The Importance of Geeky Fun to Company Culture

The Importance of Geeky Fun to Company Culture

I have been living the dream (well, my dream) for the better part of two decades, having the circumstantial luck to enter the professional world just when the internet originally commercialized (“dot com one”), work in a market research consultancy as data collection digitized, then be part of two content curation product companies through the rise of social media as an advertising channel. Along the way I have met many great people, and they always seem to share the traits of intellectual curiosity and whimsy. So as I reflect on People Pattern’s second annual Bison Grove gathering last week, I’m feeling grateful again to be working with and connected to people who appreciate what I call “Geeky Fun.”

“Instead we get the smartest people we know to hang out for two days and share their thoughts, or what they wish they knew, about target marketing, data science, technology solutions, human behavior and audience insights.”

The gathering mixes marketers, academics, current and prospective clients, and friends of our company for a couple days of idea sharing and workshops, but our team does not put the typical pressure on the event to be about People Pattern software capabilities, breaking the traditional mold of a customer conference. Instead we get the smartest people we know to hang out for two days and share their thoughts, or what they wish they knew, about target marketing, data science, technology solutions, human behavior and audience insights. Outside of the more formalized knowledge sharing, some of our social activities for me highlighted the notion of geeky fun and why I loved this gathering:

• art gallery tours

• discussion of pronouns

• antique shopping

• memory card games

• spicy hot chocolate break

• personality tests

The setting for our gathering is important too, as the mountains of New Mexico provide a peaceful break from most of our urban lives and the ability to focus more than a crazy conference in Vegas or Austin. For me, the personality of a company is indicated by how its employees collaborate, encourage each other, and especially how they have fun. At People Pattern, our geekery spans from obsessing over human behavior, geographic history, and natural language processing to John Hughes movies, Wu-Tang Clan albums, and science fiction authors. Geeky Fun is what drives our company to innovate, find clients that appreciate intellectual practicality, and stay entertained.

We’ll be recapping some of the major themes from the event over the next few weeks. If Bison Grove (not to mention geeky fun) sounds like something you may be interested in, hit us up for adventures in problem solving and maximum good times in 2016! In the meantime, feel free to request a demo below to see what our platform is all about.