.com), 12 miles from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

Laramie is also served by Great Lakes (Laramie Regional Airport; laramieairport.com). To get to Casper, fly into the Natrona County International Airport (iflycasper.com/), which has service to/from Denver, Salt Lake City and Minneapolis, operated by Sky West Airlines.

Not To Be Missed

EAL: As a novel way to promote teamwork, try “EAL” (Equine Assisted Learning), a psychotherapist-led program in which people learn useful team skills (e.g., nonverbal communication, assertiveness, creative thinking, etc.) by working with horses. Leader Mikel Carmon has been described as a “female Will Rogers”; topics covered include Leadership vs. Management, The Power of Intentionality, and Medicine Wheel Knowledge and Energy (spiritrider-wagontrain.com/).

Dude Ranch: Originally a trapper’s trading post, Jackson Hole saw the rise of ranches during the early 20th century. Many of these turned into guest houses, and a few are still operational, including the Triangle X Ranch (trianglex.com) and the Triangle C (trianglec.com), both of which offer their own rafting, horseback riding and other adventures. For general info, contact Wyoming’s Dude Ranch Association (wyomingdra.com)

Snowmobiling: Snowmobiling provides a fun way to cover a lot of territory “off the beaten path” in the national parks. You may encounter moose, bison, elk, deer, coyote, wolves or geo-thermal features. While tours in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton area (such as to Old Faithful geyser) are popular, these tours have been controversial in recent years, but other options abound, such as Togwotee Pass, Greys River, Granite Hot Springs and the Gros Ventre Mountains. For those that don’t want to actually drive the thing, consider a snow coach, basically a powered sled. Overnight snow tours are also available. See yellowstoneparknet.com for more info.

Frontier Days: Every year, Cheyenne goes hog-wild (and cow-wild, horse-wild, bull-wild, etc.) for ten days at the Cheyenne Frontier Days, the world's largest outdoor rodeo and Western Celebration. Referred to as the “daddy of ‘em all,” the event is an exciting, if sometimes stinky gathering of cowboys from across the west – and while it sounds intimidating, some groups choose to piggyback their meetings with this event. This July marks the 112th year anniversary. “The rodeo has a lot of history. It’s big, brash, loud, amazing. It’s a not-to-be-missed event,” says Rudloff. “We’ve had groups meet either a week before or a week after Frontier Days, allowing their attendees to come early or stay late. That is an option that you can do in too many places.”