That’s why meeting offline has become something special for us. It’s a way to reconnect not just with each other, but with the ambition and curiosity that drive our work. So when it was time for our traditional annual meetup, we wanted a format that reflected who we are today – a team that evolves through shared experiences, learns from one another, and treats creativity as a practical working tool.
This is how the concept of a creative weekend emerged: a few days away from routine, in a place where thinking differently comes naturally. In November, we gathered once again in Georgia – this time traveling beyond Tbilisi to the quiet hills of Telavi, where the ARGE hotel and wine cellar became our home, workspace, and point of inspiration.
What happened there turned out to be much more than a feast. It became a space for genuine collaboration, unexpected insights, and shared moments that helped us move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
A beginning shaped by care and intention
For a distributed team, gathering in the same location always carries a certain charge. Whether someone landed in Tbilisi early or arrived just a day before the celebration, the experience started the same way: with thoughtful logistics and a clear sense that every arrival mattered. Some were greeted by Mike himself, others by a dedicated transfer – small details that quietly set expectations for the days ahead.
Before heading to the meetup venue, the Moxy Hotel served as our “layover” space. Its coworking area, reserved entirely for our team, eased us into the rhythm of the weekend – a place to say hi, get a bit of work done, and feel that the meetup had already begun.
By late afternoon, we left the city behind and drove toward Telavi. On the way, we stopped at a mountain viewpoint where everyone instinctively reached for a camera. A few spontaneous group photos marked the unofficial start of the trip.
At ARGE, our home for the next three days, another thoughtful touch was waiting. In each room, a merch pack had been prepared: a hoodie, a cap, a tote bag, Outset PR stationery, and a set of stickers. Not as souvenirs, but as a small ritual of transition – a way to step into the weekend with a sense of belonging.
Reconnecting through shared creative play
Stepping onto the grounds of ARGE shifted the pace almost instantly. Not simply because it was quiet or picturesque – although it was both – but because the setting encouraged everyone to slow down and to switch out of work mode into something more collaborative.
Our first joint dinner set the right rhythm: not ceremonial, not formal, just an easy opportunity to settle in and start conversations with people we usually see in separate windows on a screen. Offline, those conversations take on a different texture – reactions, gestures, timing. The distance inherent in remote work shrinks without anyone needing to point it out.
Later in the evening, a ceramics painting master class brought together the part of the team that still had creative energy to spare. The value came from the simplicity of the activity: hands busy, minds relaxed, people leaning over each other's work, commenting, joking, comparing ideas.
November 14: A day that helped us rethink how we work together
The first full day of the meetup began with an unhurried breakfast and a gradual transition into the workshop program with the MADs team.
From the opening exercise, MADs approached creativity as a discipline – something that can be trained, challenged, and strengthened under the right conditions. Their format was fast-paced, practical, and unexpectedly revealing. Within minutes, people who are used to collaborating through Telegram chats or calls were solving tasks shoulder to shoulder, improvising, and bouncing ideas off colleagues they don’t normally work with directly.
This shift was the real value of the workshops. It reminded us that diverse thinking becomes an asset only when it’s activated together, not stored in departmental silos.
The evening carried a different kind of significance. Outset PR turned three that day, and we marked the occasion with dinner on the glass terrace. The celebration felt less like an event and more like a moment to acknowledge the work, the people, and the choices that brought us here.
After dinner came a festive team quiz based on Outset PR’s story and inside jokes – loud, messy, and competitive in the best possible way. The room filled with quick debates, unexpected trivia victories, and playful rivalry between tables. If the workshops showed how we think together, the quiz revealed how naturally we enjoy each other’s company.
November 15: Deepening the creative work – and experiencing Georgian craft up close
If the first day with MADs helped everyone loosen up and experiment, the second day was where that experience became more structured and purposeful. The team quickly tuned in, aware of how quickly the exercises were translating into real professional insights.
MADs built the day around more complex tasks. People challenged each other’s assumptions, borrowed ideas across domains, and tested ways of working that rarely surface in remote formats.
By midday, we understood that some of these approaches would stay with us long after the meetup. Several frameworks introduced by MADs were immediately flagged by different departments as useful tools for briefs, brainstorming sessions, and internal decision-making.
The workshops continued into the afternoon, but the rhythm was never repetitive – each block built on the previous one, moving the team from abstract ideas to reflection to applied thinking. When the creative program wrapped up, it felt like closing a chapter rather than ending an activity.
Hands-on Georgian traditions
That evening, we also experienced another kind of learning – tactile, cultural, rooted in place. We met in the main garden of ARGE to bake traditional Georgian bread, working the dough by hand and shaping it before sliding it into the clay oven.
Then came churchkhela making, with everyone dipping strings of nuts into thickened grape must. The process was messy, fun, and unexpectedly meditative.
A short tour of the winery followed, offering a glimpse into the history of Georgian winemaking and the philosophy behind ARGE’s own approach. The experience added context to the venue we had been living and working in for two days, making the setting feel even more intentional.
The final dinner
Dinner in the White Hall began with a curated wine tasting, paired with the bread we had baked just an hour earlier. Conversations drifted freely. Small groups formed and re-formed. Some people continued exploring the winery while others lingered with another glass of wine.
The evening closed without ceremony, but it still felt like a natural culmination of everything that had happened over the past two days: shared work, discoveries, and now, a shared table. We had arrived at the meetup as colleagues; by the end of November 15, we were operating like a team that understood each other on a deeper, more intuitive level.
A quiet departure and the afterglow of shared work
The last morning of the meetup unfolded differently for everyone. Some left early for their flights, exchanging brief goodbyes in the courtyard before sunrise. Others stayed longer, packing at an unrushed pace, walking the grounds one last time, or finishing conversations that had started the night before. Nothing needed to be orchestrated – the days behind us had already done their work.
When we returned to Tbilisi later that day, slipping back into the familiar space of the Moxy coworking area, it was clear that the weekend had shifted something essential. Not dramatically, but in how easily the team continued discussions and ideas that began in Telavi. The techniques from MADs, new ways of solving tasks together, and a sharper sense of how different strengths complement one another all carried over without needing immediate formalization.
The meetup showed us the true power of team building, exposing how we really think, collaborate, and want to evolve as an agency. Creativity became a set of skills we practiced together. The team dynamics grew more intuitive – the kind of alignment that’s difficult to build through remote work alone.
We left Telavi with a renewed understanding of how much we can achieve when we’re in the same room, working side by side. And that, more than the schedule or the setting, is what made Outset PR’s third anniversary so meaningful.
