PRESS RELEASE

Don’t let the word “retreat” put you off. Staff retreats are hugely productive – and are critical for steering your organization in the right direction. They’re a way to get your team aligned with your vision and mission, and an opportunity to reconnect away from the keyboard. Newer team members or remote/hybrid workers will also get the opportunity to put faces to names, building camaraderie and organizational buy-in.

Technically, a staff retreat can happen whenever it’s convenient for your calendar. But there are certain times of the year that will return the most value. A year-end date is great for reflecting on the previous year’s efforts and for redirecting team energy into the next year. Meanwhile, a mid-year date can galvanize your team to push forward and give their all for the remainder of the year. Retreats can also double as rewards for finishing a major project, or can help refocus and reorient the organization in the wake of major organizational change. Be mindful to plan your retreat around popular holiday breaks – and avoid overlapping important religious or cultural events. 

Organizing a staff retreat involves many moving parts. For best results, make the process collaborative and inclusive. For example:

• Use Doodle Polls or Calendly to choose a date. Shortlist a few dates and invite team input to see what works best for your team. Depending on the size and make-up of your organization, it might make sense to book multiple days. Think mid-year, end-of-year, or even around key events or milestones in your organizational calendar. Polls are also vital for identifying dietary needs and other accommodations.
• Decide on in-person or virtual format. In-person gatherings are ideal, but whether this is a viable option depends on the distribution of your organization. If your team is scattered across the country, offer to fly everyone to a central destination, or piggyback your meeting off an industry conference or event. For smaller budgets, a strategic partner’s conference room or a coworking space can be an affordable way to get people out of the office. (If you opt for a virtual get-together, here’s how to make it a success.)
• Know your goals and plan accordingly. Retreats aren’t one-size-fits-all. Identify what you want to achieve with your retreat, and build out your itinerary to suit. Set objectives, break into groups, invest in facilitation and visual note-taking services, and follow up with post-retreat material that your team can incorporate into their day-to-day. 

Now we’re talking. Themes are great for unifying an event and getting people off the sidelines and into the action. Develop a comprehensive theme that lends itself well to teams, events, activities, and competitions. A retro theme offers opportunities for costumes, old-school music, and nostalgic TV quizzes. A sports theme brings out people’s natural competitiveness, and can be plenty of fun if you opt for less conventional sports. A theme is great for setting the intention of your time together, while also encouraging participation and good-natured competition. Choose one that’s inclusive and that will resonate with your team. 

Too often in day-to-day life, we fail to celebrate the wins – big and small. A virtual staff retreat is the ideal time to cheer on team members who have made a difference, met milestones, or who have done great things within (or outside of) the company. Schedule an award ceremony (formal attire recommended) to cap off your event, as well as daily “awards” to help start each day off on the right note. These can be serious or silly, or a mix of both. By the way – just because the event is virtual doesn’t mean the awards have to be. Arrange to have a small gift or novelty trophy sent to each team member’s address with details of their award.

Sure, staff retreats are a place to come together and do business, but you can’t be all business, all the time! Book entertainers from all walks of life to entertain your team, keep them engaged, or help them tap into their creativity and communication skills. Turns out fun and professional growth go hand in hand! At See in Colors we’ve seen  great results including magicians, improv coaches, mindfulness instructors, wellness coaches, and even book authors. These all offer a refreshing perspective that can help your team feel re-energized and excited about how they approach their work.

Come ready with a fresh pack of dry erase-friendly markers. This way you’ll be covered in case your venue doesn’t provide them or the provided ones are dry or in hard-to-read colors. Avoid low-visibility colors like yellow or orange, and use markers with a thick point. If your audience is expected to take notes or contribute, have extra writing implements and paper available.  

COVID might not be #1 on people’s minds these days, but it’s still with us! Check case numbers in your area, follow recommended protocols for masking, social distancing, and vaccination status, and provide virtual attendance options for the immunocompromised. Share information about health and safety procedures such as emergency exit routes or the location of first-aid spaces. 

If you’re in charge of food, ensure that snacks, beverages, breakfast, and lunch are provided. Cater to a variety of dietary requirements and make sure that food is labeled. Prior to your meeting, confirm any allergies and provide separate, allergen-free food. If food isn’t provided, make it easy for attendees to order meals, or share a list of nearby dining options.

Visuals set the mood, guide people to where they need to be, and help keep your meeting on track. Print and place welcome signs, wayfinding messaging, and meeting outlines. Have a large sheet or whiteboard where you can “park” attendee questions or ideas to return to after the end of the meeting. 

Avoid a free-for-all when it comes to seating. Arrive early to set up your meeting room in a way that’s most conducive to your agenda and format. Don’t forget to check your tech before you start! Provide adequate seating, with some seats designated for speakers or those with mobility requirements. 

Meetings are complex and organic, with many moving parts. A great meeting facilitator has proven processes and procedures in place to meet identified outcomes, keep the meeting focused, and adhere to the schedule. Working these things out on the fly is never recommended – a good facilitator will know when and how to step in to maximize productivity, communication, and impact.

Meetings are like symphonies: they ebb and flow in terms of speed, energy, and presentation techniques. An experienced meeting facilitator will be able to match the energy of the presentation and dial things up or down in order to keep the meeting moving along comfortably and naturally. They won’t force a pace or a tone – their goal is to work from the sidelines to guide things along and ensure smooth transitions.

It’s all too common for one or two voices to dominate the floor in a meeting. A good facilitator will be mindful of giving everyone equal opportunity to participate, and will create space for people to do so (especially if the boss is in the room.) They might invite questions, lead a discussion, or monitor the group chat for key talking points. Their presence also provides more opportunity for managers to chime in: having a facilitator overseeing the meeting takes that task off the plate of your senior staff.  

A facilitator is a guide, not a keynote speaker. They don’t take center stage, but rather lead from the back of the room. An experienced facilitator will lead with a light touch, giving presenters and participants the spotlight. At See in Colors part of the meeting facilitation our clients often leverage is our graphic recording services. This type of visual meeting notes and minutes allow us to capture questions, action items and aha! moments throughout the event. It’s active listening made visual and holds the attention of the room long term. 

Meeting facilitators are a neutral party there to help a meeting succeed – not to put their own stamp on it. Their job is to build trust, create a communal space, and make sure the meeting addresses the points and goals outlined in its schedule. They might diffuse a situation or help a meeting move past a roadblock, but they’re an impartial spectator, not someone there to push an agenda.

Sending out an agenda before your meeting improves attendance and also helps you manage expectations. You don’t want to start a session and have the first question be “so why are we here?” Try to give attendees at least 48 hours notice so that they can plan around their schedules and prepare any materials or questions. Your agenda should cover the goals, topics, and discussion points you plan to address in your meeting. It can be formal or informal, depending on your meeting, and can be as in-depth or high level as you need. Allow time for other speakers or key participants to add their own thoughts or feedback before sharing the agenda.

The only thing more awkward than a Zoom meeting sign-off is a Zoom meeting start. People are arriving at different times, fumbling with their technology, and trying to figure out whether the event is already in full swing. Have a simple icebreaker ready to go in your chat sidebar to engage people and keep them focused on the meeting instead of on the other attendees fiddling with their cameras or microphones. Icebreakers might include sharing their city or location, naming the song they last played, a “this or that” vote, or a show and tell with pets or their office view. Tailor the icebreaker to your company culture and the type of meeting that’s in progress – not all icebreakers are ideal for all situations. 

One of the worst things a meeting facilitator can do is fail to track time or hold speakers to a schedule. Honoring and respecting your attendees’ time is vital to a good meeting outcome. Arrive early so that you can let people join the waiting room or participate in the icebreaker you’ve prepared. By showing up early you can actually begin at the scheduled time, not five or ten minutes after. Track time throughout, keep people on point, and help transition from speaker to speaker or topic to topic. Update speakers with the event progress, and for virtual meetings monitor the chat for questions and comments that can be answered offline or in the chat rather than on-screen by the speakers. Try your best to make your scheduled finish time a “hard stop,” and start wrapping up a few minutes before so that you can end when promised.  If it looks like you are going to end early, then give back the gift of time by saying “We’re ending early, so I’m giving everyone 5 minutes back”.

Setting expectations is key to a positive meeting outcome. Build a few minutes into your meeting schedule to let people know who’s who, whether microphones will be on or off, what will be covered, when and how questions will be taken, whether you’re recording the session, and when the recording or supporting documentation will be available. This helps eliminate any chaos and confusion, and lets people know what to expect regarding their participation and feedback. You can share your housekeeping information verbally, or using pre-prepared slides that walk people through basic functions.

2D (two-dimensional) videos feature “flat” animated content. These sorts of videos usually feature characters and voiceover, and are generally used for storytelling purposes. The style and format can vary widely depending on your brand and niche, from loose hand-sketched formats designed to communicate transparency through to the sophisticated, friendly design used by tech start-ups. 2D animation use cases include:

• Corporate storytelling
• Brand or product ads
• Onboarding videos
• Educational videos

Motion graphic animation videos bring ideas, processes, and text to life. This style of video adds motion to things that are usually static, such as charts, graphs, flowcharts or logos – you can think of them like an infographic, but animated. Motion graphics are a great way to communicate complex ideas in a step-by-step, visually pleasing manner. Additionally, motion graphics are effective in situations where the focus is on getting across an idea or process, not a story, and they easily incorporate existing brand assets and styles. Use cases include:

• Explainer videos
• Product or service information
• Presentations 
• Corporate awareness

Here’s a little factoid. Animated or “kinetic” typography videos are a subset of motion graphic videos, and feature only moving text combined with a voiceover. 

Whiteboard animation videos are a stylized video type designed to look hand-drawn, typically with a white background. These animations are sometimes also known as whiteboard explainer or sketch animation videos. Whiteboard animation videos have a clean and simple look with an “education” vibe to them. They’re popular in the following scenarios:

• Brand education videos
• Selling a product or service
• Communicating complex ideas or data

Whiteboard animation videos are effective and efficient – and can deliver great results.

Animated video is ideal for communicating ideas, stories, and information in a visually compelling way. See In Colors can help you develop an on-brand, high-impact video that clearly and granularly communicates how you’re using grant money achieving your deliverables. For example, we created this video with the University of Michigan as part of the Adaptive Sports & Inclusive Recreation Initiative. Although one piece of a larger initiative, this video is a great example of how a team can show progress in a tangible way, while also being powerfully intentional about your message and image.

Graphic recording creates a large-scale, real-time visual record of what’s being verbally presented. It allows you to highlight and connect key concepts and ideas so that your audience doesn’t miss critical points during your presentation. Take this photo from the Education Development Center as an example. 

The large document in the background was the result of a graphic recording session run as part of a kick-off meeting for a multi-stakeholder initiative built around a framework called “collective impact.” The session brought people together around a physical artifact that succinctly and powerfully highlighted the shared vision and messaging being discussed and developed. Graphic recording is a simple, concrete way to anchor relationships, with people leaving the meeting thinking: “we made this.”

Virtual graphic recording happens on screen in a virtual environment such as Zoom. It’s a powerful way to visually show the funding source in real-time what you’re working on, while also capturing genuine reactions from participants, something that can be vital for fostering communication and relationship building. An example is this virtual graphic recording session we put together for the University of North Carolina, who used grant funding to host a two-day maternal health equity symposium. This session helped funders, stakeholders and other organizations see first-hand how that funding was being used.