MiM Games 2016: Diary of a Great Event

Diary of a Great Event

The countdown to the MiM Games

What are the MiM Games? An annual event organised for students of IE's Master in Management programme.

Friday 3 June, the moment has arrived. After weeks of planning and preparation, searching for venues, long hours debating the most suitable games, visits to sports centres, clubs and restaurants, meetings with the client to leave nothing to chance, checking menus and cocktails, buying all the materials needed for the events to go well, preparing a complete briefing document for all instructors, finalising the details of each activity, talking to all the suppliers and collaborators who took part in the team building event, the MiM Games, and thinking through every alternative in case something didn't go as planned... After all this, which may have taken dozens of days, we found ourselves facing the long-awaited day. And it's truly exciting!

Anything not already done will be hard to pull off. Anything not planned will be hard to improvise. Although fortunately, many years of experience teach you it's impossible for everything to go exactly as planned, we arrived with the peace of mind of a job well done and the readiness to fix any surprises. Every activity is well-tested and has been run dozens of times, but it's a very large group and, as the fateful Murphy's Law says: "If something can go wrong, it will."

It's 08:15 in the morning, we're at Golfcanal. The evening before, when we were supposed to set up (estimated to take about 3-4 hours), we were surprised to find that venue security wouldn't let us in. Due to an internal communication error, not only could we not unload the three vans full of equipment, speakers, fences and everything else, but we were also told they had no record of this event taking place on the 3rd... After an hour of waiting, and seeing they weren't offering any solution, we decided to unload right there on the street, by hand, under the astonished gaze of passers-by looking at us with a mix of pity and curiosity. It took us an hour and a half to finish, instead of the 10 minutes it would have taken with vehicle access. But our worries didn't end there: access for the day of the event still hadn't been confirmed (although Nuria, Golfcanal's sales rep, was doing everything she could, unable to understand how there could be no authorisation from higher up, which she herself had issued days before). We finally said goodbye to her, and she tried to reassure us: "I think tomorrow won't be a problem." Not particularly reassured, and unable to do anything else, we left without dwelling on it too much...

MiM Games. Day One

They let us in. We breathe a sigh of relief. We can finally get in! There we found Kiron, Desiré and Alicia. A tremendous amount of energy, time and enthusiasm invested in organising the MiM Games. Without them, not only would it not have been possible, we also wouldn't have had such valuable ideas, suggestions and contributions. Their team was also fantastic, accompanying and supporting us throughout these two days, making sure everything went well. Little is left to do: set up signage, tents... the last details while we wait for the instructors and, of course, the participants!

Guillermo arrived (our extraordinary host, able to speak English with a Liverpool accent as fluently as his native Spanish, switching registers without missing a beat) and Sandro (our fabulous host, able to get a group of 300 people on their feet in an instant, as enthusiastic as he is confident in his talent). And now, yes, the MiM Games began!!!

Guillermo welcomes everyone by singing the legendary "Welcome and bienvenue", from the film Cabaret. And after going over some general rules, he hands over to Sandro, who gets everyone dancing to the beat of Bruno Mars's "Uptown Funk". The atmosphere is unbeatable. The sun and a great temperature stay with us throughout.

After the first dance, participants head to their zones, where instructors guide them to the stage and each team takes its lane. The most fun games are about to start: mechanical bull, wipeout, giant sack race, cooperative ski race, the wobbly leg, crazy relay, hoop race and water race... Participants' competitive side makes an appearance. Teams try to give it their all. It's hilarious watching them compete and enjoy the sack race, the crazy relay... the men end up soaked trying to carry a tub full of water, inevitably spilling it on their teammates.

The morning goes by. Participants and instructors are having a blast. And the moment for a well-deserved break arrives. A bit of water, a glass of ice-cold sangria and some delicious snacks help them recover strength and get back into it with even more energy, ready to give one final push to secure victory. There's no letting up. Each team tries to claw a metre from their rival. They know the games are about to end, so they put everything into it. Close to the end, on the mechanical bull, a participant falls on his shoulder and dislocates it. Nothing serious, but very painful. Fortunately, we'd hired an ambulance (with a doctor and nurse on board), and in no time the injured participant was immobilised and taken to the nearest hospital. Everything under control.

Once again, the games have come to an end. Now it's time to recover. Grilled vegetables and meat are ready for them: aubergine, courgette and peppers, alongside chicken, chorizo, bacon and morcilla. And all of it, of course, with plenty of beer, sangria and soft drinks. Meanwhile, Marina keeps capturing everything happening with her camera. And Nacho Jáuregui, in charge of video, switching between the camera and the drone, doesn't let a single detail slip by.

Lunch ends and we move to the awards ceremony, where we announce the winning team, which, after a tightly contested fight, was Team No Mercy. They collected their trophy and gifts to the beat of "We are the champions", courtesy of our DJ and host Sandro, always on top of everything happening. Then we move to the last activity of day one: time to test their rhythm and coordination with the Just Dance contest. Teams will need to follow the choreography of different songs, shown on two big screens, video-game style. A table full of props — hats, wigs, boas, glasses and other accessories — not only sets the mood for the activity, but also loosens everyone up and gets them dancing without a hint of shyness. The judges were Sandro and our expert bachata dancers, Álex and Melisa, who didn't hesitate to show off their skill on the floor in front of the audience.

The game kicked off with tremendous energy and excitement, with the girls taking control, showing off their ease and confidence, while songs like "Gangnam Style", "What a Feeling", "Gonna Make You Sweat" and Flo Rida's "Good Feeling" played. The judges found it genuinely hard to score each team without cracking up laughing... until Team Stompers made their appearance. Their performance was spectacular, impressive. Their energy, rhythm and improvisational skill left all three judges stunned, and the final verdict was unanimous: three perfect tens, which finally handed them the trophy as champions of the Just Dance contest!

And that's how we wrapped up day one. Time flies! After ten hours, the happy faces and general smiles of every participant and IE member were, for us, an enormous boost of confidence and self-esteem — genuine recognition of a job well done. We still had a day ahead of us, and lots to pack up and prepare for the following day, but we were so satisfied and happy that nothing could dampen our spirits.

That night, Marina, Nacho and I went to the welcome party, held at the Matt restaurant, near Plaza de Castilla, where a wonderful terrace and a delicious welcome cocktail awaited us, with a menu of cuttlefish croquettes, salmorejo shots and grilled sirloin tacos with onion and port wine. The evening was wonderful. Everyone enjoyed the great atmosphere, and the party was the perfect place to close out this beautiful first day.

MiM Games. Day Two

Saturday 4 June. The show, or the MiM Games, must go on. A cloudy dawn after a night of storms and rain. The day is scheduled at Club Deportivo Puerta de Hierro, home to Europe's largest swimming pool, so the weather has us worried. Fortunately, the clouds soon start to clear and sunlight floods Madrid, putting all our doubts to rest.

Day two kicks off with a massive batucada, where Gastón and his team manage to get everyone caught up in the percussion rhythm. Lefties, tambourines, agogôs and darbukas. Five different instruments for participants. And then it all starts to come together. They fall into a good groove, and soon start playing to the beat of the lefties, setting the rhythm, and the powerful sound of the drums that ends up spreading to everyone there, under a glorious sun and a pool ready to be invaded.

After the batucada, most students dove into the outdoor pool. Only a few brave souls, like Kiron, Desiré or Cristina, stayed with Gastón enjoying the drums a bit longer. What a show! They looked like a real band that had been playing together for years. While everyone splashed around in the water, we finished preparing the next activity, which would also serve as lunch for the group. We had a special surprise prepared, worthy of Masterchef itself: a paella contest! Each team would need to complete a series of games and challenges to get their ingredients, and then cook their own paella. It was a huge hit, and teams worked their hardest to make the tastiest paella. Each chose the ingredient combination they thought best, although valencian paella was the favourite among most. The judges had a hard time deciding. Aspects like presentation, rice texture and, of course, taste, would prove decisive in choosing the winner. And after a lengthy deliberation, there was unanimous agreement: the winning team was, without a doubt, Las Ratillas, who jumped for joy on hearing the verdict. The contest was a total success, the paellas were delicious, and participants, who had brought their own music, had a blast.

And after three hours of competition, it was time to cool off in the pool, though another secret surprise still awaited... Nothing less than a capoeira workshop, where they'd learn the basic steps. Kiron, once again, as usual, was the most active and enthusiastic about the activities.

The day was drawing to a close. Participants were about to board the buses back, recalling the day's best moments, while thinking about what to wear for the big MiM Games closing party, at New Garamond, at 22:00.

Farewell party. The perfect finishing touch.

Our participants started arriving around 22:30, all dressed up, and paraded proudly by the IE photocall, flashing their broad smiles and posing for Marina, who never stopped snapping photos. Little by little, the room came alive, and around midnight, Kiron went on to present the trophy to the big winner — the team that had racked up the highest score across every game over the two days: mini Olympics, Just Dance, batucada, capoeira and the paella contest. Thanks to an excellent score in every single challenge, despite not having won any single one outright, the winner was the great Team Los Pajaritos, whose members screamed with joy on hearing the final result. It was a great night, worthy of an institution like IE, recognised as one of the world's leading educational institutions, whose motto for the MiM Games couldn't have been more fitting: "Great minds play alike".

With the satisfaction of a job well done, we all said our goodbyes, attendees and organisers alike. We're very proud, though we've taken careful note of everything we can and should improve, because we're already thinking about MiM Games 2017 to make it even better.

Thanks to everyone! It was a genuine pleasure to share this incredible experience together ;)