As these words are being read, at least a few companies undoubtedly are planning a corporate outing this summer in eastern Connecticut, within range of the twin tribal casinos.
Pitney Bowes is betting on a different kind of Native American action.
Rick Petreycik is incorporating a visit to a reservation as part of an Arizona outing he is planning for Pitney Bowes Inc. ”“ but attendees are going to have to work for the right to view a Native American ceremonial dance.
As manager of channel communications at the Stamford-based company, Petreycik is finalizing plans for a Pitney Bowes sales congress in mid-May that will include an option for attendees to visit the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation reservation northeast of Scottsdale, where the conference is being held.
The senior center there needs painting ”“ and could use a little weeding too. Grounds-keeping chores await near the reservation”™s recreation center. And for those whose idea of a little rest and relaxation is outdoor sports with the reservation”™s children, bear in mind that temperature forecasts called for a high of 96 degrees last weekend ”“ and the kids are acclimated.
Petreycik is not alone in betting that a goodly number of Pitney Bowes employees will skip the tennis or hot-air balloon rides, and opt to sweat out an afternoon working to make a difference. According to a report in Special Events magazine, increasingly companies are attaching volunteerism components to corporate outings and other events, in an effort to create lasting memories for participants as well as to burnish the company”™s image for the community that benefits.
Mindful of the impact an event produces, Washington, D.C.-based Take Pride America publishes a how-to guide for incorporating volunteerism into events, whether civic, corporate or academic in focus. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection publishes a guide for ways companies can program event activities around a “green” cause, in the case of DEP around the state”™s annual Connecticut Recycles Day or Earth Day.
In a sense, the concept is akin to experiential marketing, a buzzword used to describe corporate attempts to make their brands more memorable by engaging customers in face to face encounters that leave a lasting impression.
It took just one visit for the Yavapai Nation to leave an indelible imprint on Petreycik. During a scouting trip to Arizona last year to plan the conference and volunteer activities, he liked what he found in the Yavapai nation, whose forebears were nomads that subsisted by hunting and gathering edible plants in the sparse desert country.
“I go out six months in advance, pick four or five or six organizations to interview and see if there”™s a fit, see what makes sense,” Petreycik said. “What sold me on this event is that when I met with the tribal elders, their response was, ”˜What we would like to do for you is put on a cultural exchange, and put on traditional songs and dances toward the end of the event.”™”
You can probably get that at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun as well, but not from kids with whom you just spent the afternoon reading and playing.
And in another sense, it is not as if the Pitney Bowes crew is missing out on the casino action entirely. The week the company”™s employees visit, the reservation commemorates a 1992 standoff with the FBI, when agents raided a Fort McDowell reservation and confiscated 350 slot machines. Tribal leaders organized a blockade of the casino”™s access road using every available vehicle they could muster, and after a three-week standoff the then-governor of Arizona signed a gaming compact with the tribe.
The blockade date of May 12 is now a tribal holiday
