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The Verve Magazine March 2019

T R A V E L I S S U ESpring Break 2019 THE FULL LOWDOWN-Verve on Ice The UK/EU teams hit the French ski slopes-Freedom & Ownership On The Road Top tips for working remotely

THE VERVE 2 MAGAZINE

March-

2019

CONTENTS

I think I’m safe in saying that March was

a bit of a mad month - as a team we were

everywhere... which is why this issue is our

first one dedicated entirely to travel!

For the travel team, March means one thing: Spring Break.

So with loads of the team visiting our 10 epic destinations,

we got the lowdown on our five top-selling destinations...

but that’s not all - we also heard the engineering team’s

experience of the madness, Ysabelle’s fashion moments and

shockers, and Lionel’s top tracks as resident DJ. And then

there's also the UK/EU ski trip, our top tips for working

remotely while on the road, things our EVP of Travel

Andrew would never say...and more!

Massive thanks again to everyone who contributed to

this issue - most of whom have been completely slammed

for the past six weeks. Next up Scavenger Hunt...may the

best team win!

Polly Dowson

[email protected]

FOR THE TRAVEL TEAM, MARCH MEANS SPRING BREAK!

-08-SPRING BREAK 2019

THE NUMBE R ONE E VENT OF THE TR AVEL CALENDAR, AND THIS YEAR WAS BIGGER A ND BET-TER TH A N E VER BEFORE. HERE’S THE LOWDOWN ON FIVE OF OUR EPIC DESTINATIO N S…

04 NEW STARTERS See who we've got coming on board this month!

06 VERVE AT A GLANCE We round up some of March's top news snippets fromthe Polish team moving to Cabo, to the many events the European team have been visiting.

15 SOUNDS OF THE (SPRING BREAK) SONOS Lionel takes over the decks, giving us his top tracks as Cabo’s resident DJ

16 VERVE IN VOGUE: SPRING BREAK EDITION Ysabelle takes a look at some of our best - and worst - fashion moments from Spring Break

18 ENGINEERING AND PRODUCT TAKE ON CABO It wasn’t just the travel team who experienced the madness: hear what happened from a tech perspective too!

22 F&O ON THE ROAD: TOP TIPS FOR WORKING REMOTELY Since we’re all about travel this month, we thought it perfect to get some advice on working remotely from some of the team who spend their lives on the road (particularly Jan in his van!)

26 EUROPE ON ICE: UK/EU SKI TRIP The UK/EU teams headed out to Val Thorens for a lot of skiing, some epic tobogganing, and lots of cheese fondue…

30 ENGAGING EUROPE: AN AMBASSADOR STRATEGY It’s all about engaging ambassadors in Europe at the moment, and it’s Jan in his van who is leading the charge - here are his three top experiences so far!

32 #TRENDING Elina tracks where we’ve been on social - basically everywhere from Barcelona to Yosemite, and Machu Picchu to Cape Town.

30 THINGS ANDREW CITORES WOULD NEVER SAY Definitely a few themes from our EVP of Travel...and his love of kombucha.

THIS MONTH'S

MAGAZINETEAM

If you would like to

contribute to the

Verve, get in touch

with Polly Dowson

Matt KendallArt Director London

Kacey RobbPA to VP Sales Las Vegas

Ysabelle GatchalianAccount Manager Los Angeles

Jan FischerSales Director DACH Europe!

Katja WaldburgerLondon Office Manager London

Elina MeimaneFinance Project Manager London

Grant BarrattBrand Design Lead London

Ania WarzechaSenior Backend Engineer London

Anne BediDirector of Culture & Communications London

Allison D BurnsGlobal Head of Employee Engagement London

Alana PerezPA of Campus Expansion Las Vegas

F

'

THE VERVE 5 MAGAZINETHE VERVE 4 MAGAZINE THE VERVE 5 MAGAZINE

Community

Mekenna Ball Community Manager Community Los Angeles

Which person dead or alive would

you like to have dinner with &

which restaurant?

Richie Hawtin (he is VERY much

alive) at Sukiyabashi Jiro in

Japan.

Tom Melhuish CRM Specialist Community, London



which restaurant? Thierry Henry

at Sushi Cafe Battersea (all you

can eat)

Bernadette Malekou Community Manager, France London

What is your favourite swear word?

Actually, I have 2 words: Ass

and Bitch. They work in all

circumstances, with humans

and/or objects. For example:

Stupid Ass Bitch, Angry Ass Bitch,

Thirsty Ass Bitch or Lame Ass

Chair.

I just have fun with it.

Raquel Abaitua Senior Community Manager - Community, London



which restaurant? Andy Warhol at

Casa Lever, NY,

Maria Bornhöft Community Manager, London


My favourite swear words are

anything fun and involving

body parts, like asshat,

dickhead, bitchtits, etc. I like

how descriptive they are. Like,

have you ever pictured the word

dickhead in your mind? You're

welcome.

Georgina Andrews CRM Specialist Community, London



which restaurant? Dame Maggie

Smith, in a Wetherspoons

Kizzy Liddington Membership Manager I Community, London



which restaurant? I'd probably go

for a (post-pub) Five Guys with

Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys

Marketing

Helen Kim Influencer Marketing Manager Los Angeles


Fucking shit, has to be the combo

of both.



which restaurant

Anthony Bourdain, anywhere

anytime

Whitney Weir Senior Video Editor Marketing, Los Angeles


Bitch !!

Brian Smith Manager Creative Production Marketing, Los Angeles


The F word. It's so versatile

James Mulvey SEO Manager Marketing, Los Angeles



which restaurant Abe Lincoln @

TGI Friday's

Adam Perlow Programatic Manager Marketing Los Angeles



which restaurant Bob Dylan @

Waffle House

Sales

Allison Mohr Lead Development Agent - Sales, Los Angeles

Which person dead or alive

would you like to have dinner

with & which restaurant? I would

probably choose Miley Cyrus and

I would take her to Billionaire

Burger Boys Food Truck in

downtown LA.

Taylor Chapin Account Manager II Sales Los Angeles

Tell us about your about your

craziest spring break or St Patrick’s

day?

I would say my craziest St

Patrick’s day was when I went to

Chicago two years ago! I went to

a 5 am bar crawl and somehow

managed to never see the green

river lol

Engineering

Barney Loosemore

Intern Software Engineer London



which restaurant Slavoj Zizek @

Mcdonalds

Mateusz Sobczak Senior Software Engineer I - Engineering, Poland



which restaurant? My family (if

more than 1 person and cats are

allowed), self cooked meal :wink:

Alan Leung Business Intelligence Analyst Los Angeles



which restaurant? John Muir at

Noma

Yasmin Chalmers People Coordinator London



which restaurant? Lisa Kudrow

at Nobu

Janet Lamas Account Manager III Sales Los Angeles



which restaurant Ellen DeGeneres

at Gracias Madre

Stephen Field Director of Product Marketplace Product London

Tell us about your about your

craziest spring break or St Patrick’s

day?

12 hour ridonkulous pub crawl

around Temple Bar in Dublin. I

*think* it was fun? I woke up in

a different hotel to the one I had

checked-in to.



which restaurant?

Elvis, In N Out, monkey style.

Nathan Charles Salesforce Administrator Sales Operations, London



which restaurant? I would like

to have a dinner with Shigeru

Miyamoto, despite the obvious

language barrier (i'd probably

have to learn Japanese first!) i'd

be very interested to hear his

thought process as to what went

into making my favourite game

series and how he has his ideas.

As to where, it depends who's

footing the bill! but probably a

nice sushi bar

Nicholas Tamashiro-Miyamoto Fulfillment Coordinator Client Operations, LA



which restaurant?

Robin Williams at In-N-Out

Every month, we welcome all the new starters we've had - and as always, loads of people have joined this month!

As a way of introducing everyone, we asked them to answer one (or more) questions so that we can find out a little bit more about who they are. Here's who we've got coming on board!!


Tell us about your about your craziest spring break or St Patrick’s day?

Which person dead or alive would you like to have dinner with & which restaurant?

THIS MONTHS QUESTIONSEach month we ask our new starters a handful of questions for them to answer. Here's this month's.

My favourite swear words are anything fun and involving body parts, like asshat, dickhead, bitchtits, etc.......

I would say my craziest St Patrick’s day was when I went to Chicago two years ago! I went to a 5 am bar crawl and somehow managed to never see the green river lol?????

Or should we say Otto? Otto Laghzaoui started as VP of Client

Success back in September last year.

Sadly, his new starter Q&A slipped

through the net...but it's an excellent

wizarding revelation that had to be

included:

*Who's the most famous person

you've ever seen/met in real life?*

Bit of a story behind this one. I

would say the most famous person

I've ever met is probably Emma

Watson, however, I knew her before

she was famous as well as after. I

actually went to school with her

from about 7 or 8 years old and

auditioned for the Harry Potter

films with her when I was like 10.

I got through to the 3rd round of

auditions of about 8, for the part of

Harry. So, I could have been Harry

Potter. How different my life turned

out, ey.

You're a wizard Harry!

THE VERVE 7 MAGAZINETHE VERVE 6 MAGAZINE

ANIA WARZECHA:

This month, the Polish team has basically decamped to the sunny climes of Mexico for a big change of scenery! Read more about why we went out on page 18, but here are a few of our highlights of

our travels…

Poland Meets Mexico

Joe Tsoi finding his

new love

GLANCEa

VerveAt

El Squid Roe experience!

Bart finding a boxing spot AND an opponent

JACK’S MARCH UPDATE

Cake and balloons in Cabo for Zach’s birthday!

It seems like the closer we work, the more we take on each

others’ styles!

IBERIAN FESTIVAL AWARDS

Soraya, Andrew and Jelte attended the Iberian Festival Awards. Although we didn’t win an award (we were

nominated for Best Use Of Technology and Best Service Provider), it was a great opportunity to meet clients

and spend some “quality time” with partners.

Spanish Festival Awards

Spain

Ania blending in with the tourists in Cabo Cabo

Poland/Mexico

Lisbon

TALK FEST

Jelte and Andrew headed over to Lisbon for Talk

Fest, a conference specializing in festivals in the

Iberian peninsula. They had some good meetings (including

with Rototom Sunsplash), assisted a presentation by Paylogic and had a great night out!

Atquaspis rehent, cor adiatiatur ande nusande

TwinningDress

UK/US

We don't just coordinate by

colour, but full outfit: Carissa

and Flo

On Wednesday's we wear black: Katja and Allison

Jaimy and Anja went to by:Larm, a music festival and conference held annually

at different locations in Norway...that’s also known for its parties. They went to Ticketmaster’s party (great vibe but lukewarm white wine) and Live Nation’s (unfortunately not many people), and

also met with 6 new festivals/clients - 4 of which we’ve already launched. So

great success!

Norway

By: Larm

For US college students, Spring Break is mas-sive: it’s the most awaited moment of their year, a week-long holiday in a new destination with their friends. Around 30% of a college student’s annual leisure spend goes on Spring Break and it’s a $3.8bn market - which means for us, it’s the biggest date of the calendar.

This year, both our Spring Break sales and experiences were bigger and better than ever. We had more than 20,000 students traveling to 10 amazing destinations in the US, Mexico and the Caribbean. As you can imagine, this requires

a huge amount of work - in fact, it’s a massive cross-functional effort that starts around 18 months before Spring Break actually begins. Our sales team does a great job of meeting with ambassadors on campus to choose their spring break destination a year or more in advance - the earlier we do this, the more we can empower ambassadors to rally campuses, the better their experience can be and the more manageable their payment plans. Our CE/CRM teams to ensure they have all the right information along the whole process from the second they book until they depart home. Our account managers are in contact with ambassadors 24/7 so that every group makes it through the funnel and has the best experience of their lives.

It's these teams and so many other departments like product, tech, marketing, finance, and others that play crucial roles in making sure our travelers have the most amazing spring break. And the proof is in the pudding: after this year, we’re seeing incredible group retention, with travelers telling younger years to book with us; our group size per campus is growing for 2020; and it’s promoting a lot of trust in our brands. Travelers can really see how much the team cares and puts into curating the best experience possible, and all the surprise-and-delight pieces we add into our packages. Despite the many things we did well this year, we are spending the next few weeks looking at where we can improve. We will be deep diving into NPS surveys, holding retros with all teams involved, and rethinking the types of experiences we want to offer. The goal is to make next year even better with 15+ destinations, adding new locations like The Bahamas to reach new markets, elevating existing experiences, and doubling volume in our top-selling destinations.

There are hundreds of stories and highlights from Spring Break 2019 - I’ll hand over to the team to tell just a few from five of our destinations. But I want to end by thanking everyone involved: Spring Break wouldn’t have been possible without all the tireless work you put in. I can’t wait to see what we can do in 2020!


T

Andrew Citores, EVP of Travel

“PUNTA CANA’S SANDY beaches and turquoise waters are the perfect backdrops for an unforgettable Spring Break! By combining JusCollege and Campus Vacations this year, our main week hosted students over seven different resorts, who came together for the most epic night events I have ever seen. Pearl Beach Club with Rich the Kid and

PUNTA CANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Imagine with Oliver were magical, but the most impressive artist was Wake Flaka Flame. Upon exiting the club, he stopped and took a picture with literally every single one of our Spring Break students! A

priceless souvenir, 100x better than an overpriced magnet at the gift shop!

The vibe of the island is perfect for chill day on the beach, foam pool parties and a booze cruise that is straight out of a music video. Close your eyes for a

second and picture the birds eye view of six boats, filled to the brim, that all come

together around a sandbar. At the MC’s request, 500 students jump off, dance and party in the ocean as the DJ (floating around them) plays your favorite song. This is an unbeatable experience.

Reporting to you after 54 days of Spring Break, I’m happy to say I am showered, have slept eight hours every night - I’m refreshed, rejuvenated and already jonzing for the next group of students to arrive! This has been a season with many ups, and I’m very excited to put everything I learned these last few months into making 2020 the best trip season to have ever existed!”Words: Corinna Howard,

Senior Manager Of Event Ops

& Program Development

CABO, MEXICO"CABO SPRING BREAK is always an adven-ture, and this year was no different. We scaled more than three times over from last year and had 10,000+ students from all over the country in Cabo across six weeks. Feedback from students was extremely pos-itive - our travelers loved all the shows at the ME and many said they had the time of their lives on their trips! There were some massive names playing each night, with the likes of Wiz Khalifa, Illenium, Steve Aoki - and loads

more.There were some curve balls with

grounded flights and flight delays, but all the travelers had the same amazing expe-rience despite the flight issues. The team went above and beyond to help students who were affected by flight cancellations, and to ensure that it didn't affect their over-all experience. Travelers were overwhelm-ingly grateful that we could give them such unforgettable Spring Break trips!

It was so rewarding to be able to see everything come together and see ambas-sadors and travelers having a blast in Cabo for their spring break. I can’t wait for next year when we grow even more and contin-ue to offer the biggest and best spring break a student could ever ask for!"Words: Jamie Winger,

Social Media Recruitment Lead

CABO PUNTA CANA

"Being a part of the team that helped create lifelong memories for thousands of

travelers is the brightest highlight for me. We trave-

led almost 3x the amount of students this year com-

pared to last and what we, as a team-comprised of all ranges of experience and knowledge backgrounds,

were able to put together for each and every one of them

is ABSOLUTELY INSANE!" Giuliana Giuffrida

Being in Punta Cana for the entire Spring Break season was once again an incredibly amazing

experience. Something that made this season extra special was hosting some new friends from Verve and

showing them exactly how we party it up in Punta Cana! Shelby Bolitsky

There were 2000 students in Punta Cana for the main week and it was insane! My favour-ite part was the booze

cruise. 500 students on 6 boats + another boat with

a DJ that all met up in the middle of the ocean

at a natural sand bar! The students absolutely loved it and said it was the best booze cruise they've ever been on.

Emily Tsinokas

THIS COMPANY MADE MY DREAM COME TRUE PUNTA CANA'S SANDY BEACHES ARE THE PERFECT

BACKDROP FOR SPRING BREAK!

"Cabo Spring Break was quite simply incredible. Seeing the concerts

come to life literally took my breath away (as lame as it sounds). It’s been

incredible to watch the journey of where we were just a few years ago to now. I’m so proud of every person that poured their soul into this trip.

It took a village & there were so manypeople that made Cabo the

best spring break we’ve ever had!" Kristen Rowsey


CANCUN, MEXICO“THIS YEAR, FOR a lot of travellers safety was a top priority when travelling to Cancun. But I can confidently say that each passenger not only had an incredible trip but I was told numerous times “I feel so safe, I don’t know why anyone was scared to come”. That's all thanks to our destina-tion partner staff for killing the logistics game when going into the Club Zone for the night events!

JMU and SUNY Oneonta were our two biggest schools there and had a remarka-

ROSARITO, MEXICO"TRAVELERS HAD an amazing Spring Break in Rosarito this year. The itinerary is better than it has ever been and the day time activities have really be-come a highlight of the trip. Students have access to Papas & Beer, Bombay and Coco Beach during the day where there are different events such as Belly Flop Contests, Tequila Races and King/Queen of the Beach! These activities

I thought it was cool that in Rosarito all the students

were always in the same place at the same time - so

all of the schools got to know each other better and

make new friends. I also loved the staff working

down there - they killed it! Taylor Chapin

Rosarito was cool because everyone was on the same page at the same time! It

didn't matter what school or organization you were from everyone was just having a

great time partying together! Rosarito will continue to get

bigger and I am excited to see how the next couple years

come together! Allie Pantoskey

CANCUNCANCUN WILL BE A TOP DESTINATION FOR 2020!

ble time - so much so that they’ve already signed up for 2020 spring break. Some highlights would be the legendary booze cruise - it fits 300 people, it has three sto-reys, a diving board and water slide and it was a great way to break up partying at the resort, by partying on a boat! Top two fave night venues would 100% be The City and Mandala Beach, these two are MASSIVE venues that can fit around 5,000 people!

Overall the success of Cancun Spring Break 2019 has put us in an amazing position moving forward to sell this as a top 2020 destination!”

Words: Mallorie Ihnat, Senior Agent

ROSARITOTHE DAY TIME ACTIVITIES HAVE BECOME A HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP

are awesome because it gives our travelers the opportunity to socialize with other students and even brings out some of the fun school/organization rivalries that make any competition fun to watch!

Beyond incredible day events, there are also the night shows with the

best lineup this destination has ever seen. The kids are having

an amazing time at these shows!

Rockstar part-ners, the team

who manage all on site operations and security teams, have all gone above and be-yond to provide an unreal experience, and we’ve been told by many students they’ve felt super safe the whole time they’ve been down here, which means all of their hard work is paying off!

I can’t wait to see how Rosarito grows as a program for next year, looking forward to bringing more kids down to show them what this great city is all about!"

Words:

Marjorie Love Conway,

Account Manager


SOUTH PADRE ISLAND

Working closely with the 240+ individual ambassadors that I booked

this year for South Padre was very demanding yet extremely rewarding

and resulted in many new friendships & great relationships. Most gratifying is the positive feedback & messages I

received from so many of these groups after the trip thanking us for a fantastic overall experience both on the trip and

throughout the entire booking process. Chip Olson

AS PER USUAL, THE STUDENTS LOVED THE BOOZE CRUISES


B

For our second Sounds of the Sonos, we're heading back to Spring Break to find all the top songs that our own team - and the students - were loving. Lionel Mirando, over to you as Cabo's resident DJ....

LIONEL'S 2019 SPRING BREAK SPINNERS

Walker & Royce - My Own Thang

Dom Dolla - Take It

3LAU - Into You Remix

Kideko - The Jam

Skrillex - Stranger

Jorja Smith - On My Mind

Troyboi - Grimey

Plumpy - BAMBU

Ginuwine - Pony

Blueface - Thotiana

Aye & Teo Rolex

Cardi B - Money

FOR THE FULL PLAYLIST, OPEN SPOTIFY HERE!

Big shout out to Josh who was working on site in Rosarito, and also Hailey,

who was down in Cabo. Because of them, I was able to spin two sets during spring break! With this month's magazine being the Spring Break edition, I wanted to put together a playlist of some of my favorite tracks I was able to play for our students. What I listen to on a daily basis is mostly chill house and old-school hip hop. However, I had to find a middle ground and get the energy matched for the spring break crowd. This is a list of 12 songs ranging from house, to trap, to old-school/new-school hip-hop that definitely got the party started for our travelers, and will hopefully get your next gathering moving as well. I'd say my top 3 favorites would be from Walker & Royce, Troyboi, and a new artist I found through Instagram recently, Plumpy.

Lionel Miranda

Spring Break DJ/Sales Lead

THE SPRING BREAK

SALES FOR SPRING Break to South Padre Island was up again this year particularly on the non peak weeks. We had upwards of 20,000 students per day at our daily Beach Stage at Clayton’s Beach Bar. As per usual, the students really loved the booze cruises. Time and again for about 10 straight years, the most common thing to hear is students saying that it’s the most fun they’ve ever had in their lives. This is quite a feat for us when we have almost 2,000 students on four party yachts

from midday to midnight on Tuesdays- and have to manage a

party the same night at one of our bayfront bars. It’s as hard as

it sounds to pull off, but it’s great to hear the students love it!

But some of the highlights have to be Waka Flocka’s concert at Longboards, where there were thousands of students dancing on

their new deck over the water! But we were also blown away by our party sizes the very last week of Spring Break, which usually we struggle with

numbers-wise. Ookay performed live that week and it was easily the most entertaining show, with well over 1200 students in attendance at Clayton’s Beach Bar.

Unfortunately, the only thing that was lacking this year was the sun! Our biggest challenge we face in South Texas is the unpredictable weather - we had a much colder pattern that usual which make day events a bit harder to pull off. We pour our heart and soul into selling every possible trip, so it’s a real shame when a simple thing like the sun wreaks havoc on the student experience. So ... I can’t wait for 2020 to be a sunnier year for us!

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TEXAS

THE VERVE 14 MAGAZINE THE VERVE 15 MAGAZINE

Words: Chad Hart,

Business Development

Director

“Time cannot be bought. It cannot be wagered with god and is not in endless supply. Time is simply how you live your life.” - Patrick Whearty

“Spring Break Moms: Booze Cruise Edition” - Mallorie and Emily

“This company made my dreams come true” - Jamie matching her idol Illenium.

'I didn't choose the yacht life, the yacht life chose me' - Alana

Bit damp Jambo? Our EVP of Pollen fell in the pool by accident

and had to walk around in soaking clothes for the rest

of the night: serious shocker.

Oh dear, the comms department aren’t looking their best. Allison only hangs out with Polly and Anne because they make her look even better in photos: ten ton Tessa Dowson and no face Bedi.

Allison, Kat, and Polly: “Babes on a business trip” - Kat

....and what our fashion shockers were. Here’s how to look particularly uncool at Spring

Break, from some of Verve’s finest.

But don’t forget there’s still time for looking beaut on the beach - a la Giuliana

Kristen: 100% the

best hat in Cabo.

“Someone *MUST* have caught me on camera doing a back flip off that rock, let me

check instagram!” Ted’s hat: unfortunately condemned to the

shockers pile…

S P R I N G B R E A K

SHOCKERSV E R V E I N

Ysabelle Gatchalian finds out what our top fashion moments from

Spring Break were....

VOGUESpring Break 2019 Edition

Andrew/Ted, who’s your mate? That’s Viv, Chief Product Officer - here moon-lighting as dorky groupie. We love the accessories: branded swag AND iPhone cable so you can still catch all those memories on camera. Shocker.

NO

T S

O G

OO

DGO

OD

Morvell: ATV-ing in Rosarito is the way to go

“Soaking in as much fun in the sun in Cabo!” - Ysabelle


So Sarah, how come you guys got to go out to Cabo?Sarah Beck: Quite a few of us from tech went to Cabo for a few reasons! First-ly to learn what actually happens on

Spring Break, but also to spend time with seeing what opportunities there are for us to improve both the in-desti-nation app and roll out RFID devices.

There’s been a lot of talk about the app and RFID - can you explain a bit more?So we launched the JusCollege Spring Break app at the beginning of March, which was really exciting. It means

that students received a personalised schedule with all events and activi-ties, find tips for the area, talk to their friends, and see everywhere they can eat and drink on their RFID wrist-band. Which brings me onto RFID! This Spring Break, we rolled out RFID wristbands which was what students tracked all their drinks and meals on - a massive step up from last year in terms of technology. We all discovered

that the packages we give our students are all a bit different so it was a quick learning curve to make sure we were giving out the correct information!

So tell us about your experience of Spring Break…In the first week, we spent a lot of time enusring that wristbands were work-ing. It was very busy for the first few days as we sorted out our technology,

but things got much smoother and by the second and third weekends, it was much quieter on the troubleshooting side!

Any experience of the events?Galantis was great! Started the evening with dinner and wine and tequila by the beach.

What have you been doing since

you’ve been back?Since we’ve been back, more of the teams are starting to work on travel and are excited at how big the opportu-nity is and how much work we have to do. Plus we’ve already integrated with our new payment plan provider (Try.com) which will make a big difference, giving us loads of cash up front (while the traveller still only puts down a deposit).

It wasn’t just the travel team who made it out to Spring Break; the engineering and product teams also had a chance to experience the action. Elina spoke to them about how they found the madness... Words: Elina Meimane

Sarah BeckChief of Staff for Engineering


FAVOURITE SPOT IN CABO?

It was a resounding win for El Guapo...

Maciej: El Guapo - especially the great (fish) tacos they have.James: The fish and beef tacos at El Guapo were world class.Lawrence: El Guapo was amazing! Generous portions of great tasting food, and a view of the beautiful Cabo harbour made this the best restaurant choice for me.Graeme: El Guapo for tacos.

The in-destination app we built for Cabo was incredibly useful for getting

around in Cabo and working out what you could get with your JusCollege package. It was really easy to use and reliable offline given the limited amount of data available. The team did a fantastic job on it, especially when you consider the limited build time of around 2 months. James Spry-Leverton

I We worked on a variety of things in Cabo - I spent time out with the app,

and after the Spring Break offi-cially kicked off, I was helping with troubleshooting any RFID issues. The venue and atmos-phere for the live events blew me away — held in the (huge) pool/bar area of a 5 star hotel, with open bars, amazing lighting and a fireworks show to top the night off, it felt super VIP and glamorous. Lawrence Holmes

It was incredible to see the app go from 0 to 2500 users by the end of the first

check-in weekend. We watched hundreds of students filter through the check-in tent app in hand, and spotted a few users in the wild around Cabo using the app to find their way around! Graeme Maciver

There seems to be a notion that the RFID scanner devices have something

special inside. Actually they don’t! They are usually old Samsung smarthpones with NFC, which is in most phones. You need the scanner software to make proper use of it though and that’s the whole *magic* around it :) Ania Warzecha

Paul AnnettWe've had a big debrief and planning session for next year already. Overall the app was very well received and really useful, so it's just a case of building on that for future trips and scaling it to other destinations.

Rahul PatelMy most interesting learning was that a large number of students don’t actually know what their package includes until you tell them and I assume it’s because the students parents are the ones paying. There are also things we can improve in the app and with our package names to make it easier to understand what you have purchased!

Maciej LechowskiI think the app was really helpful and we should put even more features in there for the travellers next year.

LEARNINGS FOR TECH AT SPRING BREAK 2020

GALANTIS WAS GREAT! STARTED THE EVENING WITH DINNER AND WINE AND TEQUILA BY THE BEACH


IT WAS INCREDIBLE TO SEE THE APP GO FROM 0 TO 2500 USERS BY THE END OF THE FIRST CHECK-IN WEEKEND


TOP TIPS FOR WORKING REMOTELY

Freedom and Ownership is about working in a way that enables you and your team to get the best results - we see the office as a tool to be utilised as and when it is actually useful rather then somewhere you have to be for the sake of it. However, there are lots of people in the team who travel a lot as part of their roles and we wanted to find out how they make themselves most effective while on the road.

CAISIEDILKSEA TO CRO

DAILY CHECK-INS WITH THE TEAM ARE ALSO GREAT FOR MAKING SURE WE’RE ALL WORKING TOWARDS THE SAME GOALS AND PROJECT

As an EA, working remotely can be challeng-ing, especially when on different time zones to your team. If my role has taught me anything, it’s that my phone could be surgically attached to my hand with the amount I use it/check it.

Whatsapp is a lifesaver when communicating in our team. We have group chats and especial-ly with meetings back to back, it’s an easy way to communicate without spending forever on phone calls. Daily check-ins with the team are also great for making sure we’re all working towards the same goals and projects.

My worst trait used to be procrastinating all work until I was stationary/settled in a place. These days I keep things ticking over by han-dling any work/comms I can while on the move rather than letting them all build up. There are al-ways some tasks which have to wait, but that’s the nature of work travel. At least now my anxiety when I recheck my emails after an 11 hour flight is slightly better!

My greatest talent, and one which I am very thankful for, is that I can sleep ab-solutely anywhere/anytime! While it makes me one of the worst passengers on a road trip, it also means my jetlag is nev-er too bad as I can nap at any given point on a journey. #DontHate-MeCosYouAintMe #SorryNotSorry.


Words: Anne Bedi,

Director Culture &

Communications

ALANAPEREZASSISTANT TO VP OF CAMPUS EXPANSION

ELLEN TUMULTYACCOUNT MANAGER, EVENT SPONSORSHIPS

It’s essential to stay connected by establishing a system that works for you and your team to keep communication. Typically I am always traveling with Bo, but there are times when we are in different time zones or have different priorities for the day, so we've established a system for communicating. If he sends me something via slack, it means get to it when you can. If it’s via text/phone, it’s more urgent. This is so helpful for when we’re not working side by side because I know what to prioritize and can send a full update at the end of the day on where I stand with things

I always set the ‘secondary time zone’ on google calendar to wherev-er we are traveling so I can ensure I’m scheduling for the correct time (then I double check…and triple check it!). Most of the time things fall into place since so many of us are on different time zones, but every once in a while it means staying up until 11pm to make sure you can get everything you need to in.

I have a ‘tech checklist’ I’ve made of all the equipment I’ve ever needed on the road (cords, chargers, adaptors, etc), and add to it any time I show up to a presentation and see something that would be helpful in the future. I check this list when I’m packing to make sure I’m always prepared. Also never go to sleep without plugging your laptop in! Having a full battery every morning means you can work on the go for a good portion of the day.

My biggest advice would be to stay organized, plan ahead, antici-pate the workload and be ready for it! Working on the road is nonstop during sales season so I always try to get as much work done as I can on the plane since I can put in my headphones and really zone in for 4-5 hours. Scheduling calls while in the car and updating any recurring meetings will make your life a lot easier as well! It takes some time to get used to and some days are more stressful than oth-ers (*tip* don’t wait to complete anything you need for your meeting for the flight the day of. WiFi down on flight = full panic mode), but if you stay focused and you’ve planned out your calendar, your days on the road will be some of the most productive that you have all month!

Coping with jetlag?• Drink A TON of water, hydration is key!• Stick to your morning/night routine as best as you can• Give your eyes a break from technology at least

an hour or so before bed• Drink a lot of emergen-c so you don’t get sick and

keep your energy

The team I currently work with is based either in London or LA (while I am in France) so first rule to stay connected is keeping everyone informed of my whereabouts. Then making sure to keep regular catchup calls (Zoom, what would I be without it?!) in your agenda and stick to them. If, say, one of those calls with the team in London is scheduled at a time that doesn't work when I am in LA, it is important to find an alternative time before my trip to LA.

When in a different time zone, it is important for me to be as flexible as possible and identify the right time slots when everybody is available (either early mornings or early evenings), and get my Google Calendar showing the 2 different time zones at all times so that I get the times right easily.

The beauty of my work is that I literally just need a wifi connection and I can work, which proves very handy when constantly on the move. When you're in an airport, get yourself connected to the free wifi usually provided; on most American flights, you can also have access to a very decent wifi; when checking in a hotel, the wifi access codes are usual-ly the first thing I ask!

Now, in regards to coping with jetlag, here are a few tips that I would recommend (that work for me at least): before the day you travel, don't go big on alcohol or food! Nothing worse than getting on a plane with a massive hangover; on the plane, sleep whenever your body feels like it. Don't resist; try to eat according to the time zone you will be arriving even if it means skipping one or 2 meals; when you arrive, force yourself to adapt your sleep according to the new time zone, even if it means drinking coffee or Red Bull to keep you awake until 10pm or 11pm on your first night; if you can, practice some sport too and drink a lot of water.

I literally travel everyday and have chosen to spend the whole last year in my van, travelling through Germany, France, Portugal and Spain because I love that way of life and Verve allows me to live like this and still do my job. I also worked from Brazil, Mexico and Sri Lanka for almost 3.5 months. I really love the habits which Verve offers me and use our office just as a tool if I need it.

It is super important to be present, so I use weekly calls with all the team members and I also do daily catchups with my closest team members. It means we are all updated and know what’s on each others’ plate at all times. In my role I have to be on calls at unsociable hours because I’m client-facing. I worked from 5 am to around 2pm when I was in mexico to catch my german clients, have all meetings etc. If I am in Europe I need to adapt to the US as well.

Structure is also crucial. I try to avoid travelling everyday and try to pack all travels in one or two days a week and work the rest. Even travel in the beginning or end of the day gives you a lot of space for other activities.

The one thing I never forget is my Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones - the best for sleeping on a plane. Travel Charger is standard. I prefer to work on a macbook or macbook pro, instead of an air as they have USB C Chargers which you can use on a lot of other devices as well. I always carry a usb to usb-c cable with me, so I can possibly charge my macbook in my van. I also have a built in wifi hotspot in my van, so I have a mobile office when I need it.

Unfortunately for me I always get a horrible jetlag and can’t sleep in planes. I face it, there is nothing to do against it, for me. I never use sleeping pills.

JANFISCHERSALES DIRECTOR DACH

STÉPHAN DEGOSFRANCE SALES DIRECTOR

I stay connected through many a mobile and zoom call, slacks and Imessage. I don’t even feel disconnected, thanks to zoom video!

When you’re on different time zones, you have to be mindful of the other person’s day and always plan ahead for calls. Since being in the US I’ve actually become a total morning person and am up most days at 6am. This means I have ample time to catch up with the UK/EU teams before it’s their evenings.

Funnily enough, I’ve always found myself to be unbelievably productive on flights because I have zero distractions. I map out docs, decks + draft a ton of emails, then as soon as I land I send everything off. I love it! Something I’m not great at is starting on one piece of work and sticking to it for however many hours. If I see emails or slacks pop up that look urgent or even just exciting I’ll dip into it. On a plane, I (most often) don’t have that opportunity so it means I’m 100% focused on the job at a time.

Being in a car is a relatively easy one for me as luckily a big chunk of my job is on the phone and on email meaning being on the move is (signal dependent) easy as I can get by with just my mobile. Otherwise, if I need my laptop, I’ll just whack it out mid journey and hot spot. Piece of cake. Also guilty of whacking out my laptop mid street and sitting on the pave-ment If i can’t find a coffee shop in time.

After doing quite a few back n forth trips recently, I’ve learnt how to manage jetlag a lot better. When it’s a big time difference (e.g US to UK) I think the time of the flight has a huge impact on how jet lag affects you. If I’m flying to the UK, I’ll try and exhaust myself during the day or have a late one the night before (champagne emoji) and take a 4.30pm flight. I’ve done this a few times now and I manage to drift off before we’ve even taken off. AKA I’ve nailed it - I’m pretty much already on a UK bodyclock. Aside from that, I’ll just force myself to stay awake/wake up when im exhausted. The quick-er you do that, the quicker you beat the jetlag.


EUROPE ON ICE:THE 2019 UK/EU SKI TRIP

The trip was sick! It was great to finally put

faces to all the names in slack — and there’s no

better way to blow away a hangover than fresh

mountain air shredding a black run at 50mph.

Iestyn Williams, Pollen Software Engineer


JOE MARTIN’S TOP 10 MOMENTS01. Adrenaline rush as three non-

skiers (Me, Sascha Crombach and Joe Stevens) started to toboggan down the mountain in white-out conditions

02. Getting to the bottom of the mountain to see Sascha Crombach dismount in a coat which had frozen solid

03. Cramming in one final hot chocolate with Baileys and eating my bodyweight in Lasagne with Stephanie Ng, Fiona Primavera and Elina Meimane

04. Getting some ace restaurant recommendations on the flight home from Lenny Wright and Lisa Feizlmayr

05. Laughing as Joe Stevens climbed across a lay-by to get out of view for a toilet break on the way back, panicking as the coach edged slowly away

06. Stuffing my face with chocolate eclairs while walking up the mountain with Emily Adams

07. Watching Georgia Owen eat an entire bowl of nothing but melted cheese and potatoes

08. Walking across the piste as Karim Hauari slipped all over the place, swore at skiers and made a hilarious drama out of it all

09. Using our toilet break on the three-hour coach trip to rush into a local resturant with Soraya Castellanos and order as much beer and wine to go as possible in 3 minutes

10. Relaxing with a beer on the balcony and reading the latest newsletter by Polly Dowson

Europe finally made it onto their ski trip and it was epic. Almost 60 of us went to Val Thorens;

it ’s the highest ski resort in Europe at 2300m, which meant perfect snow conditions even in late March!

We have so many great skiers and snowboarders at the company, but equally as many newbies who all have shown great talent during their ski lessons, whether it was their second, third or even first time on the slopes. And it wasn’t just all skiing of course: we had the best time après skiing at Bar 360, and a delicious traditional cheese and meat fondue up the mountain before facing going down the mountain in the dark. The next day tobogganing down 6km (roughly 45mins of adrenaline) was unforgettable - so many crashes, so many laughs! And on our last evening we had tacos & cocktails before going to the biggest underground club in Val Thorens where we partied in Verve style.

Even though departure day was rough, most went on the slopes early one last time before heading back to the airport. A weekend full of unforgettable moments and memories. Next up - The Retreat!

Allison Burns: Every year, we organise two ski trips - one for the UK and Europe, and another for North America. They’re subsidised (as we appreciate fun in the snow isn't for everyone) but another way that we invest in our community, get closer as team and learn a new skill. This year’s European trip to Val Thorens was incredible! My favourite moment was drinking rose in the sun at the top of the mountain with everyone after a great day of skiing, followed by traditional fondue dinner and terrifying/ hilarious snowmobile ride down after in the dark. So much laughing with the best team!

E

Words: Katja Waldburger, Office Manager London

The ski trip couldn’t have been any more amazing -

great weather, location, food (allll the cheese) and

company! My highlights were the snowmobile ride

and tobogganing for sure, I’m surprised that everyone

came back in one piece (more or less sunburnt).

Lisa Feizlmayr, CRM Specialist

THE VERVE 28 MAGAZINE THE VERVE 29 MAGAZINETHE VERVE 28 MAGAZINE

In the Verve Events world, the team is currently pushing extra hard to motivate ambassadors and make them feel even more connected to the brands they’re selling for. Jan Fischer has been working on an ambassador engagement project in and around Europe, focusing on workshops, preparties, and exclusive perks. Here are three of his top examples of how to get ambassadors walking the extra mile for our brands...

Jan Fischer Sales Director DACH

ENGAGING EUROPE: AN AMBASSADOR STRATEGY

ReverzeEurosonicElectric Love Festival, Austria

Electric Love is a major EDM Festival

in Austria with 180.000 visitors in four

days!

They have a very strong connection with their

audience, and previously ran a 100-ambassador

strong programme. We began working with them in

November 2018, starting with a kickoff workshop

that they invited their top 50 ambassadors to -

and they all came at their own cost! The work-

shop was to introduce Verve, but also to gen-

erate direct feedback for topics including food

& beverage, security, entrance, the ambassador

programme, lineups and booking. The promoters

were also involved, answering any questions that

came up - and afterwards the ambassadors were

invited to the exclusive Electric Love relive

night where they presented the aftermovie to an

e select group of sponsors and partners.

Thanks to these efforts, we could increase

the number of active ambassadors by 222%

and increase individual sales by 216%.

This leads to an overall sales bump of

incredible 937% compared to their own

programme in the previous year.Jan Fischer,

Sales Director DACH

Reverze, Belgium

Reverze is a sell-out

Hardcore/Hardstyle event in

Sportpaleis Antwerpen and

part of the Bass Events brand. To

engage their existing ambassadors

sourced by previous campaigns, we

did an exclusive pre-sale where

we sold 1000 tickets in just one

week and 3000 tickets in the total

campaign.

As a talking point, ticket buyers

and active ambassadors had access

to the exclusive Ambassador Lounge

during the event. It was strictly

only for ambassadors and their

friends, with their own separate

bar, toilet and chill area. As a

surprise, DJs from the lineup came

by and played an intimate set just

for them. At one point it got so

popular people were begging to

get in...a great example of how

being visible at the event and

creating something exclusive for

ambassadors helps to strengthen a

brand’s community!

IAMHARDSTYLE, Germany

The Hardstyle community

is huge these days. For

those who don’t know it,

imagine EDM Music with a hardcore/

gabber bassline and you got

Hardstyle. IAMHARDSTYLE is an

event we’ve worked with from day

one. I invited 10 Electric Love

ambassadors and an existing group

of 10 IAMHARDSTYLE abmbassadors

to an exclusive backstage tour

hosted by myself. I got some

background info upfront so I could

show them around and answer basic

questions but we also managed

to get the promoter involved for

a 2min Q&A which turned out to

be a 30min session with a lot of

superb feedback - and one of the

mainstage artists who accidentally

popped in!

E R

T

IAM HARDSTYLE


Max stuck in Hampstead Heath

#TRENDINGAnother busy month on social media! A lot of us managed to get out to Spring Break, but we also celebrated new babies,

went to festivals, and had some pretty epic holidays... Don't forget to follow us on @onverveco

Elina MeimaneBusiness Support Manager

Ravin’ with Olli at CRSSD

Macchu Picchu

conquered by Mark

Erica at Disneyland

Elephants happy to see Ryo in Sri Lanka

Congratulations to Peteris on birth of his baby boy

#peterishorizontal

Terry casually catching up with Ne-Yo

Georgia in Barcelona

WFY (Working from Yosemite) - Caitlin, Leila and Elina spent the day working from one of America’s finest national parks.

Gabby enjoying Desert Daze festival

Hayley and Kacey met up with Troyboi in Cabo…

Hannah celebrating St Pat’s with her friends

Rachel enjoying Pollen area at the ME

Jesse went to Cape Town

Ania’s new amigoShelby in Punta Cana

Guess Who?

Check out Leila’s page – creative and groovy! @lylla.collins

Malia and her family at Disneyland

Whilst Chad met him on South Padre Island!

Joe, Karim, Sascha and Daliah


The direct flight is only 10 points more, let me put you on that one

OMG, let’s frolic and

play with the pigeons

It’s only $5 don’t worry about it

Happ

y to

spe

nd

as m

uch

as w

e ne

ed to

on

this

I've drunk enough Kombucha

ANDREW(OUR EVP of Travel)

I don't think it’s worth collecting the points on this one, it’s too insignificant

Totally fine to blow off this vendor meeting for whatever Verve needs

One starter at dinner is more than

enough for me

I can’t make that meeting sorry,got another one at that time I d

on't

min

d w

here

I si

t

Let's not take on that additional complexity, it’s only worth $1000 to us

I’ll t

ake

a pi

ece

of T

iram

isu

We can afford that for sure!


travel issue - pollen.co · seo manager marketing, los angeles which person dead or alive would you...

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