{"id":8114,"date":"2024-02-09T07:32:26","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T07:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grid.gg\/?p=8114"},"modified":"2024-10-01T15:12:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:12:00","slug":"gridcon-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grid.gg\/gridcon-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"GRIDCon 2024: A look at GRID\u2019s annual\u00a0 internal conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, 86 GRIDers descended on Wroc\u0142aw, Poland \u2014 home of GRID\u2019s newly opened second office<\/a> \u2014 for the company\u2019s second annual internal all-hands conference: GRIDCon 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leadership, department heads, far-flung remote colleagues and new joiners came together for the two-day event \u2014 featuring leadership-led presentations on company innovations, priorities & opportunities; ample opportunities to collaborate over meals; department-bonding outings and the return of the best company party in esports: GRIDFest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the event, the team realized that this great internal meeting-of-the-minds had never been publicly shared, aside from a few<\/a> tweets<\/a> from Co-Founder & CTO Chris King. The Marketing team teamed up with the People team and put together this blog to share more about the event, its history and offer an exclusive peek inside the world and culture of GRID.<\/p>\n\n\n

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GRID Leadership. Pictured (left to right): Charlie Hanley-Nickolls, Mikael Westerling, Brittany Patton, Tony Payne, Pierre Maraninchi, Moritz Mauer, Chris King, Mathias J. B\u00fcchs. Photo credit: Natalia Ratajczyk <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

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A Brief History of GRIDCon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before there was GRIDCon, there was GRIDFest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the winter of 2021, the People team began kicking around the idea of celebrating the company, its employees and its culture at a GRIDers-only offline retreat. The team dreamed up a black-tie Oscars-inspired event to recognize each team for their contributions in-person and to, of course, party together in style on a Berlin rooftop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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GRID group photo of GRIDFest 2021 <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

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There was music, there were refreshments, there was dancing, there was laughter. Memory is hazy but most counts put the attendance around 50 GRIDers. The satisfaction of safely bringing the mostly-remote teams together during COVID-induced isolation proved the strength of the company culture to everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out, the team really enjoyed spending time together offline as they did online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing the GRIDFest pilot as a great success, the People team and company leadership greenlit its sequel and sought to improve the benefit of gathering a company majority together and expanded its programming past just a party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, GRIDCon was born \u2014 an internal conference to align all GRIDers on business strategies, initiatives and results via presentations from company leadership and department heads in one great download \u2014 and then they would party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the summer of 2022, the People team fixed a coworking space near the GRID Berlin office to house the 60-some GRIDers in town and the format was tested. Over two-days, teams would sync on the company\u2019s vision and bond over food and drink to ring it all in at an iconic Berlin venue for GRIDFest.<\/p>\n\n\n

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GRID group photo at GRIDCon 2022.<\/em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

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It worked. The coming-together was again a resounding success from all accounts and proved to be lasting sentiment to why everyone works at GRID \u2014 the people, the shared vision and company culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of the second edition, it was decided to move the annual event to January, enabling the company to kickstart every coming year with a fully aligned GRID mindset, bringing us to last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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GRID group photo at GRIDCon 2024. Photo Credit: Natalia Ratajczyk <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

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GRIDCon 2024<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Continuing the established format, GRIDCon 2024 featured an array of business-focused presentations, employee highlights and product developments aimed for the coming year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GRIDers were encouraged to engage with the content of each presentation and company leadership were readily available for discourse throughout the event. Below are selected summaries of the presentations and key takeaways we\u2019re happy to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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