The Caliber team recently gathered in New York City for three days of bonding, learning, and plenty of good food at our first company-wide offsite since the pandemic. Traveling by plane, train, and automobile, the team assembled from across the country, from the East Village to the Bay Area and from Wisconsin to Texas.

Stylish accommodations in a trendy neighborhood

As a fully-remote agency, this was the first time the more than 40 members of the team gathered in person. Once we all got over the initial shock of meeting people we had previously only seen on Zoom and realizing how tall (or short!) our colleagues were, we launched into a full schedule with plenty of laughs and great conversation along the way.

Our home base during the offsite was the Penny Williamsburg, a chic, cozy hotel (with exceptional customer service) located in one of Brooklyn’s most artistic neighborhoods, and within walking distance to all of our activities. 

Favorite activities from Caliber’s corporate offsite

The offsite was jam-packed with learning sessions led by our leadership team, surprise activities, and – stop us if we’ve mentioned this already – great meals at every turn. Here’s an overview of some of our favorite activities from our time together.

Learning sessions from leaders of top fintech PR firm

We enjoyed a series of learning sessions, focused on different aspects of public relations and marketing, including an interactive session on the importance of the customer experience and how to provide value to clients. We also were able to learn more about the firm during a Q&A session with Caliber’s founder, Harvey Hudes, and president, Grace Keith Rodriguez. Harvey and Grace fielded questions from the team and covered the current state of the agency, plans for the future, their personal motivations, and more. Of course, we also made time for a group picture!

Thinking on our feet and keeping all of our toes

We also had plenty of fun. Some of us were a bit apprehensive about our group improv class for professional development. Thankfully, the class, led by instructors from the Brooklyn Comedy Collective, were gentle and provided us with plenty of laughs and new ways to think on our feet and present with confidence. We also were surprised with an opportunity to throw axes!  While we’re still trying to figure out how to incorporate the skills we learned into our PR work, we highly recommend throwing axes at giant wooden targets to unwind at the end of a long day.

Recognition for jobs well done

The offsite culminated in an agency-wide award ceremony, complete with a red carpet! Various account teams at Caliber won awards in recognition of their exemplary work and significant client successes.

All in all, the offsite was a tremendous success – so much so that planning for our second annual offsite is already underway – and we can’t wait to do it all again soon!