Last Thursday and Friday, PHDIQ Montreal welcomed their friends from Toronto for a two days off site camp. Lots of team building activities and brainstorms about the future of digital media were on the program. On Friday morning, the two teams had to test their pioneering skills far outside the computer screens. On a beautiful and sunny winter  morning, we met at the Grand Chalet on top of Mont-Royal. After a crash course on how to read topographic maps and how to use a compass, four mixed teams had to find ten controls hidden in the woods of Montreal’s largest park. Perfectly well organized by John Charlow from the Ramblers Orienteering Club, this course forced the media strategists literally to think outside of the box and to leave the beaten tracks. The winning team, Barbara Glover and Charles-Étienne Morier, managed to find all 10 controls in only one hour and thirteen minutes. They took away gift certificates (thank you Gorilla Nation) and Google Gym Bags (thank you Google) to stay fit. More than one hour later with all the teams already enjoying the great lunch at the Grand Chalet, Rebecca and Dany finally found their way back to the starting point. Initial problems of map interpretation (probably combined with the after effects of a Montreal party night) seemed to be the reason for Rebecca and Dany’s “light” delay. What really counted though was the experience and the bond of two teams of skilled digital media strategists. Thanks Toronto for visiting us, let’s do this soon again!

The PHDIQ Montreal team.