WESTERN HOSPITALITY SINCE 1874

Elkhorn Lodge and Guest Ranch
600 W. Elkhorn Ave
Estes Park, CO. 80517
Lodge 970-586-4416
Stables 970-586-5225

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Seminars
Seminar
The School of Innovation

The Elkhorn's Ballroom, Main Lodge Dining Room, Courtyard Pavilion and one of our giant tipis have been used for seminars, depending on the number of attendees and the type of seminar presentation. The most popular is the Ballroom, which provides sufficient space for auditorium types of presentation where speakers may make presentations to as many as 60 participants; or space for as many as forty persons with each have working space and all can view the large screen for slide shows, etc.

All of the seminar programs at the Elkhorn are multi-day programs, ranging from the 3-day to 10-day programs.
The Elkhorn kitchen provides the meals as may be prescribed by the client; and our staff prides itself in striving to meet every seminar need.

Two of our on-going seminar groups are presented below:

The Varian Corporation: this group has been conducting an annual seminar series at the Elkhorn for over ten years; this group consists of Magnetic Resonance Imaging {MRI} scientists from developed countries throughout the world. Typically, the group size ranges from 120 to 150 attendees. The Varian Corporation Branch in Fort Collins is involved with the production of MRI machines and products.

The Office of Strategic Innovation, Inc.: Elkhorn's largest seminar client is the Office of Strategic Innovation, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, and has been conducting seminars using principally the Ballroom for the past eight years. This organization includes the Virtual Thinking Expedition Company which designs, organizes and leads exciting problem-solving expeditions into the unknown - exploring new concepts, approaches and technologies, mindshifting into different ways of doing things. Over the years, the most popular seminar series has been the School of Innovators; this seminar typically consists of 25 to 30 attendees, representing corporations and international organizations, and spans a 7-10 day program; in 2003, the Elkhorn hosted the 40th School for Innovators.

The School for Innovators is a highly structured and challenging program designed for executive personnel where individuals are exposed to approximately 15-hour days; the average class time per day for the attendees approximates 12 hours, and the other 3 hours involves team building elements combined with challenging physical activity, or mountain hikes where the crisp high altitude air regenerates the mind.


School of Innovation - meeting the challenge


The School carefully establishes high energy menus and the Elkhorn staff sets buffet style meals close to the Ballroom.
Mountain climbing

Participants typcially will eat their meals is a 'class-room' environment where they are either working individually or in groups on assigned tasks. There is virtually no lost time; attendees normally do not have the 'free time' to visit Estes Park's famed main street shopper's mecca.

As the School enters the last couple of days, the student teams participate mountain climbing program under the guidance of Mike Donahue, founder of the Colorado Mountain School and a recognized climbing instructor.

The Office of Strategic Innovation website, www.thinking-expedition.com contains a gallery of photos of their seminars in the Elkhorn's Ballroom; as well as other information about their programs.