Gravel Experiential

What is Gravel Experiential?

Gravel Experiential is a women-owned corporate event agency based on North Ravenswood Avenue, on Chicago's North Side. Katie Albrecht, chief operating officer, and Kristin Quinn, chief business officer, co-founded the firm after the agency where they had worked for years abruptly closed. On its site the firm says its team brings more than 45 years of combined experience, and that every client is managed hands-on by a key principal. The work falls into three areas: retreats and incentive travel, corporate meetings and events, and brand and product activations. Retreats are a large share of the published case studies. For a fast-growing healthcare services company bringing its whole team together for the first time, Gravel planned a three-day retreat based at 1 Hotel Nashville, with a welcome reception at Harriet's, a TeamQuest scavenger hunt across the grounds of Southall Farm & Inn in Franklin, and a covered bridge dinner with live music. For Health Delegates, the firm ran a second annual meeting in Charleston, combining business sessions at The Cooper with a harbor boat tour, carriage history tours and evening receptions. For a confidential private equity client, it produced a "no-meetings" retreat at Montage Palmetto Bluff, built around golf, pickleball and sunset cocktail cruises. Closer to home, the case studies show a full-day kickoff for a creative agency at the Chicago Athletic Association, opening with a sunrise breakfast at Cindy's rooftop above Millennium Park and moving through strategy sessions in the Madison Ballroom to a reception in the Game Room. For Benchmark Analytics, Gravel produced a three-day customer summit in Wrigleyville, handling rooms at Hotel Zachary, an offsite brewery lunch, a rooftop party at Big Star and transportation between venues; a quote on the firm's site from Benchmark's marketing lead praises the team's ability to anticipate needs. The firm also produced the "Connections" space for United Airlines' Global Leadership Conference at McCormick Place. Beyond Chicago, the portfolio includes an anniversary celebration in Brooklyn for Braze, holiday parties in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, and a pharmaceutical advisory board meeting in Tampa. The firm names Chicago, Austin and Park City as cities where it likes to build local experiences, and its client page lists McDonald's, Molson Coors and Accenture among the brands it has worked with.

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Based

North Side, Chicago

Ownership

Women-owned

Experience

45+ years combined

Event formats

• Executive & team retreats
• Meetings & conferences
• Brand activations
• Holiday parties

Past events