There’s a time for tightening security policies, closing tickets, and rolling out new projects… and then there’s a time to stand in a heated bay at Topgolf, eat too much, and see who’s secretly been training for the PGA Tour.
This year’s ThrottleNet Christmas party was very much the second one.
Instead of a formal sit-down dinner or stiff banquet, we kept it simple: the whole team headed to Topgolf to relax, hang out, and do all the usual Christmas party things; just with more golf balls flying through the air.
Why Topgolf? Because “Fun, but Low Pressure” Is Kind of Our Thing
The goal wasn’t to put on some over-the-top event. We wanted something that felt like us: laid back, easy to enjoy, and naturally social.
Topgolf checked all the boxes:
- Everyone can play – Whether you’re a regular golfer or holding a club for the first time, you can jump in without feeling out of place.
- Built-in icebreakers – Nothing gets people talking like cheering on a surprisingly good shot (or laughing at a wildly bad one).
- Move around, don’t just sit – Instead of being stuck at one table all night, people floated between bays, talked with different teammates, and actually mingled.
No agenda. No speeches. Just a night where work conversations took a backseat to friendly trash talk and “wow, I didn’t know you could hit like that.”
What the Night Actually Looked Like
Some folks leaned into the competition, comparing scores and dialing in their swings. Others were there purely for the social side—chatting, laughing, and occasionally taking a swing just to keep their name on the leaderboard.
You had:
- The “I’m terrible at this” people who somehow crushed it.
- The “I’m actually pretty good” people quietly trying not to lose to accounting.
- The “I’m just here for the appetizers” crowd who still ended up having fun.
It wasn’t about who won. No prizes, no official standings—just shared moments and a chance to see coworkers as people, not just names in Teams or faces in meetings.
The Value in a Simple Night Out
For us, the point of a Christmas party isn’t to impress anyone with how fancy it is. It’s to give people space to connect in a way that doesn’t involve tickets, incidents, or deadlines.
A few things nights like this do well:
- Break down silos – Techs, leadership, sales, ops… everyone mixed together. You see people you don’t work with day-to-day and realize you still have plenty in common.
- Reset a little – After a busy year of protecting networks, solving problems, and staying ahead of cyber threats, an easy night out is a good mental reset.
- Reinforce culture without talking about “culture” – You don’t need a slide deck to show what kind of team you are. How people treat each other off the clock says enough.
What It Says About How We Work
It may sound like overthinking a Christmas party, but how a company handles “non-work” time says a lot about how it thinks about work, too.
Choosing something like Topgolf reflects a few things about how we operate as a team:
- We like collaboration without ego – You can cheer for the person next to you while still trying to beat their score. That balance is how we approach projects, too.
- We keep things straightforward – No overly complicated themes or forced activities. Show up, play, eat, hang out. We take the same approach with clients: clear, direct, and focused on what actually works.
- We make room for real relationships – It’s easier to trust the person watching over your network when you’ve seen their “signature swing” at a Christmas party.
Wrapping Up (Pun Intended)
At the end of the day, it was exactly what it needed to be:
A night where the ThrottleNet team could:
- Relax
- Laugh
- Compete a little
- Forget about tickets and alerts for a few hours
No dramatic takeaway. No “this changed everything.” Just a solid reminder that behind all the monitoring, patching, and protecting, there’s a group of people who actually enjoy working, and playing, together.
And honestly, for a Christmas party, that’s enough.
Jeremiah Jeffers
Business Development Assistant
[email protected]
