Our 2025 Punchpass team retreat happened a couple of weeks ago in New Orleans, LA and it was another highly successful event (but maybe not only in the ways that you’d think!).
Despite some travel uncertainty in the lead up, our whole team was able to fly in from around the world (including from Australia & New Zealand!) to ‘The Big Easy’ in order to spend time together, catch up on 2025 and plan for 2026. During these types of group events we really try to honour the unique human in each of our team members and know that flexibility and the ability to take some time to recharge can be the most important thing during an intense work week like this.
The trick is to strike the right balance between time spent doing work, time spent together building our relationship with each other, and time spent decompressing and taking care of our own needs. Plus we know that some of the best conversations and work revelations can happen when you’re just debriefing in line waiting to order lunch, during an early morning coffee run with a teammate, or even out at the bars after a few drinks!
We had a blast and got a lot done – here’s a quick overview of what we did, what the schedule was like, and why we continue to go to all the effort and expense to bring the team together every year.
On the ‘work’ side we…
- spent a lot of time discussing which features in Punchpass to improve, what new ones to add, and digging into specific customer situations to really understand what our clients need to be successful.
- talked a lot about our current tools and workflows, and how we can make them even better. We’re pretty happy with how things work….but it’s always an area that can be improved.
- acknowledged that a lot of our work in 2025 was behind the scenes improvements to the infrastructure and platforms that support Punchpass and that in 2026 our focus is on rolling out more client- and customer-facing enhancements (we can’t wait to show you what we’re working on!)
- broke into individual teams (Support, Development and Marketing) to focus on plans, changes, and updates for 2026.
- connected in smaller groups made up of members from different teams to share perspectives and get insight into how the other members of our team spend their days and how we can individually best help each other, so as a whole team we can help our clients.
- encouraged any and all team members to pitch ideas “Shark Tank” style to make sure all voices are heard and even the wildest ideas are considered and given space to evolve.
A lot of the joy and success of these retreats can be seen in how anyone on the team feels comfortable leading a session, or presenting a pitch, or contributing ideas, or gathering a group for a coffee run, or picking a bar for post-dinner shenanigans. We’re all incredibly different people, but the time we’ve spent together pays off in easy connection and fun when we do have a chance to get together each year, as well as when we’re back at our home desks communicating mainly via Slack, Linear, Notion and Zoom (where things can easily get lost in translation if you don’t have a good understanding of the people you’re connecting with).
On the ‘more fun than work’ side, we did plenty! The weather while we were in New Orleans was fantastic, which let us really get out and explore, and staying in a big old house in the Bywater district meant it was a quick walk to lots of great restaurants, bars, and music.
During the week we:
- Stepped out of our comfort zones and into a 3 hour team glassblowing class! Ben Donbey at Glassblower Ben led us through an incredible session where we got to see a master at work AND get our hands dirty by actually making something to take home.
- Got up bright and early for a super insightful and entertaining walking tour through Jackson Square and the French Quarter with David from Nola Tour Guy.
- Couldn’t resist getting chicory coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde (of course!)
- Ate at too many great restaurants and food joints to name them all.
- Explored the city on foot, by trolley, and by bike (and in taxis for the late night crew!)
- Heard some fantastic live music and got to experience vibrant New Orleans doing what it does best.
A few other things of note this year:
- We decided against doing a Punchpass merch run this year to help reduce clothing waste – all of the team still rocked their gorgeous Punchpass caps, hoodies and shirts from previous years and a custom branded, handblown whiskey (or juice!) glass from Glassblower Ben (plus the glass pieces we each made during our session) served as our brand swag this year.
- Our team really tried to focus on supporting local businesses and being good guests in NOLA – we showed up, spent up, tipped well and took the time to leave thoughtful reviews.
- Some beautiful traditions have evolved naturally over the years – one team member always makes pancakes for breakfast (and another brings the best maple syrup down from Vermont), one always brings weird Australian candy to share and we all know who will remember to organise us for a team photo (even if the sun was in our eyes this year!)
Getting the entire company together is a big undertaking – there’s a ton of planning (big thank you to Claire!!), and we have to balance pulling everyone away from their lives for a week. But done right, it can bring benefits that you simply can’t get with just remote work. We’re all excited about the plans we have in place for 2026 to really bring Punchpass to another level.
Interested in how previous retreats were structured? Read about out Phoenix AZ retreat. Where will we meet in 2026? Only time will tell but we’re always open to suggestions (especially if you’d like us to come and explore your city and visit your studio)!
