STA Blog

The year 2020 has been like no other – that I can remember – and the festive season is too. A time when corporate and social entertainment goes into full swing, the pandemic has put paid to all that. Well, not exactly. Keen to engage their working from home employees, and foster a spirit of international cooperation, large firms have been getting creative with HR suggestions.

From painting classes to magic shows, chocolate tastings courtesy of Hotel Chocolat, to ‘parties’ for thousands via Zoom. Unsurprisingly, the upmarket vintner Berry Bros & Rudd is almost fully booked for wine tastings this Christmas. According to their events planner Katie Daniel ‘partygoers’ get delivered a corkscrew, glasses and up to 3 vintage wines – only 3 because ‘’any more than that on a weekday evening is quite punchy’’.

Not to be outdone, the STA’s December monthly meeting yesterday (8th at 18:30) included a general knowledge quiz run by QQQ Master Lesley-Anne Brewis. She’s been running them for 17 years, sticking to virtual format only since April, and ‘’it’s been our busiest year yet!’’ Members had been asked to arrange themselves into teams, coming up with appropriate or witty names. Some were both: Pointless Figures and Anal Technical Analysts. Others neither: Ellie Nellies and Bolly Banders. Other bland: MMS Squad and Edu Stars (to which Clive Lambert, who’s on this team, pipes up saying: ‘’see what happens when you let a German (Axel Rudolph) choose the quiz team name’’.

Divided into four sections with about 10 questions in each, the variety of subjects was really something. From what is -275 degrees Celsius, wine and food, geography, to the Book of Kells. If struggling with the technology, there was a Help button so participants could get in touch with the quiz master. Then team members would move into their ‘breakout rooms’ – something I haven’t done as yet – to confer over their answers. The final round introduced penalty points for wrong answers.

Ending promptly at 8pm as advertised, the top 3 winning teams were too close to call with 35, 36 and 37 points apiece. In ascending order: MMS Squad, Anal Technical Analysts and Pointless Figures. Well done all!

As an aside, I’d add that it was interesting to see the changes working from home had wrought on some STA members, and also to see them in their native habitat.