Summit

FlowFuse intends to host an annual summit bringing together all employees in one place. This summit aims to create an occasion where we can gather the company in person, fostering connections, and facilitating collaborative discussions on a range of subjects.

Structure

Summits normally last for three full days, with an additional day allocated either side of the summit designated for travel.

The day before the company summit, senior leadership can assemble for a strategy day or board meeting, making the most of the time in-person.

Expenses

FlowFuse will be responsible for booking the accommodation, activities and communal dinners and lunches. Each employee is then responsible for booking their own flights and travel arrangements. Please check in with the summit organizer on your own personal budget, as this will differ person-to-person and be a factor of each employee's location.

Other expenses whilst performing duties as employee are reimbursed if within the scope of the summit.

Alcohol

Expensing of alcohol purchases should be considered on a case-by-case basis, and is at the discretion of senior leadership. This should be checked before making purchases.

Organizing Summits

Budget

Budget will be allocated by the CEO for each summit and will be designated on a per person basis, rather than a singular amount. This will be communicated to the Summit organizer upfront.

The most important elements to consider for budgeting are:

• Accommodation: This will be the most expensive aspect of organizing a summit. A balance should be considered of the practicality of the location vs. the overall cost.
• Travel: This will be the second most expensive component of the summit. Whilst budget is an important factor here, also consider ease/logistics of travel.
• Entertainment: Entertainment is a very important part of the summit. These are generally competitive, team-building focussed or tourism-focussed activities.
• Venue: For the working part of the summit, a venue is required to host meetings, workshops, presentations, etc.
• Food: Costs associated to lunches and dinners should be considered. Generally, breakfast costs are included in the hotel rates.
• Swag: FlowFuse-branded goodies should be distributed to attendees. Take consideration of the last time the swag was distributed, and ensure there is limited overlap.

Example Budget

At the time of writing this, the budget for each person for the most recent summit in London was split as such:

• Accommodation: ~37%
• Travel: ~22%
• Entertainment: ~17%
• Food: ~10%
• Venue: ~5% (Note, the summit was hosted at the hotel, so there were limited additional costs here)
• Swag: ~8%

It is advised to leave a 1-2% margin for overheads and unexpected costs.

Location & Travel

Location will vary from summit to summit, and will be communicated at least three months ahead of time, ensuring everyone has sufficient time to make their travel arrangements.

Past summits have been held in the following locations:

• London, UK
• Utrecht, Netherlands
• Barcelona, Spain
• Winchester, UK

We have employees all over the world. Consider the average travel time for each of them, and the logistics they have to undergo in order to get to the summit. There is a balance of expense, and ease of travel to be had, especially as, whilst we explicitly pay for flights, we are also then losing time on the travel days when employees would otherwise be working.

The Organizer should also factor in the ease of getting Visas for team members who need to travel outside of their country.

As the summit organizer, you should research rough flight costs for each employee based on their location. Add a 10-15% buffer and set this is a budget for that employee. Employees are responsible for booking their own flights.

FlowFuse intends to accommodate a reasonable journey in terms of duration and departure time.

FlowFuse will not cover business class flights for employees.

Accommodation

Key considerations for where to hold the accommodation and required amenities:

• The whole company should be able to attend the summit, so the venue should be able to accommodate everyone.
• Breakfast should be available at the accommodation, and included in the cost. This makes morning logistics smoother.
• Location of the accommodation is an important consideration. The time taken to travel from the accommodation to the summit venue and other social activities will make the summit days themselves smoother, and more enjoyable.

Room Share

In the past, we have had a room share arrangement for a summit, and whilst it reduced cost, the feedback was that in the future we should avoid this where possible.

Extended Stays

Traveling is a privilege that we should not take for granted. Many employees will get to visit places around the world they otherwise would not have had the opportunity to visit, and as such, FlowFuse fully encourages employees extending their stay either side of the summit, whether this to be working remotely or as paid-leave. Any costs during this time though, will be at the employee's own expense.

Bringing Family

If an employee wishes to bring their family to the summit, they are very welcome to.

Family members are encouraged to attend the social events as part of the summit, it's great to get to meet colleague's families and help further build relationships. For costs in group bookings, e.g. if FlowFuse have paid for a social event at a fixed cost, independent of attendees, then family members are welcome to join for free. On occasions whereby an expense is directly proportional to the number of attendees, then additional family members will be charged accordingly.

For accommodation, if the employee already has a Double room, then there are no additional costs to consider, however if the standard room provided to all employees would be a Twin, or Single, and the employee wishes to upgrade this, then additional costs will be at the employee's own expense.

Food

Breakfast

Breakfast is typically provided at the accommodation, as this will save time on morning logistics.

Lunch

Where possible, it is recommended to arrange for lunches to be provided at the summit venue. This does not have to be a fixed plan for every day though, and can be mixed with walking/traveling lunches if afternoon activities make this necessary.

Dinner

Dinner should be a community affair. Whilst a full company dinner does not need to be arranged for every day, it is recommended to have at least two of the nights being full company dinners. This helps with bonding and gives a more relaxed atmosphere over which to discuss the day's activities, and to get to know each other better.

Providing one night of flexibility also gives an opportunity for people to explore the locations a little more, and try out food from the local area that they may otherwise miss out on.

Summit Venue

The purpose of the "venue" is to host working sessions during the summit.

Minimum requirements:

• Space for the whole company to watch presentations and be in the same space.
• Provided refreshments (e.g. Tea, Coffee, Water, Juices)

Additional, preferred, requirements:

• Space for breakout rooms for smaller groups to meet in.
• Space for individual work, and to take calls with prospects.
• Lunch provided.

Entertainment

Entertainment is a very important part of the summit. To-date, we have generally split the daytime of the summit into two halves, mornings being work-focussed, and then the afternoons and evenings being entirely focussed on entertainment, social and team building activities.

Example social activities from past summits include:

• City segway tours
• Cooking class (& dinner)
• Escape rooms
• Pub quiz
• Visiting tourist attractions
• Baking competitions
• Social darts & crazy golf

Consider too that many employees will be traveling to the parts of the world they've never been to before. Designing some of the entertainment and social activities to let employees experience local culture is strongly encouraged.

Swag

FlowFuse-branded swag should be distributed to attendees upon arrival. Take consideration of the last time the swag was distributed, and ensure there is limited overlap.

Past swag has included:

• Clothing (e.g. t-shirts, hoodies, hats)
• Laptop Bags
• Mugs
• Notepads & Pens
• Drones

When packing, please do keep in mind that will likely go home with more than you brought!

Designing an Agenda

The agenda should represent a balance of work, and fun, they should be designed to be as inclusive as possible, and to ensure that all employees have the opportunity to participate in the summit. As the company grows, running multiple, adjacent activities in parallel can be a great way to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate in the summit, and so that employees can have more choice over what they do.

One key thing, that can easily be overlooked is to account fo travel between events. Don't pack the agenda too full, account for time to get from A to B with spare time.

Agenda Timings

Days should start 08:30/09:00. Evenings should be considered as social/entertainment time only. Outside of this, the format of the agenda can be very flexible.

Historically, we have split the daytime into two parts, mornings for working sessions until about 1-2pm, then afternoons for social/team-building activities. Alternatively, it is possible to have a full day of working sessions, with a break for lunch, and then a full day of social/team-building activities.

Ensure you have accounted for regular breaks, and that there is time to get between venues and activities.

Ice Breakers

For many attendees, this will be the first time they have met each other in person, ice breakers are an excellent way of getting people comfortable with each other, and to start building in-person relationships.

Ice breakers should make up about an hour on the morning of the first day. They're designed to be a little silly, and get people relaxed in their environment.

Keynote

One of the first items on the agenda should be a keynote from the CEO or another senior leader. This should be a chance to set the tone for the summit, and to provide an overview of the company's progress since the last summit, as well as looking forward over the next few days and beyond.

Presentations

Ahead of the summit, a notice should be put out for any employees who would like to present at the summit. This could be a presentation on a new product, a new feature, a new process, or anything else that they would like to share with the company. Focus should be given on knowledge sharing, giving the chance for one part of the business to educate other areas on their own learnings and experiences.

In addition to voluntary presentations, there should be a few key presentations that are organized by the CEO and other senior leaders. These can be strategy-focussed, education-focussed (e.g. teaching people about a particular industry), or any other topic that is relevant to the company.

Workshops

Workshops are a great alternative format to mix in with presentations. They should encourage collaboration, and can be a very effective vehicle for knowledge sharing and improving skills. Workshops can be anything from a training session, to a brainstorming session.

It is common to have at least one Node-RED themed workshop, whether this be a hands-on workshop, or ideation session. Everyone at the company being exposed to Node-RED assists with employees gaining empathy for our end-users.

Breakout Sessions

As the company grows there are benefits to having smaller breakout sessions at the summit, where members of the company can be silo into functional areas, e.g. sales, marketing, engineering. These breakout sessions can allow teams to have more focussed discussions, and ensure everyone present can actively engage in conversations in a productive manner.

Open-Working Sessions

Not every minute of the working sessions has to be structured. In making the most of the in-person time, open-working sessions can be a great way to break up the day, and provide employees an opportunity to chat with their colleagues and work through problems and have 1:1 conversations.

Entertainment

Summits should be a good balance of hard-work and fun. Social and team-building activities should make up evenings, as well as time during the day too.