'The elephant in the room'

The people at S-One Holdings Corp., a Sarasota-based graphics, digital printing and software business, sure know how to party.

For starters, the company, most known for its LexJet subsidiary, took to the streets to celebrate its 20th anniversary. More than 150 employees walked from the company's headquarters on Main Street in downtown Sarasota, in the former Bank of America building, to the bayfront Jan. 24. Then they gathered at Dolphins fountain at Island Park for a flash mob.

The walk-and-mob scene was the final event in what S-One called Convergence 2014, a week-long event that drew employees from the company's offices all over the world, including Asia. The sessions, according to co-founder Art Lambert, were part professional development and part team building. Sessions included:
-Scavenger hunt: Teams worked together to solve clues and explore downtown Sarasota;
-Food and drink festival: Sarasota-based employees invited colleagues from other countries over for dinner. The hosts then cooked a dish from their guest's home country;
-Elephant on the Roof: S-One brought in an elephant statue made of fiberglass and resin it uses for tradeshows. The elephant was driven through town in an open trailer and taken up to the firm's rooftop deck with a crane. The elephant, says S-One, is a symbol of the firm's theme of fast growth, or “the elephant in the room.”

S-One owns several subsidiaries and brands that work with a host of companies, from independent photographers to Hewlett-Packard. LexJet is a Sarasota home grown success story, surpassing $68 million in sales in 2012. Lambert and longtime business partner Ron Simkins, who co-founded LexJet, were runners-up for the Business Observer's Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2008.

“The goal of S-One Convergence was to maximize the strengths and character of each individual employee toward common goals in 2014, producing a united and healthy herd that will positively change the way people do business in the graphics market going forward, ” says Lambert in a release about the event. “Not many businesses started here, are headquartered here and have grown families here.”