On Monday afternoon, I got on the road and drove to Suncadia for my 2 day/2 night work retreat. Our staff of 16 (who is spread all across the state) only gets together about 4 times a year. I really only have the opportunity to see my coworkers who are based at the HQ on a regular basis, and there are only 7 of us - of which many are often out for meetings, travel, or working from home. It is kind of amazing what technology has allowed us to do in terms of operating a business in such a disconnected way, at least in terms of face to face time.
However - there are some things that really do require time together, and sometimes, it's best to do that away from the day to day distractions at home. We also have a new employee, my boss, so it was the perfect time to get away, focus, and put together a plan for the 4th Quarter, along with our goals for 2014.
I had been put in charge of organizing our retreat - finding a (somewhat) central location, reserving rooms, organizing "fun" activities, and getting the food and drink squared away.
After several of our choices closer to the middle of the state had been booked, we decided to go after Suncadia - who just happened to have had space for us.
We all arrived on Monday afternoon at various times. After checking into our (amazing) condos, a few of us grabbed a drink and took in the spectacular views.
Next up, I had organized a cooking demo. Our entire team took part in assisting the (hot) Suncadia chef in preparing an Italian feast. He later clued us in to the fact that he had already pre-made our entire meal, and that often times, the food these groups prepare gets eaten by the staff ;) Probably a good idea.
4 of our Project Managers
Me, Shauntel, and the chef
Linda, me, Shauntel and John (our Prez)
The entire IW team enjoying our meal.
The next day was a full day of meetings. THIS was the view outside our conference room. Luckily, we had several break out sessions that required small group work - so we got to hit the patio for those.
On Tuesday evening, we had dinner and drinks out on the lawn at sunset, followed by S'Mores around the campfire.
At the end of the night, Patric treated us to some piano tunes. At all of our conferences (really, whenever he can get his hands on a piano) he will play for us - all improv, always impressive.
To answer your questions:
Yes - we got a lot of work done.
Yes - we enjoyed our fair share of wine.
And yes - I enjoyed the shit out of that giant soaking tub :)
Looks like all your hard work paid off! Glad it was so fun. :)
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