[Entrance Ceremony Report – Part 1] Let’s Make an Exciting Entrance Ceremony! ~Welcome Balloons and Fountain Pens~

Hello. This is O from the Public Relations Group.
In this blog post, we will share the details of our company’s recent entrance ceremony.

■Building Excitement! The Welcome Balloon Operation
Once you join a company, the entrance ceremony becomes an annual event, but for the new graduate members who are the main participants, it is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

And the mission given to us, whose slogan is “Let’s Have Fun!”, was “How can we create an entrance ceremony that will remain in their memories?” The condition was “on as low a budget as possible” (laughs).

And the idea we arrived at was… balloons! While it may seem like an orthodox choice, we reached out to an artist active at Dagaya Sandou, a stylish spot near our office, and had them create balloon art for us.

On the day of the ceremony, preparations started at 8:00 AM.
After 2 hours, the balloon art was taking shape… and it turned out like this!
Each star-shaped balloon had the name of a new graduate member. It also embodied our wish that “they will become future stars of SSU!” (And we attached their business cards—the first they would have in their professional lives—to the balloons.)
When the new graduate members came down from the elevator, President Tsugihara greeted them with hugs.

They searched for the balloon with their name among the floating balloons and took photos.
Everyone’s smiles were truly dazzling!

Aside from Tsugihara getting carried away and hugging a male member with over 15 years of professional experience instead of a new graduate member, the balloon operation can be called a success.

And these welcome balloons ended up in “a certain place” at the end of the entrance ceremony day… but we will introduce that story later.

■The Reason Why Fountain Pen Lines “Cannot Be Easily Erased”
Now, the entrance ceremony finally begins. This time, we held it jointly with our group company, Airside. By the way, the dress code was “Spring” (laughs).

First came the new graduate members’ declarations of commitment. “I want to thoroughly challenge myself with things I love,” “I want to broaden my hobbies and become even more trend-conscious”—each declaration was unique!
After that, we announced the results of “things likely to be trending in six months” that each new graduate member had predicted at the informal offer ceremony six months ago!
https://blog.ssu.co.jp/2017/10/10/13051/
As a result of voting by current employee members, first place went to… “Smart Speakers”!
It seemed like it was already trending six months ago… Well, I suppose it’s a reasonable result (laughs).

And we presented a smart speaker to the first-place new graduate member! …or we would have liked to, but this time we presented them with enthusiastic applause and honor ^^;

When the applause subsided, it was time for the presentation of commemorative gifts.

SUNNY SIDE UP’s traditional commemorative gift—a fountain pen—was presented to each person.
This fountain pen embodies our wish for them to value “their own words” as PR professionals who handle communication.

A few words from Vice President Matsumoto, who has supported SUNNY SIDE UP since its founding.
“I hear that elementary school students in France and Germany are given fountain pens as enrollment gifts. Why fountain pens instead of pencils? Mistakes written with a fountain pen cannot be easily erased like those written with a pencil. They give fountain pens to teach that mistakes you make cannot be erased, and that those mistakes can only be corrected with your own lines.

What path did you take to reach the correct answer? Everyone makes mistakes, but I want you all to keep challenging yourselves. With that sentiment, I presented fountain pens that show where you made mistakes.”
I see. Indeed, fountain pen lines cannot be erased.
As working professionals, we encounter many failures and pasts we wish we could erase.
And as our professional lives grow longer, we sometimes look away and move forward even when we notice our mistakes.

But it is also true that we can only move forward by confronting the “lines” we have drawn.
Properly reflecting on failures, learning from them, and identifying issues are necessary to draw new lines.

As I was questioning myself about what kind of “lines” I have drawn in my professional life so far,
I reached the character limit for this blog post.
Where did the balloons end up…? To be continued in Part 2!