Annually, my firm's USA practice holds a training event in Orlando Florida's Disneyworld. In 2005, 2 sessions were held. Approximately 1800 employees attended the first session.
There were many educational components. Classes began at 08.00 with a sign-in and continued until 17.30. Early evening and dinner activities were affinity group driven. Monday was everyone, Tuesday was by region, Wednesday by service line, and Thursday by sub-service line. Late night activities were not as regimented. The first evening was structured, and there was a mixer for everyone. Subsequent activities were not structured. However, since the pub Jellyrolls was nearby (800m), many late-night revelers began and ended their evenings there.
This annual get-together helps put faces to names. Many employees travel 80-100% of the time, and rarely see the colleagues in their own home city office. Most of the time, we meet people from other offices on the job site. This is a good way of reuniting job teams and expanding social circles. In my own case, I was reunited with co-workers from the Houston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC offices. We didn't meet in those cities, we met in Nashville. Also, I met people in my small service sector, whom I was only acquainted by phone.
Finally, I met people from my home Chicago office. We met in the airport terminal and on the plane. The entire Chicago office is less than 2000 people, we have 4 primary divisions, and my own service line is maybe 50 people. So, it was nice to identify people from the Chicago office with my division.
| Next Page |