In case you missed it: December 14 marked the first day of ScriptDrop’s first-ever Innovation Days event. Read all about it here, and catch the summary of day #2 here.
On Friday, most of the ScriptDrop Innovation Days participants returned to the office for the third and final day of the event. In between their standing meetings and other work, they reviewed what they had accomplished and put together their presentations. The mood was cheerful; CTO Mike Berkman ordered pizza for the crowd and there were even three dogs in attendance (Fred, Cricket, and Rush). Just as they did on Monday, participants and audience members who had chosen to work from home logged in to a video call, where they could see the presentations, the presenters, and the crowd, thanks to a 360-degree camera.
Finally, the time had come to judge and be judged.
- Software developers Fred Synder and Adam White shared an important technical fix.
- Sales executive Jane Crandall shared her progress on a feasibility study into a new line of business for ScriptDrop.
- Bethany Burke, HR Generalist, showed off her progress on a new onboarding presentation.
- Our largest team, which included Trainer Jeremy Anderson, Customer Success Coordinator Barbara Sutherin, Account Managers Natalie Marshall and Jaleesa Keyes, and Logistics Account Manager Mason Cajka, shared a detailed presentation of how ScriptDrop could increase delivery transparency for both partners and patients.
- KayCee Bartoli, Customer Success Coordinator, also shared a strong presentation of a new business opportunity for ScriptDrop.
- Director of Business Development Joe Kenkel presented not only on a business opportunity but also presented on behalf of Logistics Manager TJ Gerlach’s API integration project.
- Manager of Account Management Mario Coletta discussed a plan to clean up specific data points.
- Max Wilson, Senior Infrastructure Engineer, delivered a presentation on a way to improve ephemeral environments for software developers.
- And last but not least, developer Miranda Regan gave a demo of her prototype tool that would allow the Marketing team to create a specific type of digital content without needing a developer’s help.
After a short break to deliberate and give the audience time to vote for the People’s Choice award, our judges thanked everyone for their hard work and announced the awards.
- Most Collaborative and the People’s Choice were both won by Jeremy, Barbara, Natalie, Jaleesa, and Mason.
- Most Creative went to Max.
- Biggest Short-Term Impact was won by Fred and Adam.
- And Biggest Long-Term Impact went to KayCee, who has only been at ScriptDrop for five weeks!
I’ve participated in massive innovation events in the past. But even though our event was much smaller in scale, I got the same feeling of engagement with the company’s mission and the same rush of enthusiasm for our collective future. It felt like we were doing exactly what tech startups were meant to do: put smart people in the same room, give them the freedom to work on problems large and small, and trust them to do something amazing.
At least for me, there was one substantial difference between ScriptDrop’s Innovation Days and other events: it felt cozy, not competitive. During the final presentations you could feel the attention of the crowd. Everyone was enthusiastic and interested in each and every project. We all wanted each other to “win,” whether that meant getting an award or getting the opportunity to bring ideas to life.
In short, ScriptDrop’s first Innovations Days event was a success. Many thanks to CTO Mike Berkman for organizing the event, to Chase McCants for being our MC, and to everyone else who ordered food, cleaned up, made sure their direct reports had the time to participate, and much more. We can’t wait for the next one!