Wow! This weekend saw an Iconic celebration of Epic proportions, filled with ROC!Star individuals displaying the Core Strength of our organisation as teams from all over Australia came together to celebrate a great 2015.
The theme for the weekend was Brisbane to our Core, recognising that the Icon, ROC and Epic businesses all commenced their operations in South East Qld and we had a lot of fun sharing the best of Brisbane with our team mates from other locations around the state and country.
The conference kicked off with a tour of our new head offices at Cordelia St for all of those based outside of Brisbane, complete with cupcakes reflecting our theme while teams heard from their CEO’s and leaders.
The fun began in earnest as we moved across to the Convention Centre, where our event partners Corporate Challenge and our Brand & Comms team had created an outstanding party room celebrating the best of Brisbane. We entered through our very own bougainvillea walk,
to be greeted with a giant Moreton Bay fig, our very own Brisbane letters – that when lit up with the Brisbane highlights video shot just for the event by one of the team rival the official Southbank version! – pineapples galore and a homage to the Gabba.
Stuart, Icon Group CEO Mark Middleton and CFO Ross Koscharsky applied a literal interpretation of the theme to their party outfits, coming as Brisbane’s tunnel network Clem7, AirportlinkM7 and Legacy Way.
Epic CEO Andrew Reid delivered a footy code double, starting the night as Brisbane Lion Mascot Roy before a late evening switch to a cracking Jonathan Thurston lookalike.
With all of the Epic Pharmacy sponsored Brisbane Heat Womens Big Bash team interstate representing Queensland on field, Qld Captain and Australian Test Batsman Usman Khawaja was joined on stage by Qld teammate & fellow Australian One-Day & International player Ben Cutting who both proved exceptionally popular in the #iconicselfie stakes.
The dance floor was packed all night,
with the only exception when everyone rushed to the balconies and windows to watch our firework display light up the city scape.
On Sunday morning everyone fronted up bright and early at Southbank for a team challenge which saw 40 teams track down famous Brisbane landmarks around Southbank, plus a bit of toy building and painting.
The 40 teams were made up of a mix of people from different locations and business units, and watching them work together highlighted that despite the fact that many of them had never met in person before this weekend, the shared values and alignment that exists across the group is very real. This painting to me summed it up perfectly. We are indeed one tree with many branches, and this weekend was the perfect illustration of that.
As everyone sat around enjoying a delicious Mexican feast for lunch and reflecting on a weekend well spent, one more surprise awaited. The teams had been told that the toys built as part of the activities would be donated to a children’s charity, but had no idea that the families from Camp Quality were arriving to receive them in person and meet the people who had built the toys for them.
The joy on the children’s faces was absolutely beautiful to see, and lots of tears were shed as people saw a weekend which had been filled with so much Christmas cheer already expand to an even greater level. With all of the business units having a purpose related value committing to the delivery of exceptional cancer care, being able to incorporate support for an organisation that is all about creating a better life for kids living with cancer was the perfect way to conclude.
2015 has been an incredible year for the Icon Group, and knowing what’s coming 2016 is going to be even bigger!