I struggled, but I had fun while doing it. This is what sums up my Immersion Camp experience.

The Immersion Camp’s goal is to introduce new joiners to the company, their new colleagues, and to their very first THoM challenge. It’s an off-site week that is filled with lots of formal and informal activities, with a client case being the red thread of the week.

The week started off with a nice breakfast at the offices in Diegem, kick-off presentations, a booster session on e-commerce, and an introduction to the case. At the end of the day, we drove to the off-site location and got to know each other a bit better with an introductory drink (or drinks).

The next days were filled with trainings, workshops to boost our knowledge and onboarding sessions. We learned how to build effective presentations, which turned out to be a very important aspect in conveying our final message to the client. We were able to put into practice our newly acquired skills right away and assess on it when doing a trial presentation per group on Thursday night. During the booster sessions, some experienced THoMers introduced us to the important aspects of growth marketing, as well as insights on gathering and creating value propositions.

Sharpening skills

All coming in handy to solve the case. With a hands-on approach, we could directly try out our new learnings, while being guided and coached by other THoMers. As for the trainings, Frederik Imbo put on a memorable show for us to really grasp why having great presentation skills is so important. Through an interactive and playful presentation, he showed us that non-verbal communication is as important, or maybe even more important, than verbal communication. An inspiring experience for all new THoMers!

These ‘formal’ trainings were alternated with fun and relaxed social activities such as the mentor and counselor dinner, where we got to know a lot of other THoMers, including our personal coaches. We also enjoyed a very spontaneous karaoke night (of which I will spare you the videos) and a surprise activity where we had to unleash our inner Sherlock Holmes to unmask the mole within our group. These moments really made the difference in connecting with new colleagues and creating a nice group atmosphere.

Client case to crack

Of course, there was also a case to crack. We got the opportunity to assist supermarket chain Delhaize in strengthening their e-commerce offer in a highly competitive environment, with a special focus on home delivery. As a group of 26 experienced and non-experienced consultants, the assignment was split into 4 parts and thus 4 groups, according to the framework of the wheel of marketing.

The biggest challenge was the coordination within and across these 4 groups, as the objective was to deliver one coherent story at the end of the week. Personally, as a Junior Consultant, I sometimes struggled to keep up with the trains of thought of my talented colleagues and the pace at which decisions needed to be made. But that’s where the ‘THoM-vibes’ kicked in. Meaning: an understanding environment where every individual gets the chance to grow and learn at his or her own pace, always happy-to-help colleagues, and an extremely positive bunch of existing THoMers! Everyone shares the THoM-DNA, each adding their own personal touch and contributing to this big THoM-network in which we all complement each other.

We closed off this very intense week with the final presentation at the Delhaize HQ in Asse.

It resulted in a nice and fluent presentation by each of us, the 26 newest members of the THoM family. The fact that the Delhaize team was impressed and really enthusiast about our case was the icing on the cake!

In sum, I mostly struggled:

• To get up in the morning
• To go to sleep at night (as staying up was so much more fun)
• To blow away my colleagues in karaoke
• To find the mole in the group (darn you, Sacha!)
• Making my own food again, as the food was there was simply delicious!
• To not miss these little bonding moments when I got home 
  

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