Our Inaugural BeeTreat Company Workshop

What features giant foam dice, prizes in the form of stuffed diseases, laughing and lots and lots of candy? A BatesMeron BeeTreat, of course!

As BatesMeron grows and changes, we face new hurdles and challenges as a team. Tackling those challenges head on with a positive attitude is the BatesMeron way. Thus launched the first ever BatesMeron BeeTreat! A fun-filled day of bonding, problem solving and goal setting for the whole team.

To recap our inaugural event, I’m here to share the 4 W’s.

Who: The whole BatesMeron gang, of course! All ten of us were in attendance, decked out in our brand new, personalized Adidas track jackets. We were the coolest crew on the block, for sure.

In addition to our team, the masterful (and delightful!) Jodi Wellman, of Happy Work Spectacular Life, led our retreat with her superior coaching skills. Having her manage the day allowed the rest of us to focus and get into the discussions and fun. We could not have done it without her!

Where: A change of scenery is sometimes the most important way to shake loose ideas and get out of a rut, so making sure our retreat was held outside of the BMSD office was super important to us. Awesome Account Coordinator Carlie found the perfect spot for us through the company Breather.

It was bright, cheery, well-decorated and perfectly accommodated our team and activities. Getting out of the office and away from our workstations, emails and looming deadlines was just the trick to helping keep the BeeTreat ultra productive.

What: To be honest, everyone (but a select few) was kept in the dark as to what would be going down at the event, which left me feeling a little nervous. Would there be trust falls and talking about our feelings? My concerns were immediately put to rest once I arrived and realized Jodi had everything in hand and I would not need to fall backwards off a table.

At each table was a bag of numbered envelopes to help guide us through the different activities and each of our seats featured a folder (for keeping track of all our killer insights and jokes), a brownie (for deliciousness) and a little maze game (for some mind-wandering.)

Prior to the BeeTreat, Jodie had us submit results to a Meyers-Briggs personality test and some fun facts about ourselves, which she used to help teach us more about each other. As the day progressed, we worked our way through the bag of numbered envelopes, covering everything from improving our processes, discovering how to help each other work better and creating company goals for 2017.

To keep the day upbeat and fun, Jodi created game show-inspired activities to segue into different topics. We all had a blast answering questions, winning goofy prizes and eating lots of candy.

As a special addition, our President Becka took a few minutes to sit down and give us each a metaphorical pat on the back for stellar contributions we’ve made throughout the year. It was here that we declared our office MVP: Todd! She showered him with compliments… and money. Now that’s the way to show appreciation.

When: Our December 2016 BeeTreat was the first of its kind, and we’ve vowed to continue these get-togethers at least twice a year. We all agreed the day was valuable, insightful and an amazing way to set intentions and move into the 2017 with renewed excitement.