Busloads of eager partygoers arrive in the courtyard of the Peurunka Spa Hotel on a sunny Saturday in May. The buses have arrived in Laukaa from several different locations, bringing with them more than 250 excited people dressed in fuchsia hoodies, some of whom are meeting their colleagues face-to-face for the first time during the day’s activities. Pinja’s summer party starts with a cheerful greeting and introductions that continue throughout the day.
Every year, the Pinja summer party is organized to bring together teams from different locations, and to enjoy the start of the upcoming summer holiday season. The celebrations give Pinjans the chance to play a variety of sports, bathe in a sauna, sit down for the evening, and enjoy delicious food among their work community.
It was nice to see people. During the event, I managed to put a face to many voices and avatars. I even got to know people from my own office.
Last year, Pinjans gathered at a summer party in Aulanko to welcome the new data lovers theme. This summer, people enjoyed an eponymous challenge, The Amazing Data Lovers Race, where teams of Pinjans competed various challenges for points in a beautiful lakeside scenery. Jani Rekinen, Jonna Jaakkola, Marika Vedenoja and Jaakko Kaski attended the summer party, and below are their experiences.
See old and new friends at the summer party
System Specialist Jani Riekkinen, who works with external clients’ systems and equipment, attended the summer party for his first time. Jani started working at Pinja at the beginning of the year and went to the summer party with an open mind, focusing on networking with other Pinjans.
“It was nice to see people. During the event, I managed to put a face to many voices and avatars. I even got to know people from my own office”, says Jani. Jani, who travelled from Kempele to Peurunka by bus, saw some of his team members working in other places for the first time at the summer party. He was taken under the wings of more experienced summer party attendees from his office.
Jani Rekinen, front left, watching the show that starts the day.
Jani missed out on the sporting activities at the party this time. Instead, he enjoyed the wide range of saunas on offer, including indoor saunas at the spa, as well as the versatile lakeside saunas built on the shore of Lake Peurunka.
“The atmosphere was engaging and warm. Sausages were served all the time at the saunas. The lake water was cold, though – I had to go swimming because the guys went too”, Jani laughs.
Creative adjustment led to victory in The Amazing Data Lovers Race
In addition to the sports and sauna, Pinjans enjoyed a playful the Amazing Data Lovers Race, where teams competed for points by completing a set of short challenges, such as Mölkky, geocaching, and hidden photos. Among the contestants was the Creative Adjusters team, assembled by service designer and SDR Marika Vedenoja. The team’s witty name came to Marika’s mind as she was browsing through the names of the teams that had been previously registered.
“They were brilliant. There was, for example, General Adjustment and Mischief, The Young and the Hungry, and the Stage Wives. I wonder if I could come up with some combination of those. I think I even asked ChatGPT to give suggestions”, Marika laughs.
Registration for the race had started a couple of months earlier, but for Marika’s team, the participation was more or less on a whim. In the week before the summer party, Marika asked internally if there were still people interested in joining the race. This is how the 3-person team, working in completely different roles, was formed, growing by two more members on the day of the event, when the topic came up at the lunch table in Peurunka.
Marika Vedenoja, who assembled the team, sitting in the middle of the Creative adjustment team.
Then performing the challenges, the team benefited from the variation in their jobs and years of experience. Each person was able to shine in a different task – one could name the factors that unite the old employees, another could throw a boot with precision and the third could do anagrams like a charm. The geocaching challenge was easy for Marika, as she enjoys the sport in her spare time.
Although the team completed the tasks without any major problems, the victory came as a complete surprise to them. They were fifth in the first challenge of the race, the quiz, and believed that they’d stay there. The truth was revealed at the summer party dinners, as the presentation of the results progressed.
“It was only when they said that the amount of adjustment is constant, which was the slogan chosen by the team, that I knew. Little by little it dawned on us that we won. Until the last few yards we thought that even if we didn’t win, we had a good time and a good race. It came as a surprise”, Marika says with a smile.
Pacesetter Award for a cheerful person
In addition to the participants of The Amazing Data Lovers Race, prizes were awarded, among others, to the best bowler and party pacesetter at the evening event. The Pacesetter Award was given to a person who helped others at the summer event, bringing a smile to the faces of those who took part. It was awarded to Jonna Jaakkola, a member of the Business Intelligence team.
“Winning the award was a positive surprise. That’s how I want to be remembered – as a cheerful, friendly, and a bit spontaneous person. If there was one award that I would have wanted, it was this one”, Jonna says with a smile.
Jonna proved her spirit by taking on the role of goalkeeper with no previous experience in a fun and playful floorball tournament between Pinjans. According to her, the game was serious, but not too much, with everyone cheering each other. The game continued after she left for a bath in the sauna, ending with Jyväskylä’s victory in Western Finland.
Jonna Jaakkola as a goalkeeper.
Jonna, a first-time attendee, was most looking forward to meeting new and old acquaintances. Participating in a game of floorball and sitting on the benches of the women’s sauna turned out to be a good way to get to know other Pinjans. The best thing about the summer event for Jonna was the live band, who played cover songs long into the night.
“The people were friendly, the activities were nice, the food was amazing, and the live band was insanely good. I partied until my feet were sore”, Jonna sums up her own summer party experience.
The saunas and the party band were the highlights of the summer event
The successful event was led by Director of People and Culture, Jaakko Kaski. The team chose Peurunka as the venue because it is within a reasonable distance for as many people as possible.
“One of the big things is that at the summer party you meet colleagues that you normally meet at face-to-face meetings. It’s feedback that I have heard from many directions, what fun it is to put a face to the voice and email signatures of people. That’s why I think it’s important that we can continue to organize these kinds of events. We are so far apart geographically that these are important encounters”, says Jaakko.
Jaakko Kaski in the lake scenery of Peurunka.
The discussion among Pinjans about which pre-announced activities to participate in and what kind of team to bring to The Amazing Data Lover Race, which remained a secret until the event, started early. This year, in addition to the traditional sports activities, the extensive sauna facilities at Peurunka surprised even Jaakko.
“I was positively surprised by the beach sauna and how well it worked for such a large group – there was plenty of space for everyone. The second thing is how much the work team enjoyed the party band. We know how to enjoy music”, Jaakko enthuses. The party band got many Pinjans’ feet moving.
This year, the party went very well, and the feedback after the event was very positive. Jaakko mentions that many small things were put in place based on feedback from the previous year. Suggestions for improvements were also made for next year and will be used to take the event in new directions.
Greetings from Pinjans to first-time participants of the summer party
Feel free to join in. There is room for everyone. – Jani
It’s worth asking more experienced colleagues who have already participated in the past to know what you’re getting into. Enter the bus without fears. You get to know your colleagues much better here than in your office. I warmly encourage everyone to participate. - Jaakko
Go with an open mind, you’ll get to know others, and you don’t have to be in a certain style or follow a certain pattern. And the group activity was a good way to get to talk to other people. So were the saunas and sports. There is something for everyone. - Marika
Get on with it and talk to people, get to know each other, and exchange ideas. A good guide is to be brave and take the plunge. - Jonna
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