Why does Team MCG have summits and what do we do at them? Read on for a look inside our recent MCG Summit, which we held late last month!
MCG is a distributed workforce business, which means the team members do not work in the same physical location. Mostly, we work from our own home offices and conduct team meetings via video conferencing. Meeting in person from time to time is essential to maintain close relationships. It’s also a great way to discuss the production schedule and have some epic brainstorming sessions.
The MCG Autumn Summit was held at Monte’s and Shanna’s home in Seattle, Washington. Monte and Shanna were wonderful hosts. They provided great breakfasts and beverages and delicious homemade lunches. Monte even baked two pumpkin pies on Sunday before we left.
On Friday morning, after greetings and hugs all around (including much love for Ampersand, Monte’s and Shanna’s sweet doggie), the summit began. We kicked it off in their living room with the Around the Water Cooler session. We lounged on couches and chairs and talked about our families (including kids and pets), our writing projects, our home repairs, our general likes and gripes about life. It was an informal time to hangout and catch up with each other while drinking coffee and sharing breakfast. And to indulge in the sort of face-to-face conversations employees at most companies have every day.
We transitioned from water cooler time to an overview of our company and our brands. Lots of business stuff was discussed…finances and sales and customer service. Boring business stuff, but the kind of thing you have to cover to keep the business running and healthy.
On Friday night, Team MCG attended a very special gathering at AFK Tavern in Renton, Washington. The celebration was in honor of Stan!’s 50th birthday. Not only was this a grand birthday party for a much-loved friend of the company, it was also a reminder that the RPG community is a close-knit group of amazing people.
On Saturday morning we had a brainstorming session on new products to bring to you. That was great fun, but I can’t share those ideas with you yet. Saturday afternoon was more business-stuff…licensing and marketing and timing for future products. Suffice it to say that you have a great deal to look forward to!
After dinner we piled into the rental vehicle and headed for Monroe, Washington, to hunt zombies with paint guns. Spoiler: After driving 45 minutes to get to the zombie farm, we waited in line for two hours and didn’t get to kill zombies. But please don’t despair for us, because the ride was worth the trip. Being squished into the rental vehicle brought out the comedian in each of us, so we laughed, got lost in the dark and fog on a deserted, dead-end road, and laughed some more. It was a good thing we weren’t in a horror movie, or that would have been a gruesome end for the MCG team. Instead, it was a very Halloweeny experience, even without the zombies.
On Sunday we talked about future events that Team MCG might attend, such as PAX East, Origins, GAMA Trade Show, and Gen Con 2015, just to name a few. We went on to work through a bunch of our marketing initiatives.
Sunday afternoon we wrapped up the official summit and put on our gaming hats. Monte ran a session of Numenera for us that was great fun. I can’t share the details, but we were testing out a prototype adventure…and an entirely new way to present adventures, which you might get to experience yourself in a future product.
And then, all too soon, it was time for Bruce to return to his home, and for Charles, Bear, and me to board the airplane for Kansas. After cramming roughly 25 hours worth of meetings into three busy days, we were all pretty exhausted. Goodbye dear friends, goodbye Seattle. Until next time!
