At Spreetail, our goal is to hire crazy smart, talented, and ambitious people. With expertise and skillsets varying across the company, we knew there was an opportunity to learn from each other. In 2019, Spreetail Connect was launched for team members as an internal conference centered around expanding knowledge and building relationships.
This five-day conference exists to connect Spreetailers across the company and allow us to interact in a way that is not always possible in our day-to-day roles. Through personal and professional development sessions, team members can meet someone new in a different location and/or department, while learning new information and skills.
The core of Spreetail Connect is built around our mantras. Spreetailers live these out daily and are always looking for ways to take their career to the next level. With this team of collaborative go-getters, we realized launching a week focused on development and relationships would be well received.
Our first Spreetail Connect came together almost overnight three years ago. We knew we wanted to launch an internal development conference at some point but had yet to really dive into it. Every January we bring team members to Lincoln, NE from around the country for our Q1 All Hands Meeting and our End of Year Celebration. Knowing we would have 100+ team members at our Lincoln office for a few days, we realized this was a prime opportunity to launch this conference.
We started with reviewing feedback from different surveys our team members completed over the years to determine what types of information they were looking for and how they wanted Spreetail to assist in their development. From there, we created our list of topics and sourced experts from within Spreetail to create and present the content during the conference. Once that was established, we knew we wanted to add opportunities for Spreetailers to interact socially throughout the week as well. We created Coffee Connects, lunches, and even “Table for 10” dinners where team members were randomly assigned to a group of ten to enjoy a dinner at a local restaurant sponsored by Spreetail.
Ultimately, the first Spreetail Connect was considered a success. Our first year was heavily focused on Spreetail related topics such as department deep dives. Spreetailers highlighted their favorite part was the relationship building aspect and the ability to develop empathy for other teams after having the opportunity to learn more about their processes and challenges they face.
In 2020 and 2021, we worked on including personal development topics such as Profit & Loss Training, Next Level Leadership, Building your Personal Brand, and more. For 2021, we’re thrilled to add in three sessions hosted by our Inclusion Networks, all focused on becoming a better ally and team member. With over 1500 Spreetailer sign-ups for this year’s 24 sessions, we are excited to gather feedback on the addition of new sessions and the virtual events we’ve organized.
We knew our 2021 Spreetail Connect would look different than previous years as our office-based team members are all working from home at this time. Rather than seeing this as a challenge, we knew it was a HUGE opportunity for us! Previously, we had struggled with making all sessions interactive for attendees that weren’t physically in the room – in fact, some sessions were limited to on-site attendees only. With our transition to working from home, our presenters have a new comfort level in presenting remotely and finding unique ways to engage the audience. We shared tips and tricks to both presenters and attendees for how to engage remotely and we’re excited to provide the same experience to team members in all Spreetail locations.
While our topics have evolved and the number of participants increases yearly, the core of Spreetail Connect Week remains the same – to expand knowledge and build relationships. If you're looking to join a company that emphasizes the importance of your development, check out the openings we have available and apply today.
Employee Experience Manager
