Guest Blog: Annual Meeting Attendees Step Up a Gear For Community Service Event

ACD’s Annual Meeting allows our amazing community to come together for powerful presentations, lively discussions, and networking opportunities. For those few days every November, attendees are no longer competitors, but united as an industry.

Yet, for several hours at this year’s meeting, rivalries briefly emerged for those taking part in our charity bicycle building event.

After a morning spent enjoying our packed program, a hundred or so participants were divided into teams to take on a series of challenges in a bid to win the tools needed to construct fully-functioning bicycles, ready to be packed up and donated to local children through the Nassau County YMCA this holiday season.

Over the course of two hours, the room was abuzz as rival teams tried to outdo one another in a series of mini-games:

• “Around the World” saw players form a large circle, armed with paddles, attempting to pass a ping pong ball from start to finish. It sounded simple, but missing a teammate or letting the ball touch the ground meant having to start over.
• The tricky stacking game “Tower of Hanoi” stumped everyone as they attempted to move parts of a pyramid from one post to another without placing a larger piece onto a smaller one.
• The aptly named “Separation Anxiety” had players grappling with chopsticks as they tried to divide sweets and jellybeans between bowls.
• “Bounce Up” challenged players to use their non-dominant hand to bounce a ball on a table so it could be caught in a cup by a teammate.
• “Pipeline” had teams quickly building a long marble run using different-sized tubing while trying to stop the moving marble from falling out the end and onto the floor.
• Old favorite “Archery” proved a tough challenge too, with arrows flying across the room and few hitting their intended targets.

Those who did manage to successfully complete each activity collected tokens that could later be swapped for the equipment needed to assemble the bikes. Rest assured, all builds were later thoroughly checked by a trained mechanic!

It was great to see the various companies coming together to accomplish a goal. We're all competitors but had to become teammates and work together to try and build these bicycles. You’d think it would be easy, but it really wasn’t – especially when they kept taking tools away from us.

It’s part of the ACD’s culture to bring all these companies together and get them pulling in the same direction. When you go into a room at the Annual Meeting and look around, you can't tell there are 400 different companies there; it feels like there's just one – and I think that's something that’s really unique about this organization.

Community outreach is an integral part of ACD’s ethos and member companies are encouraged to work closely with their local communities and give something back.

We’ve heard so many stories this past year from members that have taken part in some fantastic initiatives. Not only are these activities hugely rewarding and great for team building, but community outreach provides an opportunity to work within your local neighborhoods and highlight the important role you play in the supply chain and the positive impact you have on their everyday lives.

Thanks to all those who contributed at this year’s Annual Meeting and we look forward to hearing more about your efforts in the year ahead.