by Ashley DeVan

TWG was a virtual agency long before the pandemic, so we were all thrilled to gather the team for a week on Lake St. Louis. Some of us had never met in person before -- first time hugs are great! We thought it’d be fun to share some of the highlights from our week, so here it goes...

Where do you start? You set the stage for the week!

Our fearless leader, Tony Winders, kicked off the week by sharing his origin story. One of the great things about working with Tony, is he is full of amazing experiences and he blurs the line between work and play (in a good way) which only increases our connection to him. He not only cares about the bottom line, he is equally as passionate about our values and our culture. In fact, we have a strict “no assholes” policy, which I love. His goal for the week was to focus on growth through collaboration, process and excellence!

 

…you invite guest speakers.

 

You spend some time on strategy

It wouldn’t be an offsite without some of the proven tools to get us on the same page. We started by visualizing where we want to be three years down the road. We challenged one another on our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and identified a few things we really wanted to put in the jar. If you haven’t heard the story about the rocks, pebbles and sand, we use it as a metaphor to prioritize and make sure we have room for the things that are going to most impact our business. You know, the boulders! And we make a point to talk about what DOES NOT fit in the jar! Who wants to work in a sand storm?

 

 

One may or may not be surprised that marketing agencies don’t always eat their own dog food. It’s a strength and a weakness - our clients always come first, but we know if we want to grow we have to invest some time in promoting ourselves, which we’re all excited to do!

 

 

 

We also carved out time for Shark Tank presentations, which was one of my favorite parts of the week. We were our own panel of investors, and we each presented one big idea to the team. There were no rules, so our ideas ranged from organizational structure to creating an entertaining thought leadership event. I’m thankful we don’t have a Mr. Wonderful on the team to shoot holes in everyone’s ideas. In fact, the pitches were so great we had a hard time picking the winner. Jordy had a lot of fun with her presentation.

 

We love our Zoom culture

But working around the same table (and in Robert's comfy theater chairs) is a lot more fun -- and productive. From weekly status calls to a major client quarterly business review, we got 'er done! Besides missing my three monitors, it was awesome being together with the team to collaborate both on clients and the future of TWG.

 

But…there are some things you can only do in person!

Home Theater Meetings
When your host is a geek and loves his tech, you really get to benefit from his killer home theater with comfy reclining lounge chairs and a big screen for presentations.

 

In Person Toasts
There is nothing like being face-to-face and actually clicking our glasses (or Solo cups, as the case may be!). They say the sound helps to please all five senses, completing the drinking experience. By the way, the Fuegorita Fire Salt will really set your senses on FIRE!

Chillax together
Hayden set the stage for some chilling.

S’mores!
Well, I have never had s'mores in a zoom meeting, that’s for sure! Unfortunately, sitting around the fire pit didn’t scare away all the mosquitoes so I came home with some bites. One of the things I miss about the east coast is the fireflies, they did not disappoint!

Boat Rides
When your host knows everyone on the lake, it’s easy to arrange for a team boat ride and even have your neighbors shoot a picture. What a great way to end the day!

BBQ!
St. Louis is known for its BBQ, so we went to Sugarfire for some baby back ribs, juicy pulled pork and the very best beef brisket. We even got some pork belly hushpuppies and smoked fried artichokes! Mmmmmm!

Paddleboarding
The early birds (i.e. Tony and Lauren) took advantage of the paddleboards! Some of us (wink, wink) chose to catch up on sleep rather than core strength building to start our day!

 

Getting trapped in the airport
This is one of the things I do not miss about traveling to in person meetings! With more than 15 delays, it took me 24 hours to get door to door from St. Louis back home to Santa Barbara.

Now that we’re back

We’ve started executing on some of our ideas, the first of which was to resurrect our blog! And you’re reading it right now, which makes this first deliverable worthwhile. We’d love to hear from you about the topics you're interested in as we start thinking about our next blog post. Drop us an email at info@thewindersgroup.com.