A remarkable, remote-first independent creative agency
Sans Serif is a client-relationship driven independent creative agency uniting world class design expertise and sleep-well project management. They have a proven record of partnering with clients that range from startups to Silicon Valley icons.
With experience in flagship event communications and digital experience design, they’re leaders in managing the lifespan of their clients’ most important brand projects. Simply put, they make brand-aligned communication beautiful, intuitive, strategic, and effective.
The company places a high value on relationships and human connection, so hosting an offsite for its employees was extremely important.
By 2020, the company had become a remote-first company and was no longer limited to the SF job market. It began hiring employees from the East, Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones.
Consequently, many people had never met in person, and with travel restrictions easing, they felt it was the perfect time to meet again.
Juggling between client work and event organization proves very challenging
"Event organization is a job in itself, and it's really a huge task," commented Nicola Kim, Project Director at Sans Serif.
Some Sans Serif team members initially considered taking this event into their own hands. Due to the amount of work they had to do for their clients, they quickly realized they couldn't manage all of the details themselves.
Saving two weeks' worth of time
Following a few searches on Google, they quickly discovered TeamOut.
"TeamOut came in and took that weight off our shoulders," said Nicola Kim, Project Director at Sans Serif.
"Your platform was excellent because we could define the parameters we needed for our retreat, and it would churn out a list of available options."
"TeamOut saved us at least (80 hours) 2 weeks' full-time effort: researching venues, contacting venues, arranging details, and securing availability."
"It just made the process of finding a venue so much easier and really saved us time."
"The team that I engaged with at TeamOut was absolutely wonderful; they were very helpful and super responsive."
A program designed to inspire and entertain
After strategically narrowing down options on our platform, the team chose Nashville as it was a very convenient location for all team members.
Fairlane Nashville
Fairlane Hotel is one of our favorite Nashville boutique hotels in the heart of downtown, minutes from Broadway. There is a 13-minute drive from Nashville International Airport to the hotel.
The hotel brings back the style and personality of the 1960s and '70s and is an iconic monument of the music city.
With retro-modern dining, a pop-up bar, and a casual bagel shop, the food experience will be great, even if you’re not leaving the hotel. Several meeting spaces are also available at the hotel for groups of up to 20 people.
The itinerary
This retreat was intended to be inspirational; it was the perfect time for the team to reflect on previous years and set goals for the future. But it was also crucial that the team bond and have fun.
Here's a glimpse of what the event program looked like.
See full agenda here.
A boost in motivation
After the retreat, Sans Serif conducted a survey to observe the impact of the event, and these are some of the comments they received:
"It was great to be together."
"I feel more motivated and energized than before."
"We felt closer to one another."
With all attendees responding to the survey, the event was rated either "Excellent" (62.5%) or "Very Good" (37.5%)
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