Last week, we held the 5th edition of our annual Dynamo conference, more fondly known as the Dynamo Indaba!
Following recent trips to Barcelona and Florence, we decided to keep it local this year and give our South African dynamites a chance to experience the British countryside. We packed up our warm coats, woolly hats and hot water bottles and headed to Somerset for 5 days.
The aim of the Indaba is always to renew our friendships and connections, share knowledge and information and leave with plenty of enthusiasm for the year ahead! As we are split across three locations and are growing quickly, it really is great to get everybody together once a year.
The Indaba kicked off with our Dynamo quiz. Teams were rewarded for their knowledge on all things Dynamo, with “Guess the Dynamo baby” being a favourite round for many. The competition was tough but the winning team on the night consisted of Adrian, Issy, Wes and Briance!
Throughout the week we presented to one another on topics including process industrialisation, Psicle development, Psicle’s pricing and reserving capabilities, consulting, machine learning and – of course – IFRS 17. It was great to be a part of so much knowledge sharing and we all enjoyed catching up on what our colleagues on different projects have been up to.
We also enjoyed a number of ‘softer’ sessions, including discussions on the Dynamo brand and marketing and on innovation in our business.
Being in the middle of the British countryside, we took some time between sessions to go for a walk or run and made good use of the swimming pool and nearby gym. We enjoyed a traditional pub dinner together and played lots of table tennis and pool.
On the final night, we were treated to a 1920s themed Murder Mystery, courtesy of Candlelight Theatre Company. It was clear that we have some budding detectives on the team, with the actors doing their best to recruit Bongani for themselves. Alice and Robyn also presented the first of our Dynamite awards, voted for by all of us, with categories including Colgate Smile, Fitness Champion and Class Clown.
We are back to work this week with a renewed sense of purpose and enthusiasm and plenty of action points to be getting on with. As always, the Indaba was productive and enjoyable, and we look forward to seeing what Alice has planned for next year!
