WRAPPED: HARPSWOOD’S FIRST GLOBAL WEEK IN LONDON

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HARPSWOOD’S FIRST GLOBAL WEEK IN LONDON

this summer, our international team gathered in London for Harpswood’s first Global Week. 

Our brilliant team members from Munich, Milan and Houston travelled to our London HQ for a week of meetings with clients and journalists, training and team strategy sessions - and of course some sightseeing too. 

Before they arrived we asked what they wanted to get out of the week, then shaped the plan to match. The week began with an Earth Set breakfast with Ed Conway, Economics and Data Editor at Sky News. The talk was hosted at Rothschild & Co, which gave our Houston lead Kelly who was visiting the UK for the first time an incredible view of the London skyline. The discussion explored the role of raw materials in the global economy and what it means for sustainability - a timely reminder that the stories we help our clients to tell are part of something bigger.

On Tuesday, we ran a team training session with the fantastic business coaches from Topbird, Katherine Grice and Christie Jennings. The ex-actors led our newest team members through practical exercises inspired by their time on the stage to manage nerves in high-pressure situations and communicate clearly. 

One of the week’s highlights was hosting the Octopus Energy UK team for a rooftop happy hour at our office. Running Octopus’s press offices across the UK, US, Germany and Italy, our team regularly collaborate across regions and work as an extension of Octopus’s incredible global team. It was a great chance for our international employees to get to know the UK team better, with the conversation flowing as easily as the drinks.

In amongst the week’s flurry of meetings, we also took the opportunity to update our team photos. In typical London style it was a grey drizzly day, but we still managed to shoot some brilliant new headshots and team pictures in the streets surrounding our Shoreditch office.

We rounded off the week with a Harpswood summer team social at the Sandown Races, giving the team a chance to get dressed up, enjoy the sunshine and relax after a whirlwind week. Bets were placed and let’s just say there were winners and losers... We finished the day with drinks in Wimbledon, which made our Italian colleague and huge tennis fan Chiara’s day. 

It was a brilliant moment watching the entire team come together for the first time. The energy and fresh ideas have set us up for a big year ahead - and on that note we say… bring on the next Global Week!