BakitWhy.com had already held a team retreat in Northern California within its first year of existence. Not the biggest departure from its Southern California roots, but even going up the coast showed that BakitWhy.com was focusing on more than just the regional level.
However, for the retreat surrounding BakitWhy’s first birthday, the team aimed for something even more expansive. More expansive, brighter, and dare we say, more "sinful".
Trisha Nocon, Team Development Coordinator, put it quite simply: “SavetheDate for our Team Retreat coming up...in VEGAS baby!” And not only was the retreat outside of California, but for the first time, not all of the attendees were from there either.
On August 14th, 2009, many members of the BakitWhy team made the road trip from Southern California to the middle of the desert. Also, a couple members flew in - Lester Siat, QA Analyst, came in late Friday night from Northern California. Then there was Ryne Dionisio, a Midwest Contributor flying in from the beautiful city of Chicago, making this retreat the first inter-state one for BakitWhy. While his attendance meant frequent visits to In-N-Out and investigation into the pronunciation of the latter ‘A’, it more importantly made the national reach that BakitWhy had more of a reality.
Between hanging out with prize fighter Nonito Donaire and eating imported deep dish pizza (which isn’t the same as actually getting it in Chicago), the team discussed the current state of affairs and what improvements could be made to the site to make it more accessible and informative. We also shared challenges that came with running a site like BakitWhy and considered the direction we felt the stories should take. By the end of the retreat, the house we had rented was wallpapered with our ideas, suggestions, and comments.
The retreat set the tone for what the BakitWhy team and site would go through in the coming weeks, months, and even what what you’ll be seeing here on August 6th. No longer could BakitWhy solely focus on the admittedly large California scene - the internet has a worldwide reach, and soon the content on the site reflected that, along with the team members who reside everywhere from the Midwest to the East Coast to down South and everywhere in between and beyond. And wherever Pilipinos would gather, BakitWhy.com would be there to support. And I emphasize, wherever...
To be continued in Milestone 7...
Related Links:
- Milestone Series, Part 1: BakitWhy.com's First Steps
- Milestone Series, Part 2: A Team Gathers
- Milestone Series, Part 3: Boots on the Ground
- Milestone Series, Part 4: Dancing Right Into The Mainstream Eye
- Milestone Series, Part 5: The 2.0 Transformation
- Milestone Series, Part 7: The BakitUp++ One-Year Anniversary
- Milestone Series, Part 8: 3 Regional Conferences, 2 Weeks, 1 Common Identity
- Milestone Series, Part 9: BakitWhy 3.0, A New Hope
