The week before last, Curse held a somewhat last-minute Company Retreat. We stayed here in Huntsville, and teams from around the country (Sales team in California, remote workers from Canada and New York, etc) flew in for a few days. You can see a breakdown of the retreat activities above.
On Monday, I gave a presentation with one of my colleagues (Official Wiki Deals & Relationships). I also attended presentations on Design, Sales, and Content Programs. In the evening, we walked over to a new bar in town that is full of classic arcade games.
The company paid for our food, beverages, and game tokens - so everyone had a great night!
Tuesday, we went to a conference room at the Embassy Suites hotel to have presentations about each area of the company and their goals for 2016. As you might note from the first image, I was the only girl to speak on Tuesday.
Tuesday evening, we went to a large arcade similar to Orlando's Fun Spot. After playing a round of minigolf and several arcade games, I cashed in my tickets that I won for a giant inflatable bat, a flying saucer gun, and a magic 8 ball (to help me make important work decisions).
On Wednesday, we had group activities during the day and a farewell dinner at night. For my two daytime activities, I chose an Escape Room and Wine & Painting. For the Escape Room, six of us were tasked with solving a puzzle and "escaping" a room we were placed in. You can learn more about the Escape Room here. This involved using magnets to open hidden compartments, solving riddles, and searching for clues. For Wine & Painting, we went to a local painting venue where we drank wine and painted a simplified version of Starry Night with an instructor.
Wednesday night dinner was very cool. A large room was set up with tables on either side. Only one member from each team was allowed to sit at a table (meaning you couldn't sit next to people you normally work with). For the first course (shown above - some kind of fish taco that was great), everyone sat at tables on the left side of the room. There were games on the tables and "conversation-starting questions" - which made time fly by. A bell would ring, and we would all stand up and move to the RIGHT side of the room, where we would sit at different tables with different people and enjoy the next course. During this time, they'd clear and set up the left side of the room again for another switch. We did this about four or five times - very fun!
The venue for dinner was at the top of an office building downtown. It overlooked the park, the rest of Huntsville, and the building where I work (the brown, tall building on the left).
After dinner, we went downtown for drinks and said goodbye to everyone who flew in for the retreat.
It was a great experience, and I really enjoyed learning more about different areas of the company. With my trip to California less than a month away, I've got a busy few weeks ahead of me!
