Another quarter flew by, and here we were on a coach headed to another in-person quarterly reunion. It’s always such a special time for us to get together in Portugal and have all the team members coming from all corners of the country (including Madeira!) as well as from the UK, Spain, France, and this time for the first time also from Germany and Czechia. 

It was Tuesday, and we had our biggest onboarding to date on the previous day, welcoming seven new team members! You can learn about each of them in this LinkedIn post.

First, we arrived in Vidigueira for our first team moment in the recently inaugurated headquarters in the Wine Business Centre. You may wonder what’s the connection between wine and conversational AI, but in fact, what you need to look at is HiJiffy’s relationship with Vidigueira, which is a story our CEO and Co-founder, Tiago Araújo, told so well on LinkedIn.

Following a series of each team’s presentations on the achievements and challenges of the past quarter and plans for the upcoming one, we enjoyed a drink in the beautiful evening light of Alentejo and took our new favourite team photo:

Afterwards, we were invited to a very warm reception from Vidiguieira Municipality where we could try local culinary treats and - of course - the wine Vidigueira is known for.

Later that evening, we hopped back on the coach to get to our destination in Beja. We stayed at a beautiful hotel of one of our clients - Pousada Convento Beja - which originally was a São Francisco convent dating back to the XIII century.

Once checked in, we made our way to the dinner in the city - we had the bar all to ourselves, which we filled easily now that there is so many of us! We enjoyed local culinary treats and drinks, and the dancefloor was always full. 

But that’s not all! We had an early celebration of HiJiffy’s 7th anniversary of becoming a company. There was a toast, a birthday cake, a surprise present (very cosy HiJiffy branded sweaters)... and sort of a celebratory champagne shower due to a bet lost over some fantastic results! (a longer story to be told when you join HiJiffy)

The next day, we enjoyed a slow morning, enjoying the hotel’s pool and stunning lounge areas. After lunch, we gathered for the team activity, which is always a surprise. This time, we had a chance to practice a bit of gentle yoga positions, tips for maintaining a good posture at the desk, and a very, very relaxing meditation session set to the sounds of Tibetan bowls. 

Two days passed so quickly, yet they were packed with excitement and new memories. On our way back, just as we were passing the Tejo river to Lisbon through the Vasco da Gama bridge, the sun was setting in the distance which made the perfect finale to another “quarterly”.

Soon enough, we’ll be together again for the festive end-of-year celebrations in December!