If you’ve been following us, then you know that Motion Software takes its events seriously! This time around, we took things even further than normal, organizing a three-part extravaganza in Bansko — Bulgaria’s digital nomad capital. This included a week-long #lifeinmotion outpost, a two-day team building exercise, and a community event.
The Outpost
First things first, for those of you that are new, Motion Software is a vibrant community of remote digital specialists. But building and nurturing a remote team is not an easy task. Fortunately, we’ve come up with a solution that proved to be extremely successful for our team. Several times a year, our community manager Lubomira Stoynova takes us on an adventure: a week of remote work with the team at exciting locations.
So far, we’ve been to the mountains, to the coast, to depopulated remote villages, and it was about time we landed in Bansko. We’ve been eyeing the location for a while because of its growing tech community of digital nomads.
We were based at the White Lavina, which had the perfect facilities for our week of work in Bansko. There was space for those who prefer working in a quiet environment, as well as a more social working area for those who thrive around their colleagues.
Truth be told, we were spoiled — we had food and drinks positioned at strategic places, plus a relaxing area with tennis tables and a spa for breaks during the work days. Not to mention, the forest was right next to the resort; we could clear our heads with a short walk in the wilderness when needed. To top it all off, with only a ten-minute car ride, we could visit Dobrinishte — a small village with hot mineral water pools, perfect for pre- or post-work relaxation.
“The Art of Remote” Event in Bansko
Hot on the heels of our conference in Sofia in March, we organized a smaller-scale event in Bansko’s Contrabar. We gathered an exciting lineup of speakers with great stories, advice, and tips on how to improve life-work balance when working remotely.
Our first speaker, Ina Toncheva, gave an inspiring twist to her famous podcast “What’s the perfect job for me?” and turned it into a “What type of lifestyle do I want?” discussion for the event.
The event then proceeded with Vasil Tuchkov, who spoke about his love for extreme sports and activities and how that translates into his business-related decisions. It’s a connection that we were all surprised to learn was present in all of our behaviors.
Closing the event’s official portion was Dimitar Karanikolov, who gave us an unexpected perspective of remote work through his work and lifestyle as a photographer.
Dimitar showed us photos of many fascinating places, inspiring us to travel and to always look at things from a different angle and with an open mind.
Of course, this was also a networking event and a reason to get together with fellow digital professionals, not just from Bulgaria, but also from the UK, US, and Germany. We closed the night with wonderful music, drinks, and chats.
Bansko Team Building
We saved the best for last. For the weekend, more team members traveled to Bansko for our long-awaited two-day team building. We engaged in a large variety of activities, including a chairlift ride to the Bezbog hut and its smaller counterpart “Bai Slavé.” Once we made it up there, we had several challenges including snowboarding, skiing, and a four-team game that had us all buzzing. Teams had to go through several challenges — running in the snow to get shovels, then using them to build the Motion Software logo.
In addition to all that, each team had a freerider who had to descend and provide avalanche transceivers and probes to their teammates! These were utilized in the search for a prize under the snow.
It was truly a valuable experience to handle this in difficult weather conditions. It further solidified our abilities to work as a team in crisis situations and proved that we can succeed in a range of circumstances.
At one point, there was even a logo designing competition in the snow, which was great fun! After all was said and done, a winner was announced. Here it is:
The winning team consisted of three current Motion Software team members and three Motion Software alumni. They have clearly seen that logo A LOT.
Of course, the teambuilding also consisted of board game nights, nature walks, two wonderful dinners, live music at the hotel, and free time for going to the spa and swimming. We came back full of positive energy and ready to embark on our next adventure. You can catch us in Plovdiv in a couple of weeks for our next event — The Impact of Disruptive Technologies on The Future of Work.
