What’s all the Hoopla About? Cisco Fun!

They’re not pool sharks. They’re not hard-core gamers. They’re not Forrest Gump at the ping-pong table. They are, however, out to have fun together in what they call the Digital Halftime Hoopla lunchtime competition. They’re Cisco’s Digital Strategy and Enablement (DSE) Team!

“The Halftime Hoopla is a friendly competition,” says Kate Spring, a program manager for the DSE Team and the brain-child of the Halftime Hoopla. “Well, maybe sometimes it can get kind of heated. We’re a competitive bunch!”

Competitive in a friendly way, with no skills required, rest assured.

“In this competition, you don’t need to be good, you just need to be enthusiastic,” says Jennifer Mitchell, a project manager for the DSE team and Kate’s partner-in-crime for managing the program.

The DSE team is made up of seven groups, but to round it out to an even number of teams, the eighth team consists of the DSE leadership. Each group chose their game-face moniker. For example, The Digital Experience team competes as U-X Factor. The Digital Services and Platforms Team plays as the Smooth Operators. And the leadership? They’re the Space Invaders. And the team everyone wants to beat. *wink*

Each quarter finds the teams competing in something different in a different part of the San Jose campus. The first quarter was all about trying their skills at video games (Mario Kart!) in the video game room. Next came breaking in the pool table. The current challenge is Ping-Pong.

Teams play each other in a half hour slot during lunch, and team members sign up to play via the internal Jive community. There’s a whole point system, to make it as fair as possible, and an entirely made-up set of rules to keep it light and fun.

Their prize? Glory. Bragging Rights. And, of course, the hand-made trophy, that could be an Emmy for as much as the teams compete for it.

“Everyone wants that trophy,” Kate laughs. “It’s really coveted, and sometimes carried around the office.”

Sound like fun? Their building office mates agree. Other teams linger in the hallways to watch and see who wins, sometimes cheering them on, sometimes consoling them in defeat. You can even tune into the occasional Periscope live-stream of the competition. Sometimes, with the Twitter hashtag #DigitalHoopla, they’ll display their skills (or lack thereof) for the world to watch.

“It makes people play a little differently when they know they’re being watched live,” Jennifer jokes.

Now, the DSE team is taking their game to the streets – of the Cisco San Jose campus that is. They’re trying to find ways to make it fun for other teams as well. Employees, you might want to start thinking of your team name – they’re coming for you!

If you want to have fun where you work, perhaps a job at Cisco would be a good match! See open roles at Cisco Careers.