TIAC is celebrating a significant milestone this year – 20 years of existence, which was crucial in carefully planning our big team building, main team building event of the year. This year it took place on the second weekend of June. When selecting the location, it was important to provide our employees with great adventure, entertainment, as well as comfort and a beautiful natural environment. Ultimately, we chose Divčibare – Maglian Campus, which, as it will turn out in the end, will offer us a unique space for both relaxation and strengthening team spirit.
Drinks and guitar by the campfire
After a short bus trip during which we spent time chatting and listening to music, we arrived at our destination. The mountain, as well as the Campus, managed to conquer us instantly, with its beautiful nature, the scent of pines and the serenity it offers. The evening was reserved for a calm and relaxed team bonding with acoustic music played by a musician in the background, and a campfire. Sipping wine and beer and listening to soft music, colleagues could talk to each other, exchanging anecdotes and having a good time. Later in the evening, two of our colleagues, Luka and Attila, took a guitar and played some songs, which was a special treat for all of us in attendance. They certainly demonstrated that they have other talents besides programming and managing our network.
Criss-crossing the Maljen mountain
What everyone was certainly looking forward to was orienteering. Participants were divided into teams and given a map of well-known tourist locations of the mountain (Crni vrh, the highest peak, Divčibar restaurant, Tree of love, Church of Saint Panteleimon, Golubac viewpoint, Žujan spring, Little wooden library and abandoned pool). The goal was to visit as many of these eight locations as possible within 2.5 h time frame, take a group selfie there and return to the Campus. The more locations a team visited, the more envelopes it collected. Each of the envelopes contained hints of answers to quiz questions. In the spirit of the 20th anniversary of the company, the questions were related to TIAC, so the colleagues had to show a good knowledge of certain details of the company and its history in a short amount of time. One of the teams visited all the locations and arrived at the Campus the fastest. However, they missed victory because they lost to the second team by just one point due to performing slightly worse in the quiz.
Colleagues from the winning team: Mita, Veljko, Natalija, Stefan, Aljoša, Bojan, Nedeljko, Danijel
Unfortunately, they unjustly missed both the victory and the consolation prize. Only the team who reached all the locations and answered all the questions correctly won a symbolic prize. Overall, this part of the day was quite physically demanding, however, all teams showed great resourcefulness, as well as both team and competitive spirit. Not only did we have a good time and socialize within the team, but in this way, we had the opportunity to get to know some of the wonderful sights of Divčibare.
Down the waterfall
Another adventure planned for us was a hike to visit a small waterfall nearby called Skakalo. Our host Aleksandar took us on what was supposed to be a leisurely walk to the waterfall. However, it was anything but a leisurely walk, as when we reached the edge of the forest, a slightly more challenging trail began that led us down to the waterfall. After descending, we sat down to rest and enjoy the view and the surrounding nature. Aleksandar took the opportunity to tell us about the mountain’s nature and how locals strive to preserve it from human impact. He also reminded us how, even though we live in the city, we can contribute to nature conservation through small daily actions. Our guide managed to make this short trip even more challenging by offering the more adventurous ones the chance to descend even further to the very base of the waterfall. A narrow, rocky, and quite tricky path led down there, but with each other’s help, we managed to descend, even on all fours, and it was well worth the effort. From there, there was a magnificent view of the waterfall, and the sounds of nature and the gushing water provide a unique sense of peace. We took the opportunity and enjoyed a few minutes in silence, taking in everything that surrounded us.
Party vibes
Since we had a quite physically active day, the evening break with dinner was certainly welcome. And the food and local specialties we tried at the Campus were excellent, so we had a true gastronomic delight. We continued having a good time at the evening party with a live band. Drinks, dancing and hanging out lasted until the early hours.
Wrap-up Sunday
On Sunday morning, we gathered on the Maglian’s terrace to listen to our two directors, Mita and Vlada, reflect on some of the most interesting team-building events over the past 20 years, in celebration of this significant company’s anniversary. They told us about the first team building in Budapest back when the company had only a few employees. They also mentioned other gatherings the company has had over the years, as well as a few funny anecdotes from some of them. It was nice to hear how the company has grown, progressed and changed over the years.
Traditionally, for several years now, TIAC fitness instructor Bojan Jung has been joining us on team building events, and he always organizes sports-related activities or educational workshops for the employees. This time, he spoke about insulin resistance. In a very interesting and easily understandable way, Bojan managed to explain the role of insulin in regulating blood sugar levels, as well as how to listen to our bodies and recognize if something isn’t right. Given that as a company we always strive to emphasize the importance of physical health as well as proper nutrition to our employees, Bojan’s talk nicely rounded off this year’s gathering.
When we sum up our impressions, we can confidently say that another successful team-building event is behind us. It helped us strengthen our team spirit, celebrate successes over the past 20 years, and toast to the future ones.
