Several times per year, DMC turns on our away messages and leaves the office for an "All-Day Company Meeting, or ADCM. These meetings mix training topics with a fun activity for a full day of company growth and bonding.
DMC Chicago's latest ADCM kicked off at McFetridge Sports Center, where we rented out several tennis courts for the meeting portion of the day.
Project Management Training
This particular All-Day Company Meeting focused on helping employees improve project management skills. Similar to last summer's ADCM, the office broke into groups for round-table sessions with senior DMC employees on topics like safety, communication, risk, and budgeting.
We started out with some early morning, bleary-eyed socializing on the tennis courts over bagels and coffee.
Preparing for "Mayhem" is an important part of avoiding hiccups on projects.
Afternoon Activity: Ice Skating
After taking a lunch break, we hit McFetridge's hockey rink for some good old-fashioned ice skating.
Some of the most expert advice of the day came from Project Director Tim Jager regarding how to pick the right type of skate: If you've used hockey skates in the past and didn't fall, get hockey skates. Otherwise, get figure skates.
Many of us chose hockey skates against this advice.
There were a few minor wipeouts, but DMC is generally a pretty athletic group. The more talented skaters among us could be seen skating backwards, twirling each other around, and competing in one-footed races across the ice.
Check out some GoPro footage of our skating fun below!
Beer & Trivia at Chief O'Neill's
After turning in our skates and limping back to the tennis courts, we wrapped up the second half of training and headed to local pub Chief O'Neill's. The traditional Irish restaurant is a personal favorite of mine and has been home to many DMC events.
Nursing our sore limbs with beer, cheesy soup, and french fries, we split into teams again and went head-to-head for some DMC Trivia. It was a tight competition with questions like "How many rooms does the Chicago office have?" and "How do you spell our office dog's name?"
The game ended with a nostalgia-inducing Lightning Round, where each team had five minutes to match DMC employees to things that happened in DMC's history. Some examples were slicing a watermelon in half with a sword and tackling an attempted thief to the ground.
Following a Steve Harvey/Miss America moment where Team 1 mistakenly thought they had won...
…Team 4 pulled ahead of the three-way tie for second and took first place. Congratulations to Team 4! Sorry, Team 1.
As always, our All-Day Company Meeting was a ton of fun and a great way to connect with coworkers and learn new skills.
Learn more about DMC's company culture.