I enjoyed the opportunity to work with Matt as we planned and executed Blank Rome’s Spring 2010 retreat. Our retreat was completely different in terms of design, goals and outcomes than past retreats, and Matt  was a key part of its’ success.

He was extremely helpful in working with us to achieve our goals – social interaction so that our partners could actually get to know each other, with the overarching goal of revenue enhancement for the Firm.  The concepts he introduced of breaking out into small groups to examine our past, present and future proved successful. Moreover, the feedback from our partners has been very positive, with a number of our colleagues remarking that they really enjoyed the opportunity to spend time in small groups and actually “get to know each other.”

We also wanted to signal our leadership’s intent to roll up their sleeves and listen to and engage with our partners. I am convinced that the format of the retreat and atmospherics that resulted from the program design – colorful post-it notes all over the place, cartoon sketchings and the visual agenda helped to set the right tone and free people up to think more creatively and provide honest feedback.

Overall Matt, was great to work with –  responsive, creative and professional, and I would recommend that any firm wanting to take a fresh look at how they design, execute and facilitate a productive partners retreat would be well served to have a conversation with him.

- Topper Ray, Principal and Chief Communications Officer, Blank Rome