Looking for a different kind of meeting? Giddyup!
When it comes to holding a meeting at a dude ranch, the initial pitch can be tough. Just ask Ramsey Potts, West Virginia Sales Director for AFLAC, who a few years ago presented the idea of a week on an Arizona ranch to his team of 100 sales reps.
“My people nearly jumped off the chairs and came to choke me in the meeting,” Potts says with a laugh. “They said, there’s no way in this green earth you’re going to take us to a dude ranch!”
Yet Potts was determined. After years of repeat trips to destinations like Cancun and Las Vegas, he was desperate to try something new. A friend suggested a dude ranch, and with a little research at the website of expert Gene Kilgore (“He’s like the AAA of dude ranches,” Potts explains), Potts discovered Rancho de los Caballeros, in Wickenburg, Arizona, about 90 minutes outside Phoenix.
“The second I saw it, I knew it was the right place,” Potts says. Far from the dusty chuck-wagon vibe he was expecting, the property had all the amenities of a resort and then some: a spa, a championship golf course, gourmet food—as well as about 100 horses and 13 cowboys.
Yet as much as Potts raved back home, his attendees remained skeptical. “I fought hard; I took it on the chin,” he recalls. “I said, I’ve been there, you’re going to love it. But they were still complaining when we got on the airplane.”
But then something strange happened. During the 90-minute drive from the Phoenix airport out to the ranch, Potts recalls, a transformation took place. “People were looking out the window at the cacti, and they were like, this is…different! We got off the bus and there were these wonderful people in cowboy outfits, and we were hugging them. Everyone was looking around like we stepped off onto another planet, like they just landed on Mars.”
Within hours, the group’s tune had changed. “By the first night, people were coming up to me saying, we may owe you an apology before this is done,” Potts says. “By the second day, people who said they’d never get on a horse were paying extra to do trail rides. By the time we left, they bought $1,000 worth of brass buckles and cowboy hats! You’d have thought they were cowboys all their lives.”
Back in 1883, men who lived in the western part of the United States were expected to be able to handle themselves around horses. To describe those who couldn’t, a new word was invented – “dude”.
While the word “dude” today is more associated with surf culture or the Big Lebowski, Merriam-Webster still defines a dude as “a dandy” or “a city dweller unfamiliar with life on the range, especially an Easterner in the West.” Nowhere is that original meaning more alive than on the hundreds of “dude ranches” across the west, where greenhorns and city slickers from both coasts (and anywhere in between) can buy themselves an immersive, hands-on, dust-’em-up lesson in authentic Wild-West living.
While these ranches come in all shapes and sizes (see “Three Types of Ranch” sidebar on page XX), there is one thing they all have in common: horses. And once you take a bunch of folks used to driving in cars and sitting in cubicles and put them face to face with a snorting bronco, well, who can blame them for being a bit reluctant?
But the same unfamiliarity that causes people to fear dude ranches also makes them excellent sites for meetings. “The best thing a dude ranch can do for a group is take people out of their daily element and put them into something where they’re a little uncomfortable, where they have to depend on their group to make it through it,” says Cory Inouye, ranch manager at Red Horse Mountain Ranch, about an hour south of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. “When people show up here, they may not know why they’re here at first, but 99 percent of the time, by the time they leave, they want to come back and do that same thing next year.”
That’s exactly what happened to Potts and his team from AFLAC. “I asked everyone the next year, where do we want to have our meeting?” he recalls. “They said, ‘The raaaaanch! Take us back to the raaaaanch!’ And this year they bought another $1,000 worth of belt buckles and cowboy hats!”
If your group has never had a ranch experience, here are a few reasons you can present to get clients or your decision-makers to buy in on a dude-ranch meeting.
A Real Getaway
Dude ranches allow groups to get away really get away from it all. Many are located several hours away from the nearest city. At most ranches, groups will have the whole place to themselves, and there are relatively few distractions. Best of all, the deprivation that guests might initially see as a grave hardship (no TV! no telephones!) quickly comes to be seen as a blessing in disguise.
“I was recently at a ranch where they made everyone throw their cell phones in a big basket at the beginning,” says Colleen Hodson, at the Dude Ranchers’ Association (duderanch.org). “You can really get away from the hustle and bustle of a hotel. And it’s not like in some place where you can’t get people back in when you take a break. Everything they do, they do as a group.”
As a result, when it comes time to having a meeting, everyone is that much more focused on the task at hand—and on what the other people are saying. “Everything we do is a team-building activity,” says Stephanie Wilson, marketing director for Vista Verde Guest Ranch, in Steamboat Springs, Colo. “It’s all about how to work together, see different sides of everyone’s personalities. It’s neat for people to be able to get outside, burn off some energy, then sit down and have some creative, productive time as a group. People connect with each other, and when they sit down to work, you can tell their heads are clear.”
The Days Will Be Filled
There are lots of ways to fill the days on a dude ranch—and it’s up to you how far into the realm of cowboy fantasy you want to go. On some ranches, a group might go camping for a night, try their hands at gold panning or have their own rodeo. But depending on where you go, they could just as easily pass time with canoeing, fishing, golf, hiking, hunting, rock climbing, skeet shooting, swimming or tennis.
No matter how you lay out your agenda, everyone should spend at least some time on a horse. “We put everyone on horseback,” says Tricia Duffney, sales manager for Rancho de los Caballeros. “It doesn’t make any difference if you’ve never been on a horse before. I get CEOs from Manhattan who are dropped off in limos, and in 10 minutes they’re herding horses in a corral.”
Most ranches have a menu of horse riding options, from “head-to-tail” trail rides to fun team events like team penning (see sidebar on page xx). The fancier resorts might set up more elegant options, like an evening wine and cheese ride.
Evening entertainment also is generally built in to the package – and the acts are unlike anything folks will find in the city. At many ranches, you can fill up the evenings with singing cowboys around the campfire, hay rides and more. “It’s not ‘run down to the bar and power drink for 4–5 hours, then go to bed until the meeting starts the next day,” Hodson says. “It’s good, clean and exhilarating fun.”
Horses Teach Business
Weirdly, the Wild West has all sorts of other lessons to teach corporate America, as many of the same principles that make for a great leader of pack animals can be applied to leadership within a corporation. And many ranches have connections with consultants who can be hired to take the lessons learned on a ranch and tie them to the organization’s goals.
“Horses are excellent teachers when it comes to teaching people about their own behavior because animals communicate nonverbally,” says John Longhill, president of Swan Center, an organization based in Colorado that has given horse-based lessons on team-building and leadership to such clients as Cisco and Shell Oil. “Horses are looking for a strong leader. If you can communicate that you are a competent, strong, knowledgeable leader, the horse will partner up with you and do what you tell it to. It’s not about forcing the horse to do it; it’s about becoming a leader so that the horse will want to do the things you want it to do. That’s how you develop your leadership skills.”
Many ranches have programs that are more experiential, combining old-fashioned cattle herding with explicit business messages. The Western Challenge, operating in Wyoming and Arizona, offers a five-day workshop for executives (as well as other programs) designed to “expose the inner spiritual nature of communication and put executives back in touch with the skills common to all charismatic communicators,” all through interactions with horses (www.westernchallenge.com).
Similarly, Shell Lodge Event & Adventure Company, based in Wyoming, leads a training/team-building cattle drive called “Ride for the Brand,” which teaches leaders such topics as taking ownership, developing leadership, fostering teamwork, showing initiative and fostering patience. As the company’s website explains, “A cattle drive teaches such important know-how as setting your direction in the morning, deciding where your herd needs to be by evening, and determining what is the most efficient and least dangerous route.”
Planning Is Easy
Of course, if there is any single corporate processional position that is most similar to cattle herding, it is that of the meeting planner, who must ensure that the “herd” is in the right place at the right time, while being fed (and maybe even groomed) along the way.
As luck would have it, a meeting at a dude ranch also tends to be pretty darn easy to plan. At many ranches, the cost of room, meals and activities are built into a single all-inclusive price, and in most cases, you don’t have to work with an outside DMC. “Meeting planners I work with are shocked when I tell them they don’t have to plan a breakfast or a lunch,” Duffney says.
To get started on finding the right ranch for your group, venture out to the wild wild web. Ranchweb.com, owned by Gene Kilgore, is a great resource for learning about dude ranches, as is the site of the Dude Ranchers’ Association (duderanch.org), an organization based in Cody, Wyo. of approximately 100 dude ranches, where you can narrow your search for a ranch by meeting facilities, group size, amenities such as spas or high-speed Internet, and other criteria. Most western states also have their own dude ranch associations. (Colorado’s, for example, is coloradoranch.com).
A key consideration is group size; many ranches can only host a few dozen guests, so make sure your group can be accommodated. It’s also a good idea to ask about any special needs your group might have, such as dietary restrictions, disabilities or even body size, as some ranches have restrictions on how large the people can be who ride on their horses.
“The most difficult thing is finding a dude ranch where they can fit your group,” says Michael Lesniak, district manager for NALCO Company, a major water treatment and chemicals company based in Chicago, who last year took a group of 80 reps from across the country to the Red Horse Mountain Ranch in Idaho. “You can’t always burn a week for a two-day meeting. My advice would be, plan it well in advance and try to get people to schedule extra time when they can turn it into a vacation, rather than just cram a two-day meeting at a dude ranch.”
A common reservation about dude ranches is the food, as people assume they will be eating sloppy beans out of tin pans. But this is far from the reality at most ranches, where you can usually be assured of getting delicious home-cooked comfort food, even if it’s not always the fanciest of dining. At ranches on the resort end of the spectrum, though, the sky’s the limit.
Also, when scheduling, keep in mind that ranches are highly seasonal. Many ranches shut down (at least to guests) for long periods during the winter (and those in southern Nevada, Arizona and other desert locations may close during the summer). While most ranches are popular with groups in the spring, summer and fall, several also have winter operations that include memorable activities like sledding, sleigh rides and cross-country skiing.
“We were skeptical of going out there, but we had a great experience,” NALCO’s Lesniak says. “I still get e-mails to this day about what a great venue that was—and the learning that took place was exactly what we were after. It was extremely well received. Most people stayed behind and tacked on some extra travel, which made it nice; everyone was relaxed, and de-stressed. It’s a different kind of feel. These people formed friendships that will last forever.”
According to Rancho’s Duffney, “I have guests that have been coming for 60 years. Every single group that I have returns. Once they have a weekend here, they will forever come back. Going to Hawaii or Cancun is a great thing—everyone loves it. But when a planner has enough guts to change the plan and try something different, they’re a hero.”
Dude Ranches: An Overview
Following are some examples of ranches from various states across the U.S. and from Canada. This is just to give you a taste; we recommend using a resource such as RanchWeb (ranchweb.com) or the Dude Ranchers’ Association (duderanch.org) for a far more comprehensive listing.
Arizona
Rancho de los Caballeros: A resort ranch about 60 miles from Phoenix; in addition to 100 horses, they have a spa, a staff naturalist, a resident tennis pro, jeep tours, hot-air balloon rides, and an 18-hole championship golf course, plus 4,500 sq. ft. of meeting space and free Wi-Fi in the lodge and conference center. Open October through mid-May (ranchodeloscaballeros.com).
Hidden Meadow Ranch: About 3.5-to-4 hours from Phoenix, in Apache County’s White Mountains. Guests stay in 12 log cabins (maximum five per cabin) and have access to more than 975 miles of trails in 2-million-acre Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, including wildlife habitat areas for fly fishing, cross-country skiing and trail riding (hiddenmeadow.com).
Tanque Verde Resort Ranch: Located in the Rincon Mountain foothills east of Tucson, this ranch has breakfast horseback rides, horse-handling and roping lessons, guided nature walks, mountain biking and tennis. Guests sleep in casitas with Southwestern art (tanqueverderanch.com).
Grapevine Canyon Ranch: An Arizona dude and working cattle ranch in Pearce (in the Dragoon Mountains) offering pack trips, horse treks and three-day team- building activities for groups of up to 30 (gcranch.com).
California
Circle Bar B: Tucked away in lovely Refugio Canyon on Santa Barbara’s Gaviota Coast, about two hours north of L.A., this property features a newly renovated main lodge, meeting room and game room (circlebarb.com).
Coffee Creek Ranch: Located in Trinity Center on 367 acres surrounded by National Forest and the Trinity Alps wilderness area, Coffee Creek Ranch has a heated pool and spa, rifle and archery ranges, and activities such as bingo, square and line dancing, and gold panning (coffeecreekranch.com),
Greenhorn Creek Guest Ranch: In addition to 100 horses, there’s a creek on the property that feeds two ponds for fishing. Located in Quincy, just 70 miles from Reno/Tahoe International Airport and 20 minutes from the scenic Feather River Canyon (greenhornranch.com).
Alisal Guest Ranch: In the Santa Ynez Valley, this resort ranch (a 10,000-acre working ranch) also features golf, horseback riding, tennis and fishing, plus easy access to Santa Barbara County wine country. A “Meet and Play” package includes unlimited activities for around $500 per person (alisal.com).
Colorado
C Lazy U Ranch: A luxury dude ranch located 100 miles from Denver, the C Lazy U has about 8,000 acres of trails and a 12,000-square-foot indoor arena. Activities include tennis and racquetball in the summer, cross-country skiing (and easy access to downhill) in the winter. Meetings available from September through May (clazyu.com).
Sylvan Dale: A 3,000-acre dude ranch and retreat center about an hour from Denver near Estes Park, where guests can go on cattle drives, cattle round-ups and overnight pack trips, or take horseback-riding lessons. In nearby Roosevelt National Park, they can also go trout fishing or wildlife watching for deer, coyote, cottontail and bighorn sheep (sylvandale.com).
Vista Verde: In addition to horses, this ranch near Steamboat Springs has a mountain biking terrain park, with ramps, teeter-totters and other obstacles. Currently renovating several of its rooms and meeting space, to be completed in June 2009 (vistaverderanch.com).
King Mountain Ranch: Described as “a full-service dude ranch without the rough edges,” this ranch near Granby has a riding program, skeet-shooting range, a private 50-acre lake, tennis courts, an Olympic-size heated swimming pool, a small bowling alley and meetings facilities (kingmountainranch.com).
Idaho
Red Horse Mountain Ranch: A ranch for up to 45 people about an hour from Coeur D’Alene, with horseback riding and other activities, as well as a ropes course with such elements as the “Leap of Faith,” a (harnessed) six-foot leap to a trapeze from atop a 30-foot pole (redhorsemountain.com).
Indian Creek Guest Ranch: For smaller groups, this lodge in east-central Idaho has private cabins and lots of outdoor activities based around the Salmon River and the Salmon-Challis National Forest (indiancreekguestranch.com).
Western Pleasure Guest Ranch: In the Panhandle National Forest, this year-round ranch offers horseback rides in the warmer months and horse-drawn wagon or sleigh rides in the winter, along with evening bonfires, hiking, snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing and other activities (westernpleasureranch.com).
Twin Peaks Ranch: White-water rafting on the Salmon River is a fine option at this ranch, which also offers cattle drives, team penning, barrel racing and horseback riding (twinpeaksranch.com).
Montana
Resort at Paws Up: A 37,000-acre ranch with meeting space for up to 80, along with a massive equestrian center, two fine restaurants, and a spa. On-site team-building activities such as geocaching and rappelling are available for groups (pawsup.com).
320 Guest Ranch: With a history dating back to 1898, this Montana ranch has a conference facility for up to 200, as well as bonfires, kayaking, float trips, gondola rides and Yellowstone tours (320ranch.com).
Mountain Sky Guest Ranch: In southwestern Montana on more than 6,000 beautiful acres, this ranch can hold a meeting on a cliff, in a forest or on a sagebrush plateau. And there’s plenty of riding, hiking and everything else (mtnsky.com).
Nevada
Cottonwood Ranch: A working horse and cattle ranch for up to 19 people, located in the remote northeastern corner of Nevada, 30 miles from paved highway and 70 miles from the nearest town. Unlimited riding, roping, herding cattle and horses, plus other daytime and evening activities (cottonwoodguestranch.com).
71 Ranch: A place to go for a true working cowboy experience, whether gathering calves for branding, sorting yearlings or checking or moving cattle from pasture to pasture. Located in Elko County Nevada at the base of the Ruby Mountains, this has been a working cattle ranch since the 1870s (71-ranch.com).
Oregon
Aspen Ridge Resort: Located in the mountains of south-central Oregon, groups of up to 25 can enjoy horseback riding, tennis, fishing, swimming, mountain biking or hiking on 14,000-acre Fishhole Creek Ranch, a working cattle ranch (aspenrr.com).
Historic Bar M Ranch at Bingham Hot Springs: Originally built as a stagecoach stop in 1864, about 45 minutes east of Pendleton, this 3,000-acre property is tucked amid tall old -rowth pine, fir trees and cottonwood trees. Open April 1 to November 1 (barmranch.com).
Texas
Austin Ranch: One of the oldest dude ranches in Texas, on more than 90 acres, including a 10-acre lake. It has more than 12,200 sq. ft. of indoor space, including a grand ballroom and outdoor patios (austinranch.net).
Dixie Dude Ranch: Located in Bandera, in the Texas Hill Country, this working cattle ranch lets guests work with longhorn cattle, cashmere goats and pigs. Situated on 725 acres, it also offers horseback riding, swimming, fishing and more (dixieduderanch.com).
Flying L Guest Ranch: Originally opened by a retired WWII fighter pilot who set up a private landing strip for himself and his cronies, this ranch has a new lagoon and fitness area, as well as a golf course. Their Cowboy Olympics (with penning, roping steers and indoor challenges) is a good option for team-building (flyingl.com).
Wyoming
Spring Creek Ranch: A luxury resort with views of the Grand Tetons, as well as conference rooms, free shuttles, and room for 300 in the ballroom. Activities include horseback riding, rafting, snowmobiling, skiing, nature hikes and wildlife safaris (springcreekranch.com).
The Hideout: Offers cattle herding and horsemanship classes while surrounded by Wyoming’s Shell Valley. Shell Lodge Event & Adventure Company uses the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming for a wide range of team-building activities (thehideout.com).
Crossed Sabres Ranch: Located near Yellowstone, Crossed Sabres offers horseback riding, as well as hiking, all-day guided trips to Yellowstone National Park, river rafting, guided fly-fishing, wildlife interpretive programs, chuckwagon cookouts and more (crossedsabresranch.com).
Canada
Homeplace Ranch: A year-round working and guest ranch in Alberta’s high cattle country, about 31 miles west of Calgary in the Rocky Mountains, with access to several thousand acres with deer, coyotes, elk and other wildlife (homeplaceranch.com).
Siwash Lake Ranch: A small guest ranch in B.C.’s Cariboo County, this property is eco-friendly and has WiFi. Every guests gets his/her own horse and/or snowmobile (siwashlakeranch.com).
Three Bars Cattle & Guest Ranch: Situated on 35,000 acres in the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia. Working cattle ranch with a range of riding programs, hiking, river rafting, mountain bikes, fly fishing, tennis, heated pool, hot tub and more. Open May 31 to September 30 (threebarsranch.com).