“The rest was work. Real work.”
You said they were conservative, that may be a difference. Also, you, like me, probably were a worker bee. I was sent to a one week conference at a nice facility but it was all work. I also was sent to a two week class, but it was also work. What the politicos and the top management do is more like a paid vacation with all the trimmings. My former bosses talked of non-stop golfing with a few rah-rah sessions run by expensive consultants. (For example, they’d come up with a mission statement. It was generally a 50+ word sentence that threw in motherhood, apply pie and the kitchen sink.)
These meetings were run by the CEO, president and the upper management. Yes, all conservative. Attendees included the entire sales force plus product managers. I was in the last category.
The company was one of the few in the industry that would grow market share when times were tough. It acquired when others were being acquired.
On off years when sales were low (cyclical business), the meetings would be held at the corporate office. Attendees that had to travel got to stay at one of the more modest hotels around (cheap rates).