NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL

By Louis Marroquin

Photography By Jack Hollingsworth

Try team-building - Daufuskie Island style.

Standing on the spacious wraparound porch in the antebellum-style entrance court of the Island House on Daufuskie Island, with a view of the Atlantic Ocean gently rolling onto the distant beach, you might surmise that the building is a restored historical landmark. So painstaking was the eye to detail during the construction that the structure easily could be mistaken for the plantation houses of the Old South that once populated the island off the coast of Hilton Head in South Carolina. The classical, double-height portico and Greek Doric columns of the facade replicate those seen in photographs of the original 19th century plantation house that stood at Melrose, the central portion of the island.

But step inside and — aside from the stately decor of historic photos, art pieces, models, and flags — the 16,000-square-foot conference center is anything but old-fashioned. Once again the eye for detail is evident, but this time, to the maximization of productivity. Business services feature video-teleconferencing, high-speed Internet access, and audiovisual equipment, including drop-down screens. Meeting space consists of nine executive meeting and banquet rooms, three boardrooms, and a large ballroom that can be configured into three separate areas.

This expansive, new area, added to Daufuskie Island’s existing business facilities, brings the total meeting space on the island to 21,000 square feet in 15 meeting and function rooms. The Melrose Inn, which houses 52 of the 187 rooms for accommodations on the island, also includes a business center where guests can hook up to their e-mail, receive faxes, and access the Internet.

With the versatility of its expanded business facilities, Daufuskie Island can now meet most requests for business retreats — including small brainstorming sessions, team-building activities, and larger corporate events. And if a company wants to take over the entire island for a large group conference, well, that can easily be arranged.

But this is not business as usual.

This agenda includes golf, tennis, horseback riding, water sports, fine dining, and unrivaled peace and quiet. Energize the creative process with fresh air, sand under the feet, and stress-relieving recreation — within an ambience heightened by Daufuskie Island’s isolated location a ferry ride away from highways and high rises.

In fact, traffic on the island is limited to the shuttles that transport guests from the ferry to the Melrose Inn. Because the island is only 5 miles long by 2-1⁄2 miles wide, most facilities are within walking distance of accommodations at the Melrose Inn and the Oceanfront and Oceanbreeze Cottages. But for farther destinations, such as the Equestrian Center and the Bloody Point golf course, the transportation of choice is a golf cart (called a cottage cart) that a guest can rent. Other guests may opt for bicycles for those quick jaunts to the General Store, the Beach Club, or the island’s numerous options for impromptu business meals and closing-the-deal cocktails.

As any good meeting planner knows, you don’t go to a resort and then isolate the participants in meetings all day long. Daufuskie Island offers that much-needed balance between business and pleasure. The recreational amenities alone allow plenty of opportunities to rejuvenate — or simply relax — between scheduled meetings and events.

The 7,081-yard, Jack Nicklaus-designed Melrose Course provides a challenging 18 holes of golf and a spectacular oceanview finale; while the friendlier Tom Weiskopf/Jay Morrish-designed Bloody Point Course winds its 6,900 yards around coastal marshes and lagoons, rolling terrain, and native palms. Corporate golf clinics, patterned after the Golf Advantage School at Pinehurst in the Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina, can be arranged for all levels of golfers by the professional Daufuskie Island golf staff. A pitch-and-putt course behind the Melrose Inn provides a convenient spot for guests to work on their short game between meeting sessions.

For the tennis enthusiast, the Stan Smith-designed tennis center boasts eight clay courts and two lighted stadium courts. (Two more courts with a view of the Atlantic Ocean are available at the Bloody Point Clubhouse.) The Beach Club features three outdoor oceanview pools, a fitness center, and basketball and volleyball facilities. Elsewhere on the island, there’s also horseback riding (lessons are available), parasailing, kayaking, waterskiing, wakeboarding, fishing, envirotours and dolphin cruises, croquet and lawn bowling, and more. Any of these amenities can be set up to accommodate groups both large and small.

For a truly adventurous team-building exercise, Daufuskie now offers an “Executive Survivor Challenge,” complete with bonfires, immunity challenges, and “tribal councils,” as made famous by the hit television series, Survivor. Available to groups of 25 or more, the Challenge can be adapted as a half-day, full-day, or three-day event. Teams earn points for such competitions as crab races, beach Olympics, and archery, and team tiki torches are extinguished one by one, until a victor is named. Not to worry, no one is actually voted off the island.

For more information on group meetings, call Daufuskie Island’s group sales office at 800.960.9089, or visit www.daufuskieresort.com.