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The four of us turned a run-of-the-mill Niagara-on-the-Lake wine tour into a Learning Weekend. Here’s what happened.

Like many of us, I have a close circle of friends whom I met at work. We worked at an ad agency years ago and have since moved on to different companies, pursuing our own unique career paths.

We realized we had never really delved into each other’s new expertise and agreed we could learn so much from an in-depth session where we presented our updated skills. So, we came up with the idea of having a Learning Weekend where we could do just that.

We booked a small Airbnb cottage in Niagara-on-the-Lake on a nectarine orchard (literally) and set up a wine tour for after the presentations (we’re only human). The 1-hour sessions were outstanding. Hearing from my trusted friends about their fields and extensive knowledge only reaffirmed to me how smart, ambitious and humble they are.

Here are some of the learnings I took away from their sessions:

From Amy, Strategic Insights Director, whose presentation centred on her strategic methodology for her clients:

Develop strategy from the human lens. In the end, we are all human and will see a brand’s message first, as a person. Also, acting as a ‘guide’ helps clients open up about the challenge so Amy’s team can solve the problem as a partner. Finally, an important first step is to just start writing, which gets the ideas flowing and better hones the final output.

From Kathleen, Manager in Digital Product Consulting, whose expertise shone a light on the Agile process:

The speed of digital requires an iterative approach, so be sure to bring all working teams to the table daily and from the get-go. This allows for easier pivoting to quickly address user and business needs. Customer journeys are ever-evolving so digital products must continue to grow and change with users after they’ve been launched.

From Chantaie, Brand Strategy Lead, whose passion and success comes from a rigorous and proven brand-building method:

For better or worse, brands have an unparalleled position in the market to affect real, societal change. In order to ensure a positive direction, brands need to think people-first. The building blocks are there, but brands need to define their purpose and what they are here to do.

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There are many focused learning weekend retreats out there. However, why not look to your friend group to create your own? Doing it ourselves was extremely beneficial, affordable, and fun. If you want to try it, here are the tips/ rules we followed for planning ours:

• Planning: we asked each other questions in advance, prepped our presentations, and structured the sessions to give ample deep-dive time
• Logistics: We used Google Docs to coordinate everything from presentations to supplies and grocery lists
• Accommodations: We found a house with a good working space and a solid internet connection
• Have fun! After very beneficial learnings, we booked a wine tour + dinner afterwards as a reward

I’d love to hear your comments or questions, feel free to leave them below! Use the hashtag #LearningWeekend on your social channels. We did, and received a lot of questions and feedback from our followers – each of us heard that a co-worker or friend wanted to try it, too.