Team retreats are an excellent way to bring a company together. For a remote-first company like JupiterOne, I'd say they are essential. It is a great way to strengthen a team, re-energize employees, focus on company culture, and HAVE FUN!

The main goal of this year's inaugural JupiterOne camp retreat was to disconnect from the day-to-day and work on creative projects, surrounded with freedom and fresh air of a new space. This year we chose the mountains of North Carolina as our location. 

New People, New Faces

For many, it was the first time meeting colleagues face-to-face. Over the four days, we had 65 attendees gather together to embark on this company adventure. We started with a tour of our new office in RTP, led by JupiterOne camp counselors Erkang Zheng and Amy Devers, and picked up our camp backpacks filled with all the essentials. We continued our trek via bus, traveling through the winding roads to finally descend upon our destination in the North Carolina mountains, the town of Blowing Rock.

As you can imagine, this was no small feat for our company which has employees around the nation. One of the primary goals was to bring together employees and teams by providing an equal footing and inclusive environment to thrive and socialize. It also served as an opportunity to get to know one another outside of work. 

We had a unique opportunity to share information across teams and organize breakout sessions during the retreat. And no retreat is complete without recreational activities such as an archery challenge, ping pong championship, board/strategy games, full sized cardboard boat challenge, and more. 

For our first Spirit Day, folks were rocking with their green or purple pants and their J1 champion or camp t-shirt. We even had a comedy magician, Lyndy Phillips, who gave us a big laugh at the end of the day.

We came out of the retreat a more efficient, motivated company and grateful for the opportunity to reflect on ourselves and our work. 

Why we did the retreat:

• Get to know each other beyond work and beyond a computer screen
• Change of scenery refreshes mindset and thinking
• Make time to reflect on why we're doing what we're doing
• Explore new projects and come up with new products for our customers

The retreat was a great way to find a balance between work and play. It was super fun yet productive. We came out of the retreat with many great ideas from the hackathons and group brainstorming sessions. In addition, we left with a lot of memories from team bonding activities for years to come.