Our 2018 Company Retreat to Kamperland

For this year’s Userlike retreat, we went to Kamperland, the Netherlands. The weather wasn’t on our side, really, but that didn’t stop us from having one hella good time. A recap.

Finding a house like the one we’d had for last year’s retreat , one that would both meet our expectations for comfort and design and fit all of us 30+ Userlikers , turned out to be difficult. But because we wanted a more unique experience than we felt we'd be getting in a hotel, we decided to rent several adjoining houses in a bungalow park .

On Friday, we shut down our office in Cologne so we could start our trip early. Instead of organizing our trip in car pools like in the previous years, we’d booked a bus company to bring us to our destination. Field trip feeling!

Userlikers loading the bus in the rain.
Loading the bus in the rain.
The Userlike team sitting in a bus.
Userlike bus trip.

When we arrived at Kamperland, the sky cleared up for a short time – the only time for that weekend, actually – and shed some sunlight on our beautiful bungalows right by the water.

A bungalow house by the water.
A bungalow house by the water.
The interior design of a bungalow house.
Three Userlikers relaxing in their sunbed.
Time to relax.
A group of white ducks
Feathery friends paying a visit.
Peter and Britta sitting at the dinner table.
Dinner preparations.
The Userlike team sharing a pizza at dinner.
Making pizza together.
Answering pub quiz questions.
A retreat tradition: the Userlike pub quiz.
Michael showing the french toast on the table.
Another tradition: Michael spoiling us with an American breakfast.

After sharing a delicious breakfast together, we met in one house for a brainstorming session. A week earlier at our Userlike Thursday event, the Chairman of the Atefa girls’ school charity had done a presentation on his project which provides access to education to girls and young women in Estalef, Afghanistan. Userlike had already been supporting this charity for some years but we all felt we wanted to do more charity work. The retreat seemed like a great place to expand on this important topic and discuss our ideas.

However, this was the only ‘official’ point on our agenda. This year, we had no lightning talks or any other work-related stuff scheduled. We wanted to focus on bonding as a team and simply enjoying our time together.

No matter how many agenda items you whiz through, a retreat without any downtime won't lead to connected, productive employees upon your return.

Inc.

Our team has grown fast in a relatively short amount of time. Four years ago, Userlike was a group of 4 – now we’re 8 times that many. A company retreat is perfect for getting to know your coworkers better, outside the usual office environment and everyone’s day-to-day work routines.

Userlikers flying a kite
Flying a kite.
Userlikers flying a kite
Userlikers flying a kite
Userlikers riding bikes in the rain.
Some decided to defy the rain and explore the area on bikes.
Fabian standing in the rain, laughing.
Happy weather warrior.
Dutch coastline.
Dutch coastline.
A man on the beach.
Strolling down the beach.
A picture at the Userlike team at lunch.
The kite and bike folks crossed paths for lunch.
The kettles of a brewery.
In the evening, we had dinner in a fancy old brewery in town.
4 people on a bus.
It’s been a blast!