Who will take the gold in the office games: Offlympics?

Kathy Jennings | Thursday, February 20, 2014

The winners of these games won't end up with their faces on a Kellogg's cereal box. Endorsement contracts are not in their future. That these games are conducted entirely within the office in no way diminishes the competitive nature with which they are conducted.

"We’re just here to win," says Kevin Romeo, owner of Rhino Media.

Well, OK. It's not like anyone trains for years for Offlympics.

Maestro, Newmind Group and Rhino Media fielded teams in the 2014 Offlympics that features games that sound like they could be in the games in Sochi: biathlon, figure skating, ski jump, and hockey shoot out.

The difference is they have an office twist. It's not curling; it's team chair curling. Competitors push seated teammates, in office chairs, curling-style toward designated points on the floor.

In the biathlon, tricycle riders follow a defined path around the office, then shoot a Nerf target.

Participants hold three poses and long as possible and judges score their form. That's office figure skating.

Nintendo Wii ski jumping is self explanatory. And using mini hockey gear, Offlympians shoot ping pong balls into a tiny net for their version of Oshie in Sochi.

What's going on? The goal of the 2014 Offlympics is to bring together the teams of the three participating companies and take advantage of all the creativity and talent on their teams.

"We had our own Maestrolympics during the 2012 Summer Games," says Maestro’s President Jen Randall. "It was such a great experience for our team that we decided to expand this year’s games to our friends over at Rhino Media and Newmind Group. It’s so important to take time to connect with our downtown Kalamazoo neighbors and this is a really fun way to do it."

There's an element of seriousness in between all this hilarity.

"Building a fun, vibrant and hard-working community in downtown Kalamazoo helps us attract and keep extraordinary talent and increase innovation. Plus we get to see their competitive skills," says Matt Vollmar, CEO of Newmind Group.

Maestro builds tools such as custom mobile apps, training and development programs, desktop and online applications and strategic solutions for sales, marketing and business operations.

Newmind Group is an award-winning IT Managed Service provider specializing in cloud computing solutions.

Rhino Media creates videos that tell stories and emotionally engage audiences.

Source: Dan Proczko, Newmind Group