Team Spirit, Tech Nerds & Karaoke Anthems: Our 2025 End-of-Year Blowout
What do you get when you mix two powerhouse teams, a set of shared values, a city-wide race, and the sweet sound of karaoke ballads echoing into the night?
You get the most ProQuest x Decision Inc kind of party there is.
🏆 Morning Glory: The ETHICS Awards, With a Twist
We kicked off the day with our annual ETHICS Awards, the time of year when we take a beat to celebrate our people who’ve absolutely nailed it across our core values:
Excellence, Teamwork, Honesty, Innovation, Customer Centricity, and Social Impact.
This time, we levelled it up. Why? Because for the first time ever, we brought in our peers from Decision Inc for a joint celebration. Turns out their values practically mirror ours. Coincidence? We think not.
More like confirmation that we’re both walking the same track, and now, walking it side by side.
| Decision Inc. Values | ProQuest Values | How they align |
| Passion | Excellence | Drives high standards and exceptional outcomes |
| Personal | Customer-Centricity | Genuine care builds strong relationships |
| Vision | Innovation | Future-focused thinking fuels amazing transformation |
| Collaboration | Teamwork | Working together enables shared success |
| Integrity | Honesty | Built on trust, transparency, and doing the right thing |
| Community | Social Impact | Giving back and making a positive difference |
Winners and runner-ups were given their well-deserved shoutouts. There were smiles, claps, a few misty eyes, and maybe a little humble bragging. All in the spirit of recognising what we’ve achieved together in 2025.
🏃 Afternoon Antics: The Amazing Race: DI-PQ Edition
After the warm fuzzies? It was game time.
We launched The Amazing Race: Sydney Edition, where DI and PQ team members were scrambled into mixed teams and sent racing across the city to conquer challenges, collect clues, and (mostly) not get lost.
Highlights included:
- Learning a Filipino phrase to embrace our cultural diversity and kick things off at HQ
- A team photo on the Opera House steps (tourist vibes, engaged core)
- Pointing at Salesforce Tower like it was our north star
- A scavenger hunt through Pitt Street Mall
- A mini Hyrox-style fitness challenge in Hyde Park (cue the sweat)
- And of course… singing for your life at Karaoke World
Some teams were clearly in it to win it. Others were... vibing. Either way, the chaos was friendly, the spirit was competitive, and the bonding was 100% real.
🎤 Dinner, Dirty Santa, Duets & Decibels
You’d think that after all that racing around Sydney, people would be too tired to party. But no.
We wrapped up the day at Matteo Downtown with dinner, drinks, and the ultimate mix of chaos and cheer: a Dirty Santa gift exchange.If you’ve never witnessed consultants fighting (nicely) over legos, motor and pestle, dusk candles and a family bingo card game , you’re missing out. There were strategic swaps, surprise steals, and a lot of laughter, proving once again that this team can bring the competitive energy to any arena.
Then came karaoke. Again. Because one round clearly wasn’t enough.
Some of the crew made their way back to Karaoke World post-dinner for an encore performance. Power ballads? Yes. Unexpected duets? Absolutely. A room full of tech legends belting out anthems like their lives depended on it? You bet.
If there was a trophy for team spirit and mic commitment, we’d need extra shelves.
💬 More Than Just a Party
We could go on about how much fun we had, but our team said it best:
“Christmas party was so much fun, thank you to everyone involved. Such a nice day and night!”
“Huge thank you team for the awesome day. It was an absolute blast! Loved the smiles, the banter, the celebrations, the workout, the singing, the presents and the Cards Against Humanity. You’re all amazing people and our team is gold!”
“Thanks everyone and well done to all the award winners!”
“What an incredible day… Thank you for being the driving force behind everything we achieve together!”
Whether it was taking home an ETHICS/Values award, navigating a chaotic scavenger hunt, or belting out karaoke classics, this day reminded us of something much bigger than just end-of-year fun:
- We’re part of something greater than just projects and deadlines.
- Culture isn’t just a slide in a deck. It’s the laughter, the spontaneous karaoke, the hugs, the teamwork and yes, the competitive streak too.
- DI and PQ aren’t just aligned in values. We’re aligned in heart, energy and the way we show up for each other.
Here’s to more shared wins, more challenges conquered and absolutely more karaoke in 2026.
