A #Team, gratitude, two great days, the Singing Christmas Tree and looking forward to 2025.
It’s already a nice tradition to spend time with the team in Zurich at Christmas. We spend the whole year either connected online or meeting up individually from time to time, but we always look forward to the MICE Service Group and Premium Speakers team weekend. In a world that is spinning ever faster, with wars, economic and political disgruntlement and technology hype, it’s “time out” from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning.
Of course, we also look back on 2024 and what we experienced and achieved from the goals we set ourselves. And yes, we also took a look at 2025 and what’s in store for us. But the focus for our #TeamTime was on personal conversations, fire, (mulled) wine, cheese fondue, Ticino grotto, Advent calendar and eating chocolate.
And we were surprised by Marina Andresen, who knocked on our door directly from Zurich Airport after a 30-hour flight from Cancun and gave such a motivating and positive #keynote speech that we ended our program early.
Traditionally, we went to the Singing Christmas Tree in Zurich in the late afternoon. A sea of lights with “Lucy” in the city, on Rennweg and the illuminated Storchen-Gässchen, off to a cheese fondue in Niederdorf.
Especially towards the end of a year that has really challenged us with ever greater challenges, complexities, daily changes and “bad news” in the news, such #TeamTimes are so valuable. These moments show us what we can achieve together as a team – as people – and that we can rely on each other. Head, hands and heart, shake off the baggage of the last few months, recharge our batteries and focus on the next tasks.
I am extremely grateful and proud of my team and am really looking forward to our joint tasks in 2025 – Mandy Weinand, Sabrina Eissing, Sven Rapp, Janin Heukamp, Astrid Berndt, Stefanie Jost, Yvonne Stork, Julia Jaspert, Petra Scheugenpflug and Urs, the MICEBär.