Formic enlisted Marco to help them find and select the perfect retreat property for their entire team—a magical location Formic “never would have found without Marco.”
The options are endless, but there are none that are exactly what you're looking for. We feel your pain, and we're here to alleviate it.
Read about how Formic was able to discover the perfect retreat destination for the needs and preferences of their entire team.
About Formic
Formic Technologies’ mission is to increase the collective output of humanity by making automation deployments trivial and easy. On their website, you’ll read: “We Manage Automation, You Manage Your Business.” They clearly believe in outsourcing initiatives that are not an organizations’ core competencies. As such, they were excited to partner with Marco to plan their Company Retreat.
- Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Number of Employees: 50
- Founded: 2020
- Industry: Software & Robotics
- Workplace makeup: Fully Remote
The Challenge
Christine Keelan and Vilma Jaku were tasked with planning the company's largest retreat - with very little experience or planning playbooks to look back on for guidance.
It’s a pretty common theme we’re seeing these days at Marco: companies understanding that they need to bring their people together, but not being equipped or staffed to do so.
Christine and Vilma had no idea what to expect when they began the process. The biggest challenge they faced was simply finding the right retreat destination—and within the timeframe they’d been given (read: fast).
They kicked off where anyone searching for answers does: Googling “offsite planning.”
The Solution
Fortunately for Christine and Vilma, Marco Experience popped up as a result and caught her eye. After exploring our high level offering, she took our short needs-finding quiz, and booked time with Marco Retreats Expert Ali Brown. Christine described:
“Ali was extremely quick to respond, organized, and had a full proposal ready for me on our first call based on the brief questionnaire I filled out with information such as headcount, general geography we wanted to be in, and budget. It was amazing how targeted and relevant her recommended next steps were. I felt like I was in good hands from the start.”
The guidance that Christine and Vilma received from leadership was the following:
- Not too corporate feeling
- Outdoor-focused
- Big enough for the whole team
Ali was able to identify an glamping-themed retreat in the Catskills, in which each employee's accommodation is their very own Airstream. It was the perfect solution for the Formic team, and one which they “never would have discovered on their own.”
Each Retreat attendee got their very own Airstream!
The Marco team, having a strong relationship with the retreat organization, was able to quickly secure the retreat with preferred dates and pricing and put the two teams in touch— executing a seamless handoff.
Marco prides itself on helping companies with the following when it comes to Retreats:
👐🏽 Confidence at every step
Your Marco Partner will bring best practices, processes, and frameworks from years of experience and planning hundreds of retreats. No more wondering if you’re doing it right. We’ll take the onus off of you and help you make the hard decisions.
🔄 End-to-end vision execution
From venue selection, to run of show buildout, to post-experience surveying—we’re here from start to finish.
And most relevant to Formic's needs in this case:
🏎️ Rapid and elevated property selection
Marco will centralize all best, retreat supply in one place—hand-picked by events experts. From there, we organize and categorized our extensive inventory for your needs. And as a trusted partner to 130+ select properties throughout the US and abroad, our customers enjoy first access, lightning fast response time, and preferred pricing.
Do you know if the property will fit your budget? Do you know if the property has enough rooms to fit your group? Do you know if the property has space large enough for your group to meet in? Do you know if there are dining options on site suitable for your group? Do you know if there are activities nearby that help you accomplish the goal of your retreat? We do.
We can answer the questions you might be struggling with fast— and we mean, really fast. Save some of that research time by letting us match you with the perfect property.
The Experience
In August 2022, after just over 1 month of planning (from ideation to Retreat Kick off), the Formic team met in Saugerties, NY—in the heart of the the Catskills. They enjoyed an unforgettable week of hiking, lawn olympics, a river cruise on the Hudson, private dinners under the stars, productive presentations and brainstorming sessions, and more.
Lawn Olympics!
Brainstorming!
The Results
Being able to meet in-person and form human relationships is not exactly quantifiable, but the fact that Formic is planning a Retreat for Spring 2023 is a strong signal that the qualitative ROI of their Summer 2022 Retreat was extremely high. Christine wrapped up our chat by saying:
“Being a primarily remote team, we’re reallocating the budget we’d be spending on multiple leases and putting it towards employee experiences. Our priority is uplifting morale, bringing people together, and humanizing work.
This retreat was just the first of many experiences we will plan for our employees in the future”
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