Bonjour reader, je suis Vas, an Account Executive from Singapore and this is a blog post about my first-ever YAP Global offsite experience! As you may have guessed from the introduction, this year we were in France in July 2023 for YAP Global’s second-ever global offsite. 24 team members flew in from all over the world and gathered at a Chateau in France to spend three days learning from each other and bonding over drinks, food, and fun activities!
Our goals
With so many new faces this year, Offsite 2023 was the perfect time to touch base with YAP’s goals for the upcoming year. Accordingly, we decided upon our main goals for the offsite and I am happy to report that we managed to accomplish all of them. Here’s a short recap:
- Grow and build team culture
- Create stronger bonds within the team
- Develop strategies to unlock growth for 2023/24
- Refine quality and standards
Carpe your Diem
Living in a French Chateau in France is a dream, but coupled with French food, it is the ultimate dream come true. Each day we woke up to the smell of fresh coffee, baguettes and croissants. These were followed by yummy yet healthy snacks, like fresh peaches, to gorge on during workshops. And the day only improved with a smorgasbord of French delicacies such as pâté, dark chocolate tartes, and veal for our lunch. To top it all, every night we were served a three-course dinner wherein each course was perfectly paired with the best wines from all over France. As a team, we bonded the most over dinner, sharing funny stories, and feeling food happy!
Workshops
As an Account Executive (AE), I was super excited to meet all the team members for the first time and learn foundational PR and client management skills from them. We are a global team with global clients and hence it was so pertinent for me to absorb all the knowledge from my team members’ years of experience in this field. Some workshop highlights include:
Active Listening: Leila Stein (Senior Account Manager) arranged a workshop on active listening. This workshop helped shed light on how different people talk to each other and how the intention, clarity and purpose of a conversation change when you actively listen and invest in the conversation.
Cultivating media relationships: Celina Chu (Senior Account Executive) and Ewan Brewster (Account Executive) talked about practical tips for building and maintaining relationships with journalists. As someone new in the field, I found this workshop to be extremely useful.
Pitch-off: Leila Stein and Debra Nita organized a pitching game where each person gets a minute to pitch to another person based on prompts from the game masters. This game was really helpful, not just in identifying the makings of a great pitch but also in understanding the subtler nuances that elevate our pitches.
Makoto Workshop: We also participated in a special workshop conducted by Makoto Inoue from Ethereum Name Services. We explored Ethereum’s history and then did practical exercises on the Goerli testnet. During his workshop, we issued our own ENS names, minted NFTs, and even tried to create our own tokens. I was so excited when I minted and sold my first NFT ever!
Award Ceremonies
‘Teamwork makes the dream work’ and the Awards Ceremony held on the last day, recognised and applauded each team member’s positive and shining quality. Oftentimes we get so caught up with work that we forget to truly appreciate our peers and cheer them on. The award categories ranged from YAP Global’s five core values: Care, Excellence, Integrity, Adding Value and Elevate, to “super snackers” in the team. It was so fun to see people get awards for their caring nature, ability to always be in meetings or always lending a helping hand. Although it had been a super short time since I had joined the team, I was so happy to get an award for the ‘Friendliest Face’, making me feel really special and appreciative of all my teammates.
Stay together, slay together
Offsite 2023 was a perfect start to my YAP journey! I had the time of my life bonding and integrating with the global team, meeting new people, and aligning our understanding of one another. Not only did I learn PR and client management skills, I learnt so much about the crypto industry as a whole. As an Account Executive from Singapore, I am truly grateful for this experience. Working in a global team with members spread across the globe can be challenging sometimes, but this offsite brought everyone together and strengthened our bonds, creating a fun, diverse, knowledgeable, and adept team. As they say, the vibes were immaculate and I am beyond excited to see what we achieve in the future, together.