Located on the Potomac River just minutes from Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Virginia is an ideal destination for groups seeking leadership, strategic development and teambuilding opportunities in an inspiring historic city close to the nation’s leaders.
Alexandria boasts a nationally designated historic district founded in 1749 and offers more than 200 independent restaurants and retail outlets, as well as hotel options ranging from 4-star boutique hotels to full-service convention properties that can accommodate groups of up to 800 attendees. Its newly revitalized waterfront offers outdoor dining options as well as boat tours and several public parks.
Unique to Alexandria is an exclusive collection of nationally recognized executive leadership and teambuilding institutes, which can be customized to a group’s needs, whether it’s a two-hour teambuilding exercise to complement a DC-area meeting, or a 3-day comprehensive leadership development program.
The Leadership Collection at Alexandria™ consists of three programs offering engaging content, high-level facilitators and one-of-a-kind venues.
The George Washington Leadership Institute at Mount Vernon holds its program in state-of-the-art conference rooms in the Washington Presidential Library, on the grounds of George Washington’s former estate at Mount Vernon.
The program offers innovative leadership training where participants are put to the test in historic crisis scenarios from Washington’s time as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army or as first President of the United States. Faced with the same choices as Washington, attendees must make their own decisions on how to lead. Groups can also step into a 1790s foreign policy crisis and take on the roles of President, cabinet members, senators, foreign ambassadors and the press, with their decisions actively determining the fate of the nation.
The largest room capacity can accommodate up to 200 attendees, theater-style, and the program can be tailored to fit client objectives, from 1-day board meetings to multi-day strategic retreats. Unique experiences can be added such as a rare books and document tour, private candlelight tour, or a whisky tasting and dinner experience at Mount Vernon Distillery and Gristmill.
The McChrystal Group Leadership Academy was founded by retired four-star general Stan McChrystal, author of the books Leaders: Myth and Reality and Team of Teams. The Academy’s faculty includes retired military officials and civil servants, industrial/organizational psychology PhDs, and experienced business practitioners. Its programs use hands-on simulations and other experiential scenarios to accelerate learning, such as a team-based exercise on how the CIA and Joint Special Operations Command worked together to defeat terrorist networks. The programs are taught in the state-of-the-art Executive Training Center, which offers more than 6,000 sf of collaborative meeting space. Activities can include a Sunrise National Mall Walk & Jog, where attendees hear vignettes and history that tie to the challenges that leaders face in business and society today.
Building Momentum, the third program offered by the Leadership Collection, is a veteran-owned problem solving, technology and engineering consulting group. It offers custom-tailored programs that include interactive, hands-on teambuilding activities that employ 21st century technology such as 3D printing, laser cutting, welding, electronic and robotics to teach how to rapidly solve real world problems as a team. Teambuilding options include Wine & Welding and Drone Jousting activities as well as a week-long Innovation Bootcamp. The programs are taught in a spacious 3,600-sf industrial event space with a room capacity that can accommodate up to 200 theater-style.
The team at Visit Alexandria provides a turnkey concierge service to help planners find the right program to suit their needs, objectives and budget. As well as offering a personal point of contact to help organize accommodations, transportation, dining and after-hours activities, Visit Alexandria’s event team can also manage proposal collection from appropriate key partners, as well as centralized credit application and marketing support.
Value-added amenities for groups hosting their event in Alexandria can include a VIP check-in experience, guaranteed upgrade of one per 20 guest rooms, signature welcome amenity and letter from Alexandria’s mayor, farewell VIP turndown service, VIP charter boat transfers or a vehicle upgrade.
For more information, go to AlexandriaLeadershipCollection.com.
