After this year’s exciting new partnership with Catalyst, (A Global Team Building Network) our Regional Manager, Sam Goldstein flew off ✈️ to Bucarest, Romania to attend the 2019 Catalyst Conference!
With a passion for innovation, planning and delivering the best team building events, Sam was able to share her trip with us through pictures and conversation. The Catalyst Conference gathered Catalyst leaders from across the globe to share new programs, ideas, success stories, and have fun!
There’s a connection between travel and team development.
Stepping outside the office can be tough, especially in an all-encompassing role. Whether it be a quick conference in the city, or going to a conference in a different country, traveling is a great way to influence an individual’s success within their company.
Direct benefits of employee travel:
• Strengthens professional development
• Creates team sharing experiences
• Builds new relationships
• Cultivates employee satisfaction
• Establishes new business opportunities
• Influences new methods
• Opens avenues of collaboration
• Teaches ways to overcome challenges
• Identifies new trends
• Increases team effectiveness
• Generates positive cultural experiences
Where is Bucharest anyway?
On behalf of TeamBonding, Sam was able to set aside time to attend to experience an event like this for the very first time! Since TeamBonding offers team building programs worldwide, this conference was especially significant in communication with Catalyst Partners from all over the globe! As a team, we get excited about helping our clients choose and experience events that are right for their needs. We have a great work culture here and love to help our clients by creating top-notch experiences.
We sat down with Sam, who is passionate about innovating, planning and delivering the best team building events, and we asked her some questions about her travels in Bucharest.
What was the most memorable part of your trip?
Sitting at dinner – at 10 pm in Romania, next to the creator of The Infinite Loop, who is from Tunisia (a long way away from Austin, TX), and getting a text from a TeamBonding facilitator who was on-site in Raleigh, NC running The Infinite Loop. He was sharing pictures of the event and a rave review from the client! It hit me how cool it is that we are part of this global network, sharing resources, brainstorming, creating, and ultimately working together to bring the most cutting edge programs all over the world!
Did you learn any foreign words?
“Multumesc mult!” Which means “thanks so much” in Romanian!
What is the most interesting place you visited?
We did a “Secret Bucharest” Go Team trail around the city – it was awesome to use our technology to explore hidden parts of the city. The trail brought us to a local bakery, a historic hookah house and even had us recreate a scene from Dracula, which is super famous in Romania.
Who was the most interesting person you met?
Everyone was so interesting! The talent and expertise were unbelievable and unmatched – similar to TeamBonding, Team Challenge in Scotland and Dream Team in South Africa have been around for 20+ years. It was inspiring hearing about the unique and creative events they have done with several clients that we have worked with as well – lots of room for future collaboration across the globe.
What is something you wished you could have done in your time there, but didn’t get a chance to?
I would have loved to explore more of our European partner’s countries – looking forward to the next conference in Ireland next year!
What did you learn about networking and leadership?
The theme of the whole conference was “Partner Power” based on the book, New Power. After meeting people from across the world and speaking with them, I felt as if I walked away with an even greater passion for my commitment to team building! I came back with new ideas and new programs that we are launching in the next few months. I am curious about what the theme for next year’s conference will be.
