Next CMD Onsite: February 11-21, 2023 in Thailand
Here’s a quick guide to basic policies and procedures around our onsite.
This is an early draft, we will be filling in many details as we get closer to the date!
Onsite Schedule
Details of the itinerary for each day will be scheduled via a shared Google Calendar – contact Aaron for access.
2/11 Arrival to Bangkok
2/12 In Bangkok
2/13 Flight to Krabi
2/14 – 2/16 In Krabi
2/17 Flight to Bangkok
2/18 – 2/19 WordCamp Asia
2/20 In Bangkok
2/21 Fly out of Thailand
Visas/Immigration
You’re responsible for procuring your own valid passport, visa and any other documents required for entry into Thailand.
Visa fees and related expenses are reimbursable via the normal procedure documented in the Employee Handbook. Use this form for reimbursements. Contact Aaron for pre-approval of these expenses before you incur them as we need to verify that they are reasonable.
Flights
Flights in and out of Thailand should be booked by you, and are reimbursable by Command Media.
Flights inside of Thailand during the onsite will be booked and paid for by Command Media.
Hotel
Your accommodation will be booked and paid for by Command Media. You may be asked to share a room with one other (same gender) employee.
Guests (e.g. Partners, Spouses, Family, Friends)
If you’d like to bring a partner, relative, friend, etc. please contact Aaron with your request by December 31, 2022. Guests will again be allowed to join us this year. Their flights, accommodation, and some activity bookings will be at their own expense, but we’re happy to include them in group bookings, and you can reimburse Command Media for their share of the cost later.
Arrival
Upon arrival you will clear immigration/customs, purchase a local SIM card, and then book transit to the Asia Hotel via Grab. (You may submit receipts for your SIM card and Grab ride for reimbursement.) Once at the hotel you can check yourself in with the confirmation documents we provide. Aaron will arrive in the evening to organize a welcome dinner.
Agenda
The overall agenda and goals for the onsite will be similar to 2020, but frankly we have a lot more ideas and it will be action packed! Activities that will be scheduled include the below. Ample time will also be reserved for some R&R!
- The first ever WordCamp Asia, obviously! (18-19 February)
- Deep dives with team members where we share what we’ve been working on for clients, share the biggest things we’ve learned on recent projects, and strategize on how to cross-pollinate our experiences, improve the company, and improve outcomes for clients
- Sessions with the team where we discuss the future of Command Media, and our foray into software
- Dinner with Seppo, founder of Breezily Oy (one of Anand’s clients)
- Chilling out in Thailand and having a good time
Deep Dive Sessions
During the onsite, you’ll be responsible for leading a deep dive session where you showcase the work you’ve done over the past year. The objective of a deep dive session is for everyone at Command Media to learn more about what you’re doing for your clients. We consider this information very valuable because it helps us (a) better serve our customers and (b) identify opportunities for new products or services related to their businesses.
You will lead Deep Dive sessions on each one of your clients. Please prepare a Google Slides presentation for each client, which should last up to 30 minutes, and expect an additional 15-30 minutes of Q&A. You should also be prepared to screen share and show us assets related to your work with that client such as issue management systems, etc. During your Deep Dive we would like you to present:
- A high level summary of what type of business the client company is in. What industry are they in? What do they sell to their customers? What technologies do they use? In particular, what are the technologies they use (themes, plugins, page builders, hosts, SaaS etc.) in the WordPress ecosystem? Who are the people you work with and what are their job titles? (Include who their managers are, if you know the answer to this)
- An overview of what you are doing personally for that company. Describe your workflow and what a typical day working for this client looks like. What are the tools you’re using? Show us those tools in a screen share. If they’re using an issue management system and source control, we would like to see some examples of typical issues and commits.
- Time permitting, drill into some individual projects you carried out for the customer that were interesting or significant and help us understand your work better.
- Q&A session at the end.