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Genomenon's Retreat Playbook
When leading retreats for 150 people, clarity and consistency are critical. In this episode, Erin McCann, Head of People at Genomenon, shares the strategy behind their biannual offsites at Sun Gardens in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where the focus isn’t just on inspiration—it’s on retention and alignment. To make key messages stick, Erin and her team used a layered communication approach: combining presentations, small group sessions, and interactive activities to reinforce the same ideas in multiple formats. They also ensured that both leadership and non-leadership voices were included, creating a more transparent and resonant experience. Just as important was the follow-through. Post-retreat communications helped cement takeaways and translate momentum back into daily work. For teams scaling quickly or navigating complex change, this episode is a blueprint for running retreats that align, engage, and endure.
Huzzle’s First Retreat: Why It Worked
For many startups, the first in-person retreat can be a turning point. In this episode, Charlie Mart, Chief of Staff at Huzzle, shares how their inaugural offsite in Lisbon, Portugal helped reset team dynamics after more than a year of fully remote work. With just seven or eight team members, the retreat was intentionally simple—anchored around attending Web Summit and spending unstructured time co-working and exploring the city. But the impact was lasting. What began as a chance to connect face-to-face turned into a reset button that brought a fast-paced, remote startup team closer together. Charlie reflects on how that Lisbon retreat became the foundation for a stronger, more cohesive team culture. It also kicked off a habit of hosting biannual retreats as a way to recharge, realign, and invest in the human side of building a business. This episode is especially relevant for startup leaders looking to turn remote teams into real teams through intentional, experience-driven offsites.
From participation to purpose
Planning a retreat for 250 people takes more than logistics—it requires intention. In this episode, Pauliina Löytty, Chief People Officer at Fluido Group, shares how giving employees a sense of involvement made their annual offsite at the Berlin Now Hotel more impactful. By inviting people into the planning mindset and helping them understand the structure of the day, the retreat created a stronger sense of alignment. Business sessions in the morning flowed naturally into an evening celebration, with everyone already bought into the purpose and rhythm of the experience. For companies looking to host large-scale retreats that go beyond surface-level engagement, Pauliina’s approach offers a simple but powerful strategy: make your people feel like insiders, not just attendees.
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