Jolos went from Singapore to Tampa - Wise Days 2021

Wise Days is an event in the style of summer days, which Jolos has been organizing together with the client for the past several years. It has developed into a sort of tradition that all Wise employees look forward to. The main purpose of the event has always been to bring employees from around the world together, and through this to grow the company culture and increase cooperation between employees. The case study reveals the background and takes a closer look at how Jolos?found a solution in the midst of uncertain times and organized an event for 1200 Wise employees around the world.

Plans A, B, C

The original plan was for Wise employees to gather in Estonia, but it quickly became clear that the chances of organizing a common global event in 2021 were slim. Melissa Mühlberg, Creative Director of Wise Days, notes that the original plan to bring people together from almost every corner of the world quickly became a new plan to organize local events based around Wise’s larger offices. ‘Through this decision, we were able to provide people with a sense of security, and at the same time the opportunity to be a part of the company’s internal culture,’ explains Melissa.?The new goal was to organize a live event for the whole of the Asia Pacific region, in Singapore; for the Americas, in Tampa; and three live events in Europe at the three largest offices: London, Tallinn, and Budapest. ‘That is how timezonewizard.com became our best friend,’ Melissa recalls.?Understandably, people’s sense of security and safety varies, which is reflected in the restrictions and rules of regulation within the borders of different countries. While the European events remained on the original date, the Singapore event – which was finally held in virtual form – and the Tampa event were moved to January 2022.?By the beginning of February, the joint events in all regions had been successfully held.

Wise Days 21, Tallinn. Author: Rauno Liivand.

Challenges

A new plan, unforeseen restrictions, and a global project brought with them a series of challenges that five project managers and the production team had to face. However, it was the common account manager who?helped to resolve difficult situations and kept an eye on things. Project Manager Merili Valdaru, who ran the event in London, recalled: ‘Restrictions presented many challenges along the way. For example, if at some point one venue was certain, new restrictions could result in a change to the number of people permitted in the venue and an alternative once again had to be considered." Junior Project Manager Iti Tomingas-Oras noted that the Wise Days 2021 Budapest event was also one of the first events she organized. ‘Planning an event in a foreign country, where you don’t speak the language and don’t know the ins and outs, presented a major challenge. It required getting used to a new culture, customs, and circumstances, the way in which the partner agency operates, and planning how to integrate work processes. A project of this scope obviously required a lot of communication. Our job was to select the most relevant information and communicate it clearly. I had to make sure that the amount of communication did not become overwhelming for either the partner agency or the client, which was challenging for me.’?

Mari-Liis N?lvak, who was in charge of both the Singapore and Tallinn events, found that the biggest challenge was the ever-changing COVID-19 rules at both events. Mari-Liis recalls: ‘We worked for a whole year with an agency in Singapore to organize a live event, which unfortunately didn’t happen in the end due to restrictions, but culminated 1.5 years after the start of the project as an interactive showcase event.’?This situation left the production team with very little time to spare and producing recordings and videos remotely in the telecommuting format really spiced things up. Merili Valdaru, who was also involved in the production of the event, said: ‘It was somewhat more challenging and complex to put everything together and have full control over the details (including the studio setup, camera shots, a walkthrough, and technical tests), as I was unable to travel to the Singapore location myself.’?She adds: ‘For the first time in the history of Jolos, we did an event that was completely telecommuting, meaning that no one on our team traveled to the site.’

For the first time in the history of Jolos, we did an event that was completely telecommuting, meaning that no one on our team traveled to the site.

Taking off with our partners

When organizing events in big cities in the form of telecommuting, partners are important. Thanks to the 27Names network of partners, it is now possible to manage projects from Estonia that are actually taking place 8,000 kilometers away. Merili highly commends her Irish partner agency, Verve Live Agency : ‘They were a great source of help and strength throughout the project. Verve did its best to find local partners during the lockdown?and took care of communication.’ Iti also notes: ‘Our 27Names partner, BO Live agency , played an important role in this project, with all of them helping us to soar. We also met with the partner agency in Budapest a few months before the event and went through all the locations related to the event. We realized that understanding buildings based on pictures alone is not quite the same as looking at them in reality.’?

The Wise Days 21 London event. Author: Jack Aldridge.

On the other side of the globe, in the APAC region and the United States, finding partners proved to be a challenge. Kadi-Liis, the project manager of the Tampa event, initially selected around 30 agencies whose portfolios impressed her. ‘In the end, we whittled that number down to five agencies that seemed trustworthy; however, it proved quite difficult to find a partner with a real Estonian?start-up?mindset, mainly due to cultural differences. The US agencies were even confused at times as to what we were actually trying to organize.’ Of course, everything was also done in the form of telecommuting, and so Kadi-Liis and her chosen agency began to strive toward the Estonian standard in a cost-efficient way. Mari-Liis, who was also trying to find a partner in Singapore, added: ‘Doubts and not knowing were responsible for making the process difficult – how do we know they are doing a quality job, are they detailed, and are they reliable? In the end, we chose an agency that had the right vibe right from the start and had very similar values and principles to our own agency. Unfortunately, we never met in person, but we were very happy with them and we also agreed that if I ever go to Singapore, we will enjoy a nice dinner together!’

Values in play - the creative concept

The new concept brought different venues into play, but the aim was still to maintain a very clear commonality across all regions.?Melissa, the Creative Director of the project, says that the creative idea made it possible to increase the sense of unity. ‘The creative idea was actually based on something very simple – company values. In the case of Wise, it is important to understand that their values are not just a series of symbolic words on paper. The interpretation of the values held by Wise starts in their HR process and is something that goes hand in hand with the people who work at Wise daily. With so many new people joining Wise, one of the main objectives of the event was to actively engage them in the culture and spirit of the company. Thus, the whole event was inspired by the values and mission statement of Wise. Every Wise employee had the choice of four different value-based experiences. The aim was to maintain a distinctly similar line that suits Wise, while at the same time offering people culturally relevant experiences. Cultural differences and the desire for everyone to have a really exciting and enjoyable event together became one of the most important focus points of the project.

Iti:?‘In Budapest, we had a total of four different activities, all of which aligned with the values held by Wise. Looking at the feedback left by people and the mood at the Budapest event, I can say that everything went well. It was great to watch the Wisers solving the activities, cheering each other on, and being positively surprised by the result. For example, we made a life-size environmental collage using everyday waste, from rubber gloves to milk cartons. It was also shown at the Budapest Zoo.’?

Wise Days 21, Budapest. Authors: Peter Sorok, Szabolcs Németh

However, Kadi-Liis Allen noted that the big hit at the US event was goat yoga, which is a classic yoga session among goats. ‘All of the Wisers there wanted to take part, and it was very exciting. When it came to additional activities, I had to rely a great deal on a local agency and their experience, since they were familiar with which traditional social games would work and which would not.’?Merili pointed out that there was no lack of enthusiasm in London ‘I can say that definitely some of the most enthusiastic participants were Wisers participating in karaoke. Also, the limbo challenge on the second day – the only time they set the bar low is during limbo. But in reality, there was also the chance to try one’s hand at collaborative graffiti painting, get creative in a photo hunt, build bikes that were later donated to charity, clean up a local farm, and contribute to a better future for the city by building beehives. I think everything worked well and everyone found something to their liking.’

The Wise Days 21 London event. Author: Jack Aldridge.

While you can charm Wisers with goats and karaoke during a physical event, virtual events need a bit more effort to be fully engaging. Things got going at the Wise event in Singapore even before the official kick-off when the Wisers collaborated on a cover of the Justin Timberlake song “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”. Even Merili, who has built up a decent catalog of virtual event experiences during the pandemic, admitted that it was one of the best. ‘We held quizzes, played exciting games, presented challenges to Wisers from the APAC region, built a Wise Fast Flag from items we had at home, and also talked and joked around. The involvement of Wise’s own people in the program, both as host for the evening and DJ, also worked out very well. It was a fun and heartfelt virtual party.’

The studio where the Wise Days 21 APAC virtual event went live. All management took place from Estonia.

Often, changes and new challenges pay off, because, in addition to the new experience, Jolos also gained a new partner in Singapore and the United States. Wise Days 21 was a real rollercoaster ride, with Jolos taking on a challenge that included both risks as well as the opportunity to explore and try new lands. In this way, we were able to create a truly unifying event for the whole Wise team. Ann Udam, Project Manager at Wise, found that changing the event within a short period of time and moving it to different locations worked perfectly and smoothly: ‘It was definitely what we were looking forward to – the first time celebrating summer days in five countries, perhaps a bit differently, while still being memorable.’?Ann pointed out that for many of the employees this was their very first team event, and that the feedback and mood across all of the regions were positive.?The aim of bringing all of the employees together, strengthening our shared common ground, and giving them the opportunity to talk to each other and spend time together was achieved with five different yet similar events.