As a kickoff to the fall season and the final quarter of the year, Formstack recently held its fourth annual All Hands team week. This year’s event was themed around the company’s 10th anniversary, which was celebrated earlier in the year. To honor the theme, Formstack employees gathered in the company’s birthplace and headquarter city: Indianapolis.
Home base for the week was the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis, located in the heart of Downtown Indy. This allowed remote Formstackers (who make up more than 50% of the company’s workforce) to get a true taste of the great city Formstack calls home. And miraculously, the Indiana weather was on our side all week!
Want an inside look at all the team building and fun times that took place? Here are the highlights:
Monday
Formstack All Hands 2016 officially started on Monday evening, with everyone arriving in Indianapolis and meeting up at the hotel. Upon check-in, we were each given a Formstack welcome bag with some pretty cool swag:
Not pictured: delicious snacks to enjoy throughout the week! We then made our way to a Hyatt ballroom for an official welcome dinner. Formstack CEO Chris Byers kicked off the night with some words of wisdom and a demonstration of how distributed the company has become (asking employees to stand in different areas of the room based on their home state and/or country). After enjoying a nice meal and a great conversation, we parted ways to get ready for the week.
Tuesday
Tuesday’s daytime team-building events involved touring Lucas Oil Stadium—site of Super Bowl XLVI and home to the National Football League’s Indianapolis Colts—as well as playing arcade games and glow-in-the-dark mini golf at Circle Centre Mall.
In the evening, Formstackers got dressed up and headed to dinner at The Eagle’s Nest, a revolving restaurant located on the Hyatt rooftop. The restaurant offers scenic panoramic views of the city, which provided a lovely backdrop for the night’s great meal and camaraderie.
Wednesday
Wednesday was all business. Just kidding! But we did spend a good chunk of the day discussing Formstack’s vision, strategy, and direction forward. We got a good glimpse into the company’s history during a Q&A session with founder Ade Olonoh. We also heard from other Formstack leaders, who discussed where the company is headed and how we’re going to get there. And we were visited by a guest speaker and business coach who offered some tips for building a world-class organization. The day also included a hands-on workshop and competition, where Formstackers were divided into seven teams and tasked with developing an idea for a new Formstack product (complete with a name, tagline, price, list of features, and visual “box” representation) in one hour. At the end of the hour, each team had to present its idea with a sales pitch, and votes were cast to determine best overall idea (or most likely to succeed), best sales pitch, and best looking box.
In the evening, individual departments met up for team dinners at trendy eateries like Nada, Plow & Anchor, Yard House, and Spoke & Steele. Then, a large group of Formstackers headed to Crackers Comedy Club for a night of laughs.
Thursday
The final day of All Hands started with some team building and brain-busting at The Escape Room Indianapolis. Small teams of Formstack employees worked together to solve puzzles and make their way out of a locked room—and most teams were successful!
In the afternoon, everyone split into three groups and enjoyed one of a few recreational activities: biking on the Indianapolis canal with Wheel Fun Rentals, touring and wine tasting at Easley Winery, or touring and beer tasting at Sun King Brewery.To close out the week’s events, the whole Formstack family came together for dinner, an awards ceremony, and duckpin bowling at Action and Atomic Bowl in Fountain Square. Byers started the night with some reflections on the week. Then, managers presented awards to team members who have expertly represented Formstack’s culture code throughout the last year. Additionally, some fun All Hands awards were handed out, such as awards for the funniest and nicest ‘Stackers.To end the evening, we enjoyed some good old fashioned duckpin bowling and hanging out—and a beautiful sunset.
We parted ways on Thursday evening with renewed team energy and high spirits as we close out 2016 and look forward to 2017. Here’s to another great year, Formstackers!
Interested in joining our team? Check out what positions are available here!
