Have you ever wondered what it’s like to participate in one of the largest internal events at Heineken? In this blog, I’ll be sharing my personal experience of facilitating Heineken Commerce Week 2022, read on to learn more!
What is HCW?
Heineken Commerce Week is an annual week-long event organized by the Global Commerce function at Heineken during the second half of the year. The main purpose of HCW is to align the wider Commerce community around the world with the latest company developments, strategies, and innovations. This way, individual operating countries are informed and motivated to prepare their business pipelines for the next year accordingly.
Usually, HCW is organized in a venue in the Netherlands. However, due to various reasons, the organizing team opted for a hybrid option this year, whereby all plenary sessions were carried out online but there were still in-real-life networking opportunities, and of course, a huge party at the end to celebrate!
My role in HCW 2022
HCW 2022 was one of the last projects that I have participated in during my internship at Heineken. I had volunteered to become one of the two technical coordinators representing my department, Global Commerce Insights and Innovations. Together, the other coordinator and I were in charge of facilitating preparations for the three plenary sessions our department was assigned. In other words, we were tasked with making sure that the contents of the sessions are ready in time.
For me, that looked like scheduling kick-off, follow-up, dry run meetings for each plenary session (which is tricky when your boss flies to a different country every two business days), aligning session speakers with important information and deadlines, communicating with external event and communications agencies, and other miscellaneous tasks.
Now, to the event itself.
Breakdown, brainstorm, email, repeat.
As technical coordinators, the bulk of our work happened before HCW for obvious reasons. For us, this started around one month before the event, when we were first informed about our tasks. Following the first kick-off meeting was a chaotic yet productive month of weekly amended briefs, heated discussions, deadline-chasing, and way-too-long email threads. We made it work in the end, submitting all scripts, PowerPoints, and in-session videos on time.
Though for my colleagues who were not involved in the planning process, it was watching teaser videos and competing in a Spotify challenge. Yes, you read that right – the organizing team had partnered with Spotify to create a challenge for our colleagues in operating countries to make a playlist of five songs that fit the event theme. The country with the most “hearts” on its playlist wins! And so, the countdown to HCW 2022 began with much excitement.
Learn, Share, Re-apply
HCW 2022 kicked off on the 5th of July with a live opening session led by the company’s Chief Commercial Officer. The theme of this year’s HCW is also the Dream of the company’s strategy for 2025 – “Shaping the future of beer and beyond to win the hearts of consumers”. This theme is incorporated in the six to eight plenary sessions broadcast each day on Workplace (work Facebook). After each session, discussion sessions are hosted to allow colleagues to interact with the content and each other.
The week flew by quickly. On the last day of the event, the company’s CEO and CCO sat down together for a live Q&A session. The company leaders emphasized the importance of being curious in learning, sharing knowledge, and re-applying insights into practice. Finally, the most anticipated part of HCW – the summer party – began! With a free flow of beers, food, and music, what more can one ask for?