Over the weekend of August 12, our team members gathered for Neapolitan Labs’ Summit 2023 in its home base of Des Moines, Iowa, for a weekend of team bonding and business updates.
Friday: Iowa State Fair & Concert
Summit 2023 began on Friday evening with a visit to the Iowa State Fair, which we also visited two years prior in our 2021 team summit!
“I’ve created an internal list of State Fair essentials including the Giant Slide, Ye Old Mill, fried cheese curds, and more,” Brian McMillin, Neapolitan Labs president said. “It’s fun to enjoy these experiences at our summit, especially with team members like Katie [our new business manager] who are attending the fair for the first time.”
We hit everything on Brian’s list, including eating our weight in fried cheese curds (The dill cheese curds were delish according to our Chief Business Officer, Caley Lewis!) and many other treats. In between snacking, we rode rides and visited the fair’s numerous livestock viewing areas (the cows were a hit).
”My favorite activity was the Giant Slide. I have gone to the fair a number of times growing up, but I had yet to ride it. Loved it so much that I took my kids back that same weekend to experience it.
Kimber BoxSenior Project Manager
We ended the night at the fair’s Tyler Hubbard concert. dancing and singing along to hits like “Dancin’ in the Country” and “Cruise.” We caught the end of the night’s firework show and then headed out to prep for the next day’s activities.
Saturday: Annual Business Meeting & Olympics
The biggest day of the summit included our annual business meeting, awards, and Olympics. The team gathered at Neapolitan Labs’ office where Brian and Caley presented on the year’s successes and the company’s future growth before leading a brainstorming session for product and service improvements.
“Our business meeting is always rewarding, as it’s a great chance for Caley and I to share the state of our business and then jump into really fantastic conversations about how we can grow and improve our products,” Brian said.
“There are lots of small and big ideas that we can implement or build that will help us support our clients’ needs better and help us take market share from our competitors,” Caley added.
”My favorite part of the summit was hearing how the company has grown over the last year and where the big opportunities are for 2024.
Ashely BaldwinSenior Content Specialist
After a group photo session and new headshots for the website, the team members explored Des Moines’ East Village neighborhood and played rounds of Heads Up. Half of the summit group experienced a memorable Uber ride that included karaoke and TikTok video creation en route to dinner at Big Grove Brewing Company on the opposite side of downtown.
From dinner, the team made its way to Ricochet where everyone was broken up into teams led by Brian and Caley for the annual Neapolitan Labs Olympics. Brian’s team included Caleb Lewis, lead software engineer; Jill Reisinger, client success manager; Katie Hernandez, business manager; and Rose Leding, content specialist. Caley’s team included Kimber Box, senior project manager; Stephanie Hernandez, director of enterprise sales; and Ashely Baldwin, senior content specialist.
The competition started with a dominant ping pong performance, followed by Hammerschlagen and ski ball before Caley’s team (Team Sundaes) officially wrapped up the competition to take home the trophy (again!).
“In three years of competitions, I’ve never been on a winning team but have always had a good time,” Brian shared. “Ricochet in downtown Des Moines is one of my favorite venues and worked perfectly for our Olympics competition.”
Stephanie, Caley, Katie, and Rose take a break from the competition for a selfie.
”Ricochet was so fun! I love playing ping pong, and it was great to relax and just hang out (and also have some healthy competition). Bonus that I was on the winning team!
Kimber BoxSenior Project Manager
Sunday: Brunch & Goodbyes
The weekend came to a close with brunch on Sunday, sharing laughs about the days before and looking ahead to all of the ideas waiting to be implemented.
“From small improvements to grand project ideas, we have no shortage of opportunities for Neapolitan Labs to continue flourishing,” Brian said.
The weekend came and went all too quickly, and we’re all already looking forward to the next Neapolitan Labs Summit in 2024!
”I love getting to spend time with the whole team.
Jill ReisingerClient Success Manager
