300 Spartans

300 Spartans…

I spent the past four days at the Senezh Management Workshop, which was hosting the final of the It Runs in the Family competition.

I was one of 300 experts—or “Spartans”, as we were called—who observed the teams and awarded them scores.

I had once been on the other side of the barricades as a participant in the Leaders of Russia competition. While studying at RANEPA, I learned the theory behind evaluating projects in large-scale competitions like these. Now theory and practice have come together.

The competition is genuinely huge:

• 300 families from across Russia reached the final;
• Each team has between four and six members;
• Other family members also attend as a support group;
• Some support groups have as many as 22 people;
• Only 30 families will be declared winners;
• Each winning family will receive 5 million roubles towards improving their housing conditions.

They were four fantastic days. The energy at the event was simply off the charts.

Unfortunately, the competition rules ban all gadgets during the assessment sessions. As soon as the official videos appear, I will definitely write another post, because words cannot convey the atmosphere of this celebration.