Growing up on a farm, I learned to measure the severity of winter weather with one simple question: Can you see the big barn?
 
If the barn across the yard remained visible, we could confidently stick to our plans. When snow, wind, or fog prevented my family from seeing the barn’s massive outline, we knew our expectations for the day had to change.
 
My brother still lives on the farmstead with his family. A few weeks ago, I texted him: “Can you see the barn?” “Not really,” he replied and attached a photo. I couldn’t see the barn in the photo, but that is because the building has been gone for years. Still, it remains a visual cue for our family. When conditions are uncertain, our plans need to evolve.
 
This is true for projects too. Leaders and teams face their own versions of whiteout conditions. Plans are made, but something threatens to knock things off track. At Reach Partners we know how to navigate threats by paying attention to cues, those signals that something needs to change.

​At a recent event, a team member walked down the hallway and found me perched on a comfy bench next to her co-worker, who happened to be our client contact.
 
“How can you two just be sitting here?” she asked. She wasn’t critical, but genuinely curious.
 
It was an honest question. Event days are usually a blur of motion filled with activities like checking rooms, overseeing the registration/check-in table, welcoming attendees with a warm smile, and smoothing out the inevitable surprises. Most people can’t imagine an event planner would ever have time to sit down.
 
This particular event was one we’ve managed for years. In this case, our sitting down was a sign that everything was working exactly as it should.

If you’ve ever had a project fall victim to shifting priorities, raise your hand.

Yep. Us, too.

We have all had projects that stall or “lose steam” along the way. Projects without hard deadlines seem particularly easy to set aside in favor of something that seems more pressing.

But non-urgent projects have value, and that’s what makes it hard. What should you do when something you are excited about has to slide to the back burner? Should you pause, continue, or abandon a project when other tasks demand attention from the team?

​At Reach Partners, we spend a lot of time developing show flow documents.
 
That’s because they are one of the most powerful tools for ensuring an event’s success.
 
A show flow is more than a spreadsheet or a checklist. It’s the operational backbone of your event, the single document that holds the who, what, when, where, and how. Whether your event runs for one hour or spans several days, the show flow becomes the go-to reference that keeps every person, every detail, and every resource aligned.
 
Here are several qualities that make a show flow valuable:

At Reach Partners, we talk about communication a lot. We know the value of the ideal message, the kind that’s carefully crafted, reviewed by others, and sent with intentional timing. The goal is to deliver a message that is thoughtful, clear, and polished. It’s a beautiful thing.
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And yet, we know there are situations where we don’t have time to carefully polish the messages we need to send.

At a recent networking event, somebody asked Anita what her favorite project management tools are.
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Anita’s answer: she doesn’t have any. As experienced project managers, we use the tools our clients are most comfortable with. Our clients’ favorite tools become ours.
 
The question, however, prompted us to think about our favorite things. What helps us find beauty in the world? In our work? In our lives?
 
At Reach Partners, we emphasize values and process. We celebrate the relationships we build through trust. So, you likely won’t be surprised to see that many of our favorite things are experiences and traditions, ways of connecting with others. Others are simply things that make us smile as we do our job.
 
It turns out we do have a list of favorites! Here they are:

You might know Reach Partners for one type of project—meeting facilitation or event strategy and execution. But did you know our work extends across a wide range of industries and needs?

At Reach Partners, we love helping organizations turn ideas into action. Our work varies, but our purpose remains the same: to extend the capacity of leaders and teams and guide projects from vision to completion.
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One way we showcase our work is through case studies. These real-world examples highlight how we become a trusted partner, helping clients navigate challenges, prioritize solutions, and bring their projects to life.

Reach Partners is fortunate to share office space with a voracious reader. To nobody’s surprise, none of us hesitated to start an interoffice book club when Rachel suggested we read a book together.

The three of us are now on our second book. We don’t have a hard schedule. We jointly determine how much to read for our next discussion, and I find an hour on our calendars that works well with other work obligations.
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We are reading Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. Two of us have read it before, but reading it again is not only helpful but insightful. I find this true of so many personal development books.

​Several years ago, Reach Partners started a practice that has now become an established tradition.
 
We initiated CCC, which stands for Coffee, Cheese Plates, and Cocktails. We are big believers that good food, good drinks, and good conversations go hand-in-hand. By adopting this strategy, we’ve been intentional about framing our relationship-building in a fun, informal way.
 
But let’s face it, this is also our much-more-inviting take on a CRM tool. This is how we stay connected with our current clients while learning about ways we can partner with new ones.

My family and I recently enjoyed a vacation in North Carolina. We visited the beach, attended a professional hockey game, and cherished time spent together.

We also toured the Battleship North Carolina. This ship participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific theater of operations during World War II. It’s now an authentically restored National Historic Landmark.

As we walked through the exhibits and learned more about the important role this ship played, I had an ah-hah moment.

At Reach Partners, we often use the analogy “we drive the boat” with our clients. It’s a way to describe the role we can play when an organization needs assistance.
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In North Carolina, I started to question what kind of boat we drive.