Our Virtual Band — the Importance of Getting Together

At Folkmatic, we have a carefully curated group of individuals that each play an instrument pivotal to our sound. When everything swings and we’re hitting all the right nodes, the result is stellar digital solutions we all stand behind.

Multinational, multistudio, multifolks

What’s special about how we make music is that the whole band is not based in the same place.

The solid backing band is in one place, the composers in a second spot, the lead guitarist somewhere else. So we connect via our tools and play our instruments, yielding digital products and services.

And it rocks. We’re not limited by location when it comes to finding the best musicians. And clients can tune in from all over the world, comfortably aware that distributed workflows is part of our nature.

You’re cool, but who are you really?

Real ties and connections are rarely sealed on Skype, though. As curious and social human beings, we need the physical meeting to get the full picture of a new person entering our lives.

With that comes understanding of who you’re dealing with, why the person acts like she does and how you can approach the person. It comes down to allowing for the informal talk and the significance of body language.

With a physical meeting, empathy is established and the tone is a lot more civilized if the going gets tough. Once you’ve shared a beer, even better.

48 hours of brainstorming and bonding

So at least once a year, we fly the whole band together for our Folkmatic meetups, which are, arguably, the most important time of year for us.

Everyone mixes up. Between the teams, between the locations, between the seniority levels. Although we’re a flat orchestra to begin with, the fact that everyone mingles can’t be underestimated.

For the agenda, we seek to balance key ingredients: Both review of the previous year, sharing plans for what’s to come, and co-creating the longer term future.

And expanded creative sessions that involve wherever we’re at, space for everyone to own a part and present, dinners, late nights and group selfies.

The Lowdown: A handful of tips for your virtual band’s meetup

• Nail the details: Your company is most likely not arranging meetups for a living, so don’t underestimate the logistics of facilitating this.
• Focus on the output: Watching the sunset is nice, but it’s beaten by coming home with concrete actionable takeaways, like a new manifesto.
• Balance work with play: You need both, using the opportunity to brief everyone, but indeed also letting loose and turning everything upside down.
• Celebrate your victories: No better time to spoil everyone and remind each other of the strong achievements there’s been.
• Collect feedback: Remember to do your keep-drop-add session, inviting all participants to reflect on how it’s been, helping you improve again for next time.