#WeAreSkiing 2016: our annual Winter Conference

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After 365 days of waiting, the mountains of Italy were calling us once again. With the expectation created by last year’s We Are Skiing riding high, the trip had a lot to live up to… luckily it didn’t disappoint.

The weekend began Thursday evening, when nearly 300 of us descended upon the quaint town of Gressoney, Italy for what promised to be three days of utter debauchery conferencing. In a scenario similar to a G8 summit, colleagues from the London, Paris, Milan, Munich, Berlin and even the New York and Sydney We Are Social offices gathered for our 5th annual Winter Conference.

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After an evening of drinks, dancing and international bonding, we were up bright and early Friday morning to hit the slopes. From the first-timers taking lessons to the long-timers shredding pow to the never-timers in the spa, it was clear everyone was enjoying themselves …  but maybe that was down to the Bombardinos?

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That Friday evening, we were lucky enough to be joined by Dave Birss, Editor at Large for The Drum, who gave an inspiring presentation on his favourite social campaigns from the past with some raunchy vaseline stories thrown in for good measure.

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The next 24 hours went by in a flash (or a blur?) with plenty of skiing, eating and socialising.  Before we knew it, the final evening had arrived and with it brought Jim Coleman’s sparkly quizmaster jacket. We gathered in teams and were let loose showing off our skills in emoji designing, WAS facts and #socialselfies. In true We Are Social fashion, the evening ended with a bang as we moshed to Lazer Geyser and Forty Winks and shuffled to Daniele Piazza, Nasamann and Riccardo BHI, before retiring for an “early” night…

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One chipmunk head, a broken wrist and a lot of hangovers later, it was clear to see we’d had one hell of a good time (see for yourself at #WeAreSkiing2016).

So, a huge thank you goes out to all those who played a part in organising such an epic trip, in particular Emma Cumming. I for one can’t wait for the next one, when hopefully Robin will be able to keep up with me on the slopes…