My Trip to Vancouver, WA
NOTE: To respect privacy, individual and company names are truncated or removed.
At the end of 2006 I had the good fortune to win a Grand Prize trip of “A Day in the Life” of any location at my company. The decision was easy for me: I asked to go visit our subsidiary office in Vancouver, WA. I wanted to see what their company and culture are like. Also, although I have traveled all over this great country of ours, I’d never been to the Pacific Northwest. After a meeting and a few calls, the plans were set: I would time my trip to coincide with an annual awards ceremony.
Let me begin by saying that Vancouver, and the larger Portland just across the Columbia River in Oregon, are nestled in some of the most beautiful, mountainous surroundings of the Pacific Northwest that I’ve ever seen. I mean I could see Mount Hood from my hotel! I stayed at the Hilton in downtown Vancouver which sits directly across from the historic Esther Short Park. The drive to the offices was about 2-3 miles.
I arrived that Wednesday morning at 9am. The entire company was gathering for something I was both familiar with and nostalgic about: an “All Hands” meeting. There, the President of the company talked through a presentation on major accomplishments and goals. After that, she handed the meeting over to the new VP of Sales, who presented himself and his philosophy and plans to take his organization to the next level.
After the meeting I met with the President for a few minutes to re-introduce myself since I had been in their Operations organization at my current company in the past. I then met up with the VP of People Development who got me properly signed in at the front desk and then gave me a tour of the building. Of note was that their different organizations all had personas and decorations. There was original artwork painted on the wall that had survived all the rapid expansion they have had in the last few years.
My first deep dive into the company came with the VP of Marketing, who took time to fill me in on some history of the company along with insight into his role. Then the Director of Product Management provided me a chance to see their proposed new products road map. Soon after I met with the Marketing Communications Manager and her team who all provided me a glimpse into what they do to bring the company brand from concept to completion. I especially enjoyed looking at their most recent marketing efforts themed around the Masters with their Graphic Designer.
The next group I met with was Test and Turn Up. There I met with the Supervisor who guided me on a tour of his "TNT" folks and then over to see their TAC and NOC. At the end I had an opportunity to “Y-in” and listen while a TNT Tech walked a live customer through a real test and turn up. The array of tools at their disposal, and the adeptness at which they was able to navigate their way through the call, was quite impressive.
For lunch, I was invited to join the VPs of External Affairs, Service Delivery, and Operations at a very nice historical restaurant called The Grant House. There they each shared a wealth of information about themselves, their backgrounds and respective organizations. I also was able to enjoy some humorous and interesting stories of their travel over the years.
After lunch I joined the Director of Network Engineering for introductions to her team. From there I joined the Manager of Network Development (Net Dev) for a couple of back-to-back meetings. The first was with the Net Dev team which was comprised of both the Network Managers and Network Provisioners. The second was Engineering Change Control meeting which engaged Net Dev along with participants from Network Engineering, IT Operations (System Engineering) and the Field Services group.
By now it was time to head over to the awards ceremony at the Liberty Theater in the nearby town of Camas for the event. There I enjoyed the regalia, champagne (they also served non-alcoholic) and hors d'oeuvres while I mingled and talked at the reception. Soon afterwards everyone headed into the theater to sit and the program began.
If you’ve seen the Oscars then you can get a feel of the event. Most attendees were dressed in some combination of tuxedos, suits, evening gowns and nice dresses. The President gave the opening welcome and the awards were underway. The event featured several winners each in categories such as “Grass Roots”, “Making a Difference”, and “MVP”. There was also a humorous short film where many people from the company made cameo appearances. The night even included a celebrity appearance from “Christopher Walken” (conveniently available via VOIP) and a collection of “Superlative” awards with amusing gifts that fit. The President then closed with a list of gag awards that “didn’t quite make it” and that concluded this fantastic ceremony. I spent a short while after the event meeting and mingling before finally calling it a day.
I want to thank the Director of Employee Communications and the Communications Specialist at my company for their assistance in coordinating this trip. Additionally, I want to thank everyone I mentioned above once more as well as anyone I may have missed for the fantastic experience. Amidst all the moving parts of a very busy day that began with an All Hands and ended with the awards ceremony, I was able to meet and interact with people from every part and at every level of the organization. Everyone was kind, gracious and courteous all of which led to the overall success of this trip. They are an outstanding company with great employees, a successful past and a bright future.
Posts
