Welcome to Tellwell’s weekly Plog (photo-blog)!
This week, the Tellwellians spent two days OoO for fall retreat – a time for us to come together and create goals for the new year, dive deeper into creative team conversations, and bond as humans. Let’s dive into some retreat highlights!
This week’s writer
Retreat Day One 🌟
The trip to Nome, North Dakota 🐑
Another year, another retreat at the Nome Schoolhouse! We arrived mid-morning to start our learning and conversations, beginning with our Why – What – and How which quickly led into some Connection Before Content with teammates. For lunch, we buddied up and served each other a meal! We also made sure to visit the on-site entertainment – alpacas, a sheep, and a ram of course!
Once our tummies were full and we were settled in the schoolhouse, we broke off into our different creative teams for deeper discussions. We talked about how we can combine critical and creative thinking, did some work on a case study, and dived deeper into our team processes.
Happy hour & coaster creations 🍻
To give ourselves a bit of a break, we had some quick bites and drinks to go along with our activity for the night: needle felting! One really cool thing about the Nome Schoolhouse is the lower level is a fully functioning fiber mill. They got us set up with the materials we needed to create wool fiber coasters and we let our creativity lead the way!
Gratitude, games, and the Northern Lights 💫
To cap off the first day, we gathered in a cozy classroom to share some team gratitude along with Tiny Stories. We went around the room and did a “This Person Is” exercise where we shared a statement and each named someone on the team that matches it. This was a great way to give everyone a little kudos and gratitude. We also all came prepared with our tiny 100-word stories about an experience we were grateful for. With all the warm fuzzies to end the day, we jumped right into game night!
Let’s just say there are a good amount of competitive souls on the Tellwell team, so the energy was high. We took a pause in the middle of a game to run outside and see the breathtaking Northern Lights. For many, this was the most impressive light show they had seen. For others, this was a bucket list item they finally got to cross off.
Many oohs and aahs later, we went back inside to finish our games. After a couple hours of fun, it was time for us to hit the hay and prepare for another amazing day of dreaming and scheming.
Retreat Day 2 🌟
Rise & shine 🌅
We were up bright and early with a free morning, each teammate finding a different way to start their day. Some woke up early for coffee and tea with a side of critters, others ventured a bit farther out for a stroll around Fort Ransom, and a few even started the day with doodles. Once we all gathered again, we had a fun exercise to kick us off – blind contour portraits! There were several abstract scribbles that subtly resembled Tellwellians, all in the name of fun.
The present & our future 🌱
We started our day with the State of the Story from Max along with diving deeper into Tellwell’s goals for 2026. Being able to discuss the future of our team and organization is incredibly rewarding and we can’t wait to see what next year holds!
Team time & final reflection 🧡
For the afternoon, we once again broke off into our creative teams to make space for deeper chats. We talked about team standards and how that works into our craft, tackled team goals for the new year, and talked about how they fit into the broader goals we have as an organization.
With our final session wrapped up, we gathered one last time as a group to share some final reflections. Being able to take two days away from our computers to focus on Tellwell, our teammates, and our plans for the future is so rewarding and definitely a highlight for everyone.
That wraps up this week! Keep an eye out for our next plog, coming November 21st!
