Sports Systems Paints New Orleans Red!
From November 13th to 16th, Sports Systems’ team members converged on New Orleans, Louisiana for three days of strategy, planning and lively team-building fun.
For those of you who know Jim Daigle, CEO of Sports Systems, you know he knows a thing or two about food. What better place to indulge his knowledge than NOLA? We Sports Systems team members delighted as always at Jim’s culinary choices for New Orleanns…Shaya, who’s chef, Alon Shaya, is a James Beard Award winner, Antoine’s, with its 176 years of quintessential French-creole fine dining and birthplace of oysters Rockefeller and Brennan’s, another New Orleans landmark since 1946, should be on everyone’s hit list for dining while in New Orleans.
Did I mention our very own marching band parade from The Old No. 77 Hotel to Antoine’s complete with police escort to stop traffic as Sports Systems crossed the streets?!
A big surprise that Jim kept fully under his hat until it was happening was an unforgettable experience that will be nearly impossible to top. The marching parade brought smiles as big as they get as we were joined by countless “second liners,” quadrupling the size of our fanfare. Unbelievable! Other consummately New Orleans activities included a steamboat river cruise on the mighty Mississippi, a tour of Mardi Gras World where the parade floats are hand-crafted and assembled and of course – live music! Sports Systems highly recommends the Brassaholics who bring “a heavy dose of go-go funk to the New Orleans brass sound.” Label it what you want; all we know is that they are tons of fun! And of course, for some good ‘ol old-time jazz, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a must.
Ok, so did we get any work done? We sure did! As Bruce Eckfeldt, business consultant, coach, author, and speaker on organizational development and performance management, who ran the strategy meetings for Sports Systems put it, “It was great to see everyone come together and find alignment around the core priorities for the coming year and literally dozens of ideas for how to improve the business.” For a small team, we’ve got a powerhouse of critically-thinking, strategically-minded staff who will undoubtedly take Sports Systems to the next level over the coming months and years. A big NOLA sazerac cheers to that!