A friend asked me recently what was the most important tip I could give to remote-only businesses. My advice was: make sure to plan to meet with your team offline. I know it is a bit contradictory but let me explain.

When you work online, almost every function and feature of work is the same, if not better, compared to a “traditional” setup. You can track the team's work and progress, you can collaborate, you can oversee the project management, have remote meetings, etc.

However, meeting with someone in-person is a radically different experience. Casually, and business-wise as well. So, here at KISSPatent, we try to meet with our team members in person as much as we can.

We’ve done many offline company meetups, usually in Europe or the USA. These meetings were either 1:1 sprints or group meetings for 3-10 people.

Here are a few things I can suggest when you organize an offline meeting with your remote team.

Be human and laid back

No matter what the agenda is for our offline meetings, we always find a way to be more relaxed. It is one thing to know someone from Slack and Zoom calls; it’s different to meet with them, say, at a restaurant.

Peter, our COO, and Carlos, our CMO having a beer after work

And, speaking of restaurants! Almost all of our team members are foodies. We come from different backgrounds, with a really healthy mix of cultures that comes with a bond to our national cuisine. When it comes to Mexican food, Justine is the hardest judge. When it comes to paella, Carlos steps up with the only way people can eat paella. I can go into hour-long arguments around proper Eastern European dishes. No matter where we meet with each other, almost all evenings and nights end up at a local restaurant.

This is also a reason to love in-person meetings. You get to know things that otherwise you wouldn’t.

Behind the scenes discussion

Sometimes these meetings are great to learn some extra information about your work. Things that you might not discuss on a chat, email, or through a video call. Visions, long-term plans, personal feedback are great things to talk about in-person. Though these topics shouldn't define the overall work you do.

It helps with bonding, loyalty, and adaptation.

Make sure your remote startup is on the fast track to success!

Take our short survey to find out what type of intellectual property is right for your startup!

Focus on the long-term strategy

When it comes to working, it’s pointless to meet in-person and do the daily project routine. Instead, focus on something long-term. When you meet with your remote team in-person, use that valuable time to collaborate.

Personally, I think that collaboration, brainstorming, and conceptualization can be done online too, but my advice is to use this time for something long-term and tangible.

I love to feel the chemistry in the room, shooting ideas at each other, having the whiteboard to track our process, and coming up with something new that will have a long-term purpose.

That personal collaboration is superior to any sprint online video call, even if we use the latest collaboration online tools.

Plan around important events

When Carlos went to TechCrunch’s Disrupt Berlin

One last piece of advice, which worked for us well. If you’re a remote business that has to travel to attend conferences anyway, try to organize in-person team meetings around these events.

It’s an excellent way to bond, visit a city, experience its cuisine, meet with your team members, do some long-term planning, plus visit a conference and do some actual business activity as well.

Afterwards, we can all get back to our routines with more ideas, plans, and stronger bonds!