We love the advantages of being a fully distributed team, with Artisans living across the United States. And, we also love getting together! In October, all of us converged on Kansas City, MO, for a week of in-person work and play. We schemed, dreamed, and teamed up to work on how best to fulfill our Core Focus of helping people know what to do through custom-designed learning.
Our curious, brave, and imaginative personalities were on full display as we tackled process improvement, growing adaptability, fulfilling our corporate social responsibility, and living our brand and our core values. We were even curious, brave, and imaginative in our dining with Jack Stack BBQ (a must in KC), The Rockhill Grille (complete with custom Artisan-themed drinks), and Corvino Supper Club (seaweed donuts with trout roe creme fraiche, anyone?).
We explored Kansas City companies that share each of our personality traits.
- We learned how imagination continues to fuel a 100-year-old company as we toured the Hallmark headquarters and museum.
- We tasted (literally) the impact of bravery as we learned how Christopher Elbow sticks to exceptionally high standards in crafting chocolates with crazy cool designs and flavors.
- We learned the benefit of curiosity from the founder of Notes to Self as she told us about her unexpectedly successful idea of putting words of affirmation on socks.
In each case we were reminded that as we enter our twentieth year of business, our propensity to be imaginative, brave, and curious is truly essential to who we are and how we work together.
The result of our week together? We’re more connected to each other, more dedicated to our company, and more energized than ever to build high-quality custom learning products for our clients!
Meeting my colleagues face-to-face was the highlight of my year!
– Rebecca Schwartz, Lead Instructional Designer
