Winter usually brings most of us indoors with less adventure and entertainment than other seasons. However, there is one thing that unites many individuals around the world and within our office during this season, the Winter Olympics!
When we closed our Series C funding round, we decided to celebrate with a series of C-themed events which included “C” for competition! Leaning into our company value of “play to win,” we sparked some competitive spirit throughout our company by holding our very own Instrumental Winter Olympics.
As with any real Olympics, a strong opening ceremony was key to building anticipation. Our team worked on creating a very special torch lighting ceremony that had teammates around the US passing torches off to each other.
On the last day of our office Olympics, there was a vibrant energy in the office as teams got together to rack up as many points as they could before the submission deadline. As you walked into our office you would have seen people sliding on chairs, curling with brooms, and filming each other acting like they are running great distances and taking aim at targets. There was so much laughter, encouragement, and contagious joy.
Finally, the winning team was crowned! Winners were awarded with a freezer full of Van Leeuwen ice cream and the whole company got new branded backpacks! After lots of applause and celebration, it was time for closing ceremonies, which included an amazing montage video that commemorated the fun and joy we’d had.
This event took a lot of dedication and fun from our planning team and our competitive teams over a two week period. One of our new hires reflected that the “best thing about the Olympics was that as a newbie, I was able to get to know my fellow Instrumentalists!” We look forward to creating more team and company wide events that spark the connection that our Office Olympics created across our team across the US and within China. Summer Olympics here we come!
