Retreat to the Hills

Take eleven co-workers, transport them clear across the state, and deposit them in a sprawling house for four days. Add a couple of hours of discussions, followed by lots of playtime in the beautiful Black Hills. 

That was the premise for Insight’s retreat last weekend. Our first retreat, held in the same location two years ago, produced many tangible changes in our office – from hiring additional support staff to installing a smoothie machine in the break room. This retreat, however, focused less on structured meetings and more on structured fun.

After discussions on Friday morning, we all piled in the cars and headed for the (Southern) hills. Everyone, even the claustrophobics in the group, enjoyed exploring Rushmore Cave and a quick stop at Lake Pactola. Back at the house, we grilled out and played.

We were back in meetings on Saturday morning. But instead of Doug and Candy leading the discussion, several team members talked about trends in our industry. And then it was time to play again. Four of us were invited to the top of Crazy Horse Monument – a rare treat. The rest of us, along with tour guides Bill and Tam Colson from Children’s Home Society, hiked around Horse Thief Lake.

We finished the evening in Deadwood with dinner, drinks, a little karaoke and a little dancing.  And Sunday morning we packed up the cars and, with the 50 mph tail wind, nearly flew back to Sioux Falls.

We had great fun, got to see our co-workers in a new light, and even found time for some serious discussions about the future of our agency. Was it a successful retreat? Absolutely.

View all of the photos from the trip on facebook

Recent Work

Looking back on August and September, we've launched some outstanding websites. Here's a peek:

Henry Carlson Company

Henry Carlson Company (HCC) asked Insight to create a website that would instantly communicate to visitors that HCC is the premier general contractor in this region. Insight developed a design direction that was unique and cried out CONSTRUCTION. The site features silhouettes of workers engaged in many aspects of building construction.  Flip around the site to see different actions. (Also note that the figures are all wearing proper safety equipment.)

Chicagoland Community Church

The Chicagoland Community Church  wanted a fresh, new look that would appeal to 20- and 30-something urban church-goers. Insight created a number of pieces for the church, including this awesome website. The site incorporates the church blog and features a rotating flash navigation at the top.

Ask the CEO

Security First Bank wanted to start an online conversation with customers through an "Ask the CEO" column. Insight suggested the use of a custom formatted blog to not only allow for question submission but also to create a gallery of the answers. Posts are arranged in categories for organization and search-ability. It is our hope that in the future this blog could serve as a search-able FAQ section for the site. 

What do you think? We'd love to hear your feedback!

Facebook Update

These past few days have been very busy for Facebook.

Last week they came out with Facebook Lite, which strips down some of the less "essential" features of Facebook and focuses on messaging, photos and videos and in many ways was a step toward offering users an experience similar to Twitter.  Check it out here.

Then this afternoon Facebook turned on another new feature: Mentions.

Now when you are posting a status update you'll be able to "mention" or link your friends in your post.  But not just your friends, you can also mention pages/brands that you are a fan of, events, and groups.

This feature is another step towards creating a more Twitter-like experience and we'll be watching and exploring how brands can use this feature in their social networking strategies.

To use the new feature:
When posting a status update type the "@" symbol followed by the person, place or thing that you would like to mention.  As you type Facebook will provide a generated list of options to choose from.

So check it out!  What do you think?

Downtown Events

Heads up!

This Saturday be sure not to miss the Sidewalk Art Festival.

Word on the street:

"Yeah, they have stuff out along the sidewalk downtown from 14th street to 9th street. Tons of people checking out art...way cool."
 - Doug

"what?"
 - Brandon

From SiouxFallsEvents.com
"It's the largest one-day outdoor festival in the region with more than 250 fine art, folk art, craft and food booths. Proceeds support the Washington Pavilion's Visual Arts Center. Visit the Children's Garden Studio, where kids can make and take art projects. Tickets for these activities are $2 each or $10 for all. Admission to the Kirby Science Discovery Center is also free for the day! Children must be accompanied by an adult. Please check in at the box office for admission stickers."

The shindig starts at 9am and after you get done checking out the art hang around for Grmanfest.

Facebook ads at work

I've been spending a lot of time lately on Facebook. At work. Yes, I'm admitting it! Don't worry though, it was all work-related. OK, maybe not ALL. Anyway...IMD has started a Facebook campaign for one of our clients - KODAK. If you're not one of the half-million plus that saw them pop up in the ad column next to your profile, here they are!

Of course, there are all kinds of stats to show that users are clicking through, that they're getting viewed, etc, but I can tell you from my own experience that Facebook ads DO work! Why? Because they're targeted to each viewer's interests and activities, as reported by you - the viewer- in your profile.

 I have clicked through on numerous ads, and have become aware of products that I didn't even know existed! (Pazzles, a custom cutting machine being the most recent. How AWESOME is this for a graphic designer!!! If only I had $600. Merry Christmas to me?)