RODE Retreat 2020: Review, Recharge & Reconnect

Last Friday, RODE held its annual team retreat at Coppersmith Restaurant in South Boston. It was the first time that the entire team has been together, face-to-face (sort of) since March! Despite donning masks and maintaining six feet of social distancing, the energy of the team was high as we spent the morning recapping the impressive amount of project work we accomplished this year.

2020 threw a curveball at the world, forcing us to rethink our old ways of working and communicating. Taking advantage of us all being in the same space, we shared ideas about new methods of collaborating remotely, organizational techniques, best practices for avoiding burn out, and the latest and greatest in productivity software. Our focus was how to become even more efficient as we continue to work from home and begin to utilize our office on occasion.

When brainstorming on where we could safely hold a retreat like this for our staff, Coppersmith came to mind as the perfect venue. Designed by RODE, the space features expansive ceilings, a massive floor plan, and large garage doors that allowed steady air flow throughout the space, allowing us to come together while staying safely apart. Coppersmith kindly allowed us to utilize their massive projector screen (normally used for sporting events) for our project presentations, allowing everyone, despite social distancing, to see what their colleagues had been working on from home. And after all of our hard work, we enjoyed lunch on the restaurant's outdoor patio.

Despite the obvious obstacles we've endured, the retreat re-energized us as a team. The main message of the day was that our resilience and passion for design has forged us through unprecedented events and will continue to propel us through whatever 2021 might throw our way.