2019: a year in focus

Where we’ve been

Whilst not quite global domination, 2019 has definitely been an international year for us. Robbie has clocked up the most miles, as he travelled from Vietnam to Toronto via home and Italy in just over a month. There’s more on that environment-punishing schedule later.

These adventures included the completion of our five year engagement with the Government of Ontario and a whistle-stop tour of Ottawa, Waterloo and Toronto. The latter being a chance to help Birmingham City University gain some best practice knowledge on delivering STEAM topics . Alongside this, we managed to cram in a filming trip to Ho Chi Minh City with our good friends Vyka. Despite humid conditions, the team filmed video content for our Nord Anglia instance of ReelLearning.

The rest of us were not quite so well travelled, although visits to Newcastle, High Wycombe and London were all highlights.

We’ve continued to strengthen our relationship with the British Council’s library service in Pakistan. Lastly, we launched a brochure website for the San Leonardo holiday resort in Italy (a first for us in the travel sector).

What we’ve been working on

2019 has been a busy year for website go-lives. In June we were part of a team launching a very exciting site for the Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC). It was great to work with Entec Si, 18a Productions and the digital team at CSSC in what became an all-consuming project for us.

In October, we launched the Common Room of the Great North website and in November the Wenlock Olympian Society instance of our Corals platform. Notably, on that project, there was great excitement as Olympic triple jump champion and Wenlock president Jonathan Edwards got to meet our very own Matthew! (err, who is editing this?)

Just when we thought we could all take a breath, to end the year, Becky stepped back into the world of AV. Once again, working with Entec Si, Becky has been helping to scope the digital experience for a refurbishment of Hammersmith and Fulham Town Hall.

What we’ve been writing about

As the saying goes, the keyboard is mightier than the sword, and so we’ve had a few things to talk about this year. Our main topic of conversation was Google Lens and the idea of family photos. This also featured Robbie’s dubious collection of family pictures!

We also wrote about Carbon Guilt, a very worthy cause that Ammba has invested in during 2019. As the name suggests, this is a carbon offsetting initiative which the whole team 100% believes in. It’s a great way for us to balance our carbon footprint against all our travels.

At work and play

So, what about the team outside of work? Robbie and Becky’s daughter started school and their son is now at preschool. Understandably this is as much a shock for the parents as for the children. Buffy is gearing up for a momentous family event – her daughter’s 21st birthday celebrations in early January.

Meanwhile, Matthew is learning to adapt to having a teenager in the house and the Ammba family is super excited about Nadine’s new arrival, which is due in March.

It’s Christmaaaaaas!

It’s been a fun-filled year for us all and we’re looking forward to a well-earned festive break. Thanks again to all who have joined us on our journey through 2019. We can’t wait to see what 2020 brings!