If you love DIY and have ever dreamed of opening your own DIY home decor business, you won’t want to miss this recap of the 2023 AR Workshop Owner’s Retreat! Recently, AR Workshop franchisees traveled from all over the country to join together in Fort Mill, SC for the 2023 annual owners’ retreat! With most of the world pandemic challenges (that significantly impacted not only lives but also businesses) behind us, this year’s theme was “OnwARd and UpwARd”. Check out the summary of an amazing, connection-filled three days!
The excitement in the air was palpable as the 5th Annual AR Workshop Owners’ Retreat got underway last month in South Carolina. Our valued AR Workshop® franchise owners loved gathering together to celebrate, share, support, and learn from one another.
Day 1:
Franchisees kicked off day one with check in and were presented with incredible swag bags with over $200 in products from some of our favorite retail brands. (Check out the complete list of swag bag donors at the end of this post!) Just look at all the happy faces upon arrival!
Then the fun really started! After owners got all checked in, it was time to paint the town aqua! Kicking off the start to the retreat with our signature AQUA pARty was the best beginning to an amazing 3 days together.
Our feARless leaders, Maureen Anders and Adria Ruff, really know how to party!
Check out our franchise owners all decked out in aqua!
As you can see, the aqua outfits were amazing!
There is no shortage of fun or creativity when it comes to an AR Workshop event!
You won’t want to miss this video recap of the first day! It’s also posted on our AR Workshop TikTok account.
Day 2:
Day 2 was another successful, jam-packed day! Attendees enjoyed a welcome message from Coleen Odegaard and keynote address from Page Fehling, two incredible women. A Q&A session with the technology team was followed by a marketing update from Eulerity (one of our amazing sponsors), who also sponsored a fun scavenger hunt for the owners! After all, at AR Workshop, we believe in working hARd and playing hARd too! Did we mention the AR patch bAR? The patch bAR is coming to AR Workshops near you, and owners got to play around with this new concept at the retreat! Plus, what is more fun than dinner and drinks as part of an evening dine around experience?
Dine around dinner fun!!
Check out the TikTok video recap from Day 2 of the AR Workshop Owners’ Retreat! You’ll see some exciting coverage of the patch bAR!
Day 3:
Day 3 was another incredible day hearing from speakers Stacey Brown Randall, Miranda in CLT, Heidi Ryder, and Maghon Taylor. Plus, our annual awards were presented, attendees participated in an incredible service project, and the annual group photos were taken.
AR Workshop Awards recognize our owners for their incredible efforts! We loved being able to present many of our owners with an award.
This year’s Franchisee of the YeAR Award went to Jasmine Parsons, owner of AR Workshop Gig Harbor. What an incredible year of hard work and dedication!
Our FeARless Award went to all the owners on the west coast of Florida: AR Workshop Naples, AR Workshop Fort Myers, AR Workshop Cape Coral, AR Workshop Tampa, AR Workshop Brandon, and AR Workshop St. Petersburg.
Our ContributAR Award went to Morgan Macedo of AR Workshop Malvern.
The Aqua heARt awARd goes to Jen of AR Workshop Boulder!
And our Rookie of the YeAR is Laura of AR Workshop Coronado!
A big congrats to all of this year’s award winners for all of your hard work during 2022!
The PARtner AwARd winner is Adrienne of AR Workshop Frederick!
Congrats to our Innovator awARd winners–Chrissy and Kim of AR Workshop Macomb!
A highlight of the retreat was partnering with Congregation for Kids for a service project. Our team assembled 100 cARe packages for kids entering foster care. We are honored to give back and support this very important cause, and extend our thanks to OOLY, CB Station, and Inspiration Direct for your donations towards this project. #WecARe #ARWRetreat2023
It was a thrill to have hand-lettering guru, Maghon Taylor at this year’s retreat!
That’s a wrap! Our owners’ retreat is an enriching experience because of wonderful franchise owners, sponsors, speakers, and contributors. Speaking of our sponsors, we feel incredibly lucky to have had Eulerity, ADP, USCutter, and OOLY as 2023 AR Workshop Owners’ Retreat sponsors. Our gratitude is immeasurable!
We want to also give a big shout out to our swag bag sponsors who helped put the “treat” in retreat: A Branch and Cord, ADP, Aged and Infused, American Bubble Co, Doe a Deer Design, Ellembee, Eularity, Gleeful Peacock, Milkhouse Candle Co, OOLY, Pinch Me Therapy Dough, Pretty Alright Goods, Satchel, Spiffy and Splendid, TINte Cosmetics
If this AR Workshop Owners’ Retreat recap has your interest piqued, check out the details on how you can become a franchisee here.
And don’t miss this video recap on the AR Workshop Youtube channel.
