startedatatechunicorn

Sr. Account Executive (Client Dev) | Sales Team Lead

Personal Narrative

Dreading SKO… am I alone in this?

our SKO (not a sales kick off really since it's happening in July) is in a few weeks.

At a fully remote company and have only met a handful of colleagues IRL in the past couple years.

with SKO looming it seems everyone is 'stoked' for it whereas I am dreading the prospect of attending with a million strangers (my favorite couple colleagues aren't attending) to fly 18hr round trip, stay at a shitty hotel (that I had to / others also pay to upgrade to a single vs. getting a 'randomly assigned roommate' ...)

I understand I have to attend (was in the back of my mind planning a last min covid positive test...) since it's expected, travel is booked, and it would be a bad look to not show face,

So, reaaaal talk: does anyone actually look forward and enjoy traveling to and attending SKOs? have a blast sitting in conference rooms all day and people "getting blackout" at night? the remote access def plays a big factor since I don't know the vast majority of my team (IRL nor virtually for many due to different teams that are siloed).

with that being said- would love to hear experiences with SKO (the good, bad, and the ugly) .... plus, anyone else hate the idea of going? tips on making it a better experience?

#

dreading SKO?

Attached poll

yes… nope! cant wait ! love to share a room w/a stranger, travel across the country to spend 2 days in a hotel conference hall

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

14

29 comments

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Filth

Tycoon

12

Live Filthy or Die Clean

Go into it with some more optimism. If you focus on the wall going through the turn, you're going to hit the wall. Look to the open road and find a smoother ride.

I get it - it's not ideal and fuck day long anything but it's going to happen you might as well TRY and enjoy some of it, find the silver lining somewhere or embrace the suck and get down in the trenches with the other apes.

Best of luck and enjoy the mandatory ride.

jefe

Arsonist

5

🍁

THIS. This is it.

It's shitty that they tried to pair you up but it is what it is. Try and get something out of it. Some fun, maybe some connections. Don't get blackout though.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

3

ERP Sales

Don’t get blacked out? What else am I supposed to do when the meetings end and I am stuck in Milwaukee

Filth

Tycoon

4

Live Filthy or Die Clean

I am in no way condoning not blacking out here - but i will say, maybe up that tolerance and have a solid brown out and wake up bed adjacent?

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

2

ERP Sales

As long as you make it to the correct hotel room under your own power, it’s a W

oldcloser

Arsonist

4

💀

Irrelevant comment: Your track reference was just a touch sub par for the guy who once used Dikembe Mutombo and a Hebrew school basketball team in the same sentence. However, bed adjacent post brown out was a nice recovery.

Filth

Tycoon

4

Live Filthy or Die Clean

haha, as I was typing the wall comment I was literally thinking damn @oldcloser is going to think I'm mailing it in. I set my bar WAY too high with some of my past comments. I've still got it, I just can't be on it 100 all of the time LOL. But as you've called me out AND i've had my coffee I could rephrase the parable as follows:

Think of it like it's your first day at prison. If you stare down the large fellow with a flurry of face tattoos that would give a short-mustache aficionado a chub, paired with what you can only assume is a bullet wound just above the right ear - you're most likely going to end up with a foreign object inside of you before long - the least of which being a keister held prison-etsy-made shiv. Instead look towards the barred windows or poorly mopped ground - or at the very least the smaller accountant looking inmate with the pedo glasses that you could sucker punch and give yourself some fresh fish cred and sail for slightly smoother seas.

I hope this better meets your standards - I fucking love the discourse here.

jefe

Arsonist

4

🍁

I can get *behind* a brownout, at least in theory - not literally.

oldcloser

Arsonist

4

💀

Holy shit. "prison-etsy-made shiv" and "pedo glasses" put me right in the moment, but "sail for slightly smoother seas" nailed it down. I feel much better now.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

and in this case, into the right bed. Or at least, not the wrong bed.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

5

🦊

Who the hell votes for can't wait to share a room? Freaks.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

That alone is awful. What company does that?

Best part of SKO is being able to decompress by yourself in your own way. I was all in for the abundance mindset and visualizing the road ahead, but sorry, a shared room is a deal breaker.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

3

🦊

Funny the things that become deal breakers at a certain age 🦡😎

RandyLahey

Politicker

2

Account Executive

Hard no for me.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

They were deal breakers after my freshman year at college. I reached my limit early.

medhardwaredr

Politicker

4

Director of Sales NA

Who tf makes you share a room? Holy phuc I would not work for an org like that sorry man. Skos are usually the shit!

noname123

Politicker

4

noname

Sharing a room should be illegal. How old are we 12 ??!? SKO - a place where managers jerk each other off.

detectivegibbles

Politicker

3

Sales Director

Abundance mindset. What if it turns out better than you could ever have imagined?

NoToBANT

Catalyst

3

Senior Account Executive

Your company cheap as fuck, but honestly SKOs are fun.

I’ve been to many and as long as you stay out of trouble, enjoy watching your colleagues land themselves in hot water

Take notes and pictures to use as blackmail against your colleagues

Load up on the free food and booze

Participate - it’s a great way to be visible in front of leadership which is otherwise hard to do

Enjoy

Gasty

Notable Contributor

2

War Room Community Manager

Meeting people is the best part about the job, no?
I mean, I would look forward to it. I think a personal impression can last longer than on a zoom call. You’ll open doors for yourself. Just think of it as networking. It might be better than you expect.

How to make it a better experience; stay buzzed. Always fun to have a drink in hand and being more confident than usual. Don’t overdo it.

The only bad thing about these are the conferences but those’ll pass sooner than you think and left to party.

Where is the SKO if I may?

startedatatechunicorn

Personal Narrative

0

Sr. Account Executive (Client Dev) | Sales Team Lead

In CDMX - full schedule so not much time for anything else during the SKO and the pricing to ‘extend for personal travel’ was insane / poor quality so just a quick in and out … upgraded myself to the single took ofc t god

BlackVNeck

Good Citizen

1

Mid Market Account Executive

What does that even mean? There are great hotels in Mexico City and it’s very affordable by US standards.
I would not share a room. You spend all day being switched on I want to go back to my room and sit in silence. Tell them for medical reasons you can’t share.

braintank

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

Sounds like Cisco

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

Depending on roommate, sounds like Crisco

TennisandSales

Big Shot

2

Head Of Sales

the fact that the company would force you to get a random room mate is crazy. we are all adults we should have our own rooms this isnt college 😂

Im an extrovert so i LOVE these events. Im a sucker for a good pep talk and drink the coolaid pretty quick. I also do enjoy travel and find the hotels i get to stay in to be better than what i would select when i travel with the fam.

but i hate sitting in a conference room all day if the content sucks and im not for getting blacked out at the end of the night just to show up bright and early the next day.

my tip to make it better is to really change the mindset.
if your going into thinking everything will suck.....it will.

is the hotel THAT bad?
is there ZERO quality content you will consume?

probably not.

pirate

Big Shot

2

Account Executive

I can relate, I have a social anxiety and don't really like big crowds. Few SKOs I had... I didn't know anyone, other girls were really clicky and already had made plans where I didn't fit

I guess just think of it as going on a holiday, free drinks, foods, places to see... Make a goal of talking to your manager and maybe 10 people? And then chill somewhere quiet. Take a lot of pictures and post a lot of pictures on LinkedIn. You look like you were there and loved it

Try and find tables that are over half full and use this line to network: hi, what you think of SKO so far... What's your name, what do you do? Then excuse yourself saying you going to check on this or do that, catch you later person name

Last time I went I lost my EMEA team due to a late arrival so had a blast with US team. I was just like hi I don't know anyone... Could I sit here and had a lot of fun

Hope that helps and keep us posted on how it goes

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

1

ERP Sales

When you drink the koolaide it’s the best thing in the world, when you disagree with leadership it’s horrible

Armageddon

Opinionated

1

Enterprise Account Executive

thats wild your company makes you share rooms. But I agree with others. We get out of it what you put in. It is an opportunity to learn, grow and connect. If you have a negative attitude you're going to have a negative experience

thiccwoofer

Executive

1

Mid Market Account Executive

I feel your pain bro. Not mich of a joiner, and somehow or another, it’s always awkward.

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