Last Friday, we held our annual year-end meeting at the office. At the meeting, Avionte’s CEO John Long and each department manager talked about Avionte’s big highlights in 2013 and about their goals and projections for 2014. For a recap of the meeting, see our latest blog post.
Last year was a huge year for Avionte Staffing Software – and we knew it was time to celebrate! So following the company meeting, on January 11, 2014, we held our annual year-end party at the Union Depot in St. Paul. The event was a BLAST! All employees and spouses and/or significant others were invited to attend the event, and 130 people in total came out to celebrate the great year we had in 2013! The theme of the night was “Off to the Races”, and our employees definitely got into the spirit of things with their outfits, from big hats to fancy dresses, to nice suits and goofy bowties. And we thought one employee went above and beyond; Constantine Kokkinos from our support team came dressed as a mint julep!
People began arriving around five, and everyone chatted for a while as two employees from our support team played music for us with their band, Mississippi Rising. Once most guests had arrived (and had a drink in hand!) we all sat down for a delicious buffet-style dinner of ceasar salad, garlic chicken, green beans, pasta and dessert.
As everyone finished eating, a group of commedians from ComedySportz took the stage for their hour-long improvised act. Throughout the show, the comedians called out to the audience for “appropriate” suggestions. When our Director of Marketing Brenda Long suggested something they thought was just too much, they called the “Brown Bag Foul” and tossed a brown bag over her head!
The comedy act wrapped up around eight, but the party was just beginning! We felt the party wouldn’t be complete without the office Ping Pong table, and we’d rented sumo suits for the night, too! Throughout the night, employees challenged each other to Ping Pong battles and fought it out in the sumo ring.
To go along with the theme, there were also stations set up where employees could bet on horses with their Avionte play money. For one of the mingling games, employees could steal an employee’s cash by catching them doing things like crossing their legs or crossing their arms throughout the night. Our Project Manager Chris Kulig was the winner of that one – and walked away with a prize. And the more horse races betters won, the more chance employees had for the other gifts up for grabs, like a Blu-ray player, a fondue set, a horseshoe game, and more!
And let’s not forget about the dance floor – which was busy throughout the night, right up until the party shut down at close to midnight. But even thought the party shut down at the Depot, many of our employees continued the party at the bar across the street. It was a great night! In fact, it just may have been Avionte’s best year-end party yet… (and that’s saying something)!
