Strand events of 2019 reviewed
Since the whole world went in lockdown, the hospitality – event sector is struggling to survive. We grabbed the opportunity and used the time to reflect on the impact of our 2019 events.
This article was written by Jana Lauwers, our Event Manager.
The Strand events of 2019 reviewed
From grabbing the opportunity to challenging the status quo.
Only less than one month after the Strandustrial Revolution and we can already learn from sir Isaac Newton. During The Great Plague of London, he spent more than a year in lockdown which he later referred to as “the Year of wonders”. It was in lockdown, at home, in his garden, underneath the apple tree where he understood theories of gravity and motions.
By following sir Isaac Newton’s example, unfortunately no apple tree in plain sight, we took a step back and checked the results of the previous event. An analysis of all event-related topics came out to see how we can challenge the status quo in 2020 and do better. By filtering out the positive things and challenge them, some ideas for 2020 came up.
2019 Analysis
After thorough analysis, it’s clear that our people are the greatest asset of Strand. It is safe to say that our events were successful because you were all part of it. With attendance rates over 85% on mandatory and non-mandatory events, we beat our last year rates. But the biggest improvement we have seen is our no-show rate. We always aim for a <5% of no shows and for 2019 I am happy to announce we only had 2.3% of no shows. It is truly a great indicator of the commitment you show to your employer.
"Drinks, food & location were great, including the breakfast. Skiing and the activities besides the ski were great. And the most important was there: the good spirit. Of course, I will join next year!"
Project consultant – Ski Trip ‘19
In the beginning of 2018, we implemented an onboarding system. From the moment a new Strandie walks through the door in our Braine or Antwerp office, we offer a first warm welcome. A team of 4 people (HR, marketing and operations) provides all necessary information about our Strand culture, tips & tricks for an optimized LinkedIn profile and what you need to know HR-wise. Since we started the onboarding, we notice that our newcomers are more interested in joining our events. Why? We can only guess, but Strand is doing anything to stay connected with its people as of day one.
"At the onboardings, we provide branded welcome packages with our Strand Socks & meeting map etc. Only one day after the onboarding of a Supply Chain consultant, he posted a picture on his LinkedIn with his socks and Strand branded package with the message that he was proud to be part of our Strand family."
Caterina Janssens, Marketing Manager
A second reason is the way our Strand culture is passed on to the Projects Consultants. We have a large portfolio of clients where our Project Consultants are working on 6 months – multiple years projects. We noticed that a certain Strand culture is starting to form within these projects amongst our Strandies. When Strand placed 5 new Strandies at one of our Pharma clients, one of our consultants grabbed the opportunity to throw a small welcome drink when starting at the project and make our new colleagues feel welcome as of day one.
Feedback is the breakfast of champions. Every year, we strive to become a better employer and for this reason, we have NPS – surveys, feedback moments after every event, the yearly Strand Barometer… After analyzing the results of the events, we noticed that there is a high satisfaction rate amongst our colleagues. In 2019 we had an average satisfaction rate of 8.5 out of 10. Thanks to our people’s feedback we have a list of potential improvement points for 2020: location, timing, invest more in our freelancers and take family into account.
Our goal is to create a Strand family. We don’t want any Strandie to feel alone or isolated on their project. For this reason, we organize events and try to create a community of peers who help each other out.
Challenge the status quo in 2020
Newton figured out the laws of motion through a falling apple. Just like gravity makes an apple fall, it’s our consultants who are putting Strand in motion. They are our greatest asset of the success rate of events. For this reason, we think out of the box with our next projects. On the 1st of May a Facebook community page will be created under the name “Strand Events”. On this Facebook page, you can fill in polls, share event ideas or even propose to organize events yourselves. We care about your opinion and would like to act by it.
Secondly, as of Q2, we will organize more education-related events. Workshops related to specific business units with interesting guest speakers. Subscribe, listen, learn & get to know your Strand colleagues. In 2020 we will challenge the status quo. We have a great Strand team and with this team, we will try to do better and be more creative with ideas, time and resources.
Thank you!
