Today we had our first Continental European IT Summit since ages. It was the first really big hybrid event, with close to 50 participants meeting in their respective offices, from their homes or on the road. All at a distance and no huddling.
We had a keynote from our CIO Paul Greenwood, followed by a panel discussion with Evette Pastoriza Clift, Lola Guillen, Francois Klerx, Pere Trillas, Stuart Deane, and me about the challenges ahead and of course the opportunities. After that, we were briefed about the offerings of our Indian service units. We went through a design thinking training session with interactive break-out teams where we could immediately practice what we have learned.
All speakers and panelists had to disclose three truths and one lie and we all had to guess what the lie was. This was sometimes scary but mostly really funny. Clifford Chance employees rarely miss planes, but some attract danger.
Finally, we were instructed through Zoom in drumming together with empty plastic bottles, which was much funnier than it sounds written down followed by „distant socialising“.
Not everything went as expected, purely virtually we are really good by now, hybrid we are still at the beginning of the learning curve. But it was a wonderful team experience that reconnected us.
Thank you Christiane Müller-Haye for hosting and bringing it all together.