What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words: annual company meeting? I’ll give you a minute as you pull up those mental images that are rolling back right about now (Maybe hotel ballrooms, an awkward co-worker dance party, too many vodka and sodas?)

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Not for us. Here’s what we were thinking of...

When it comes to Marketwake, the norm is never really “the norm.” If you’re familiar with us at all, you already know that we do things a little differently. We have beer o’clock on Friday, where we gather with our leader-in-chief for lessons about how to be better not just at work, but in our lives. We take trips to NYC for our holiday party just because. And yeah, we collaborate on everything because the more perspectives you have, the better your plan is.

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So when we talk about the annual company meeting, we’re not talking your average half-day off; we’re talking about a North-Georgia-cabin-in-the-woods, private-lake-but-also-we-can-see-Amicalola-Falls-from-the-porch, cozy-fireside-chats two-day extravaganza. Because when we go, we go big.

At 2 PM on a sunny, Thursday afternoon in January, we loaded up our cars to the brim (with snacks, mind you) and headed up to the cabin. Thankfully we had a few hours to hang out (i.e., eat said snacks), and get to know some of the newer team members. After that, the real work began.

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It is a Marketwake tradition for each member of the team to create a 5-minute presentation based on something they are passionate about and share with the group on the first night of the retreat. Courtney walked us through tips for our brainstorming sessions, Katherine talked about the best Super Bowl ads of all time, Amber taught us how to cook a steak, and another team member went totally creative and shared a vlog of his day-to-day (can you guess who before watching?). It was awesome to see everyone speak so passionately about the topics they chose, and after the presentations were complete, we all walked away having learned a little something new — about the topics, and about our co-workers!

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We began day two with a quick brunch and dove into our overall 2019 company goals presentation from Brooke. I can’t share the specifics, but we are all SO excited about where Marketwake is headed this year.

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The best moment? Ziplining. There’s really nothing like hanging out in the treetops to really bring a team together. Personally I was terrified, and literally thought I would plummet to my death then and there. And yet! Here I am to tell the tale, and it had a lot to do with the encouragement from my Marketwake crew as we swung through the trees as a team.

From presenting to ziplining to cooking meals with the team, the 2019 annual retreat really set the tone for this year, and I know I’m not the only one looking forward to bringing my A-game to the Treehouse. We’ve got big plans for this year, and our retreat was an incredible way to get started on meeting and exceeding our goals.

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