Each year is the Fluid Branding Company Conference. The team get together, celebrate success, learn from each other and hear Matt and Miles' vision for the next twelve months. Want to know what the Conference is like? Here's a behind the scenes look.
Every year the Fluid team travel from all over Europe and the UK to get together, celebrate success, learn from each other and hear Matt and Miles' vision for the next twelve months.
This year the Fluid Branding Annual Conference took place on the outskirts of Bristol. Here's what it's like to have a weekend at the Fluid Conference…
Friday PM...
All the offices made their way to Bristol at various points during the day! Big thanks to some that couldn’t make the weekend and covered the phones and systems while the teams were travelling to Bristol. Some got there quicker than others! The Bury teams 5-hour coach journey down to the M25 and along the M4 turned into 8 hours after the bus driver thought he was going the wrong way along the M4, turned back and then realised he was going the right way in the first place. It also didn’t go quite as smoothly for the Manchester team who had to contend with a cancelled train but ended up on the same train as the Leeds team so had a good chance to catch up with each other.
With everyone checked in and supplied with goodie bags (thanks suppliers), a welcome snack, and instructions from the awesome conference team (John, Eric, Cat, Gemma, Karen, David). There was a chance to catch up, meet new members of the team or visit the onsite spa before the evening activity of a horse racing night!
The betting ring, or BetKev (as it was affectionately known after our host and production team member Kevin) was a hive of activity with a prize pot of Fluid reward points up for grabs! Some were luckier than others with big wins for Karen in marketing and heavy losses for the majority. After a successful evening racing and a few drinks at the bar everyone was in bed by 12am ready for a busy conference the next day (honest)…
Saturday Morning...
With everyone up bright and early for breakfast a full day was planned, and everyone was excited to see what was in store. After a team icebreaker of truth or lies (I did briefly share a house with Ben Howard and worked on the TV show Cake Boss, I have an IMDB page to prove it), the morning began with Matt and Miles presenting an exciting new vision for Fluid Branding and how we are going to shape it as a team. Our new vision is Meaningful Merchandise, Exceptional People. Matt and Miles explained in more detail about how we can move this forward as a company and how it’s underpinned by three pillars, Fluid Family, Fluid Friends, Fluid Foundation, more info on that to come!
The late morning consisted of our key supplier roadshow, we got to know our suppliers a bit better and find out how we can work better together and learnt all about their product ranges and new products. Everyone was paired up with someone from a different department so each could learn about the different questions that we ask our suppliers, there was also the bonus of reward points for completing our supplier passport after visiting each of them!
Saturday Afternoon...
The afternoon allowed us to delve deeper into the three Fluid pillars that Matt and Miles talked about in the morning Fluid Family, Fluid Friends, Fluid Foundation. We all learnt in more detail about each pillar and then joined sub teams to focus on the one pillar that we felt the strongest connection to. In these sub teams we developed a concept which we felt encompassed the pillar and presented these to the rest of the business. After a Dragons Den style Q&A from Matt and Miles our ideas will be taken forward to shape the future of Fluid Branding.
The afternoon then finished with The Big Fat Fluid Branding Quiz of The Year, do you know what the Fluid Branding Pantone colour is*?
Saturday Evening...
On to Saturday evening and after a pre-dinner drinks reception it was into the main hall for dinner and the annual Fluid awards. It’s a great chance to celebrate and recognise the hard work of everyone in all areas of the business...
And the winners were...
- Big Kahuna – James Ingleby
- Top Dog - Aaron Loveridge
- Dream Team – Mathew Appleton, Kevin Wickett, Nic Murphy, Laura Ralph, Luke Preston, Steve Henry, Joe Hill
- Rockstar Rookie – Adam Hicks
- Team of the year – Production Team
- Special Achievement – Tom Mercer
- Pinnacle - Jessica Patton and Kevin Wickett
Sunday...
Check out, travel home, sleep and get ready for Monday morning!
*Answer 1585C.
