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OnTheGoSystems Third Annual Conference

October 30, 2015

Agnes Bury

We all work remotely from homes, from different parts of the world. Once a year we all get together in a nice place. This year we held the  annual company event in the city of Porto, in Portugal. See how it went.

On the beach in Porto
On the beach in Porto

Day 1. First dinner and ice-breaking games

On the arrival day, Thursday evening, we got together in the hotel restaurant to have our first dinner together.

Having meals together is a great opportunity to get know each other better
Having meals together is a great opportunity to get know each other better

Later on we moved to the conference room to play some ice-breaking games. There are over seventy people in the company so remembering and repeating all your team-mates’ names is a real challenge!

Juan's turn to repeat the names of his colleagues
Juan’s turn to repeat the names of his colleagues

Day 2. Getting to know each other – group collage

The best way to get know each other better is to do some activities together. In the collage game we could also check how we can work in teams.

Francesco, Denise, Andrea, Pierre and Ghennadi working on their collage
Francesco, Denise, Andrea, Pierre and Ghennadi working on their collage
Marcin, Jakub, Beda, Juan, Konstantinos, Dario and Andreas working on their group collage
Marcin, Jakub, Beda, Juan, Konstantinos, Dario and Andreas working on their group collage
Beda presenting his group collage
Beda presenting his group collage
Ornela telling her story
Ornela telling her story
Everybody liked the collage presentations and we all had a lot of fun
Everybody liked the collage presentations and we all had a lot of fun

Customer support

We didn’t give up providing support for our customers.

Nick from the ICanLocalize team
Nick from the ICanLocalize team
And the rest of the ICanLocalize team: Irina, Ornela and Arnold
And the rest of the ICanLocalize team: Irina, Ornela and Arnold

Visiting Porto – walking tour

In the afternoon we were visiting Porto

We are waiting for a bus that will take us to the old town of Porto
We are waiting for a bus that will take us to the old town of Porto
Visiting Porto
Visiting Porto
Visiting Porto
Visiting Porto
Visiting Porto
Visiting Porto

Day 3. More activities

We started Saturday with Maciej’s presentation about efficient thinking based on the famous Edward de Bono’s book entitled “Six thinking hats”. Then we  used the technique in group to solve real problems.

Agnes, Maciej, Laura and Dario playing a demo of the Six Thinking Hats game
Agnes, Maciej, Laura and Dario playing a demo of the Six Thinking Hats game
Time to use the Six Thinking Hats technique to solve a real problem
Time to use the Six Thinking Hats technique to solve a real problem.

Presentations

Apart of games we had regular presentations too. One of them was Jakub’s talk about UX and usability principles. After the presentation our task was to follow the usability best practices and design a perfect parking meter.

Jakub Milczarek in his talk about usability and UX
Jakub Milczarek in his talk about usability and UX
... and the audience
… and the audience

Fado show

On Saturday night we watched and participated in the Fado Show – the emotionally charged music that captures the spirit of Portugal.

Some of use were even invited to join the dancing...
Some of use were even invited to join the dancing…
...and almost everybody tasted the Port Wine which is a Portuguese fortified wine.
…and almost everybody tasted the Port Wine which is a Portuguese fortified wine.

Day 4. Cruise Time

Porto is located along the Douro River. On Sunday we took a cruise on the river.

Aboard a boat is a perfect place to take some cool pictures
Aboard a boat is a perfect place to take some cool pictures
Porto looks beautiful even on a rainy day
Porto looks beautiful even on a rainy day

Stories of our lives

Everybody likes stories. Amir, the company founder and CEO, believes that telling stories is the best way to make your audience learn from your experience. He started the story session from telling a story from his personal life. Then other people joined.

Amir, the company founder and CEO telling his story
Amir, the company founder and CEO telling his story
Everybody was impressed by Helena's story about the red pen
Everybody was impressed by Helena’s story about the red pen

We all had a really great time!

OnTheGoSystems - the people behind WPML, Toolset and ICanLocalize
OnTheGoSystems – the people behind WPML, Toolset and ICanLocalize

Photos by Joanna Dawid and Bigul Malayi

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