.atonAcademy Grand Finale: 15 digital artists, 5 challenges, 1 stage
11/06/2025
How do you learn to create value, build relationships based on trust, understand what a customer really needs, negotiate and make the other person feel genuinely heard?
This time, a PowerPoint presentation or a multiple-choice test simply wouldn’t have been enough.
When we started imagining the grand finale of .atonAcademy Tech Sales & Business Development, one thing was clear from the outset: we needed a real challenge.
We needed teamwork, the nerves before stepping up to speak, face-to-face discussion, adrenaline and the unexpected.
In short, we needed a stage. A theatre!
And that is how the idea came about: to turn the final stage of .atonAcademy into a live talent show, where participants could not only talk about what they had learned, but put it into practice on stage in front of a judging panel made up of Aton’s Board.
The challenge? To develop a complete Sales & Business Development plan, with a strong focus on international expansion: target markets, engagement strategies, channels and positioning.
We divided the 15 Workshop participants, our apprentices, into five teams, each assigned to one of Aton’s business lines with the greatest global potential: RFID Retail, Service Desk, Sell Out, LPG and PIM.
Each team was supported by one of our Client Managers acting as a Buddy (Andrew, Cristiano, Giovanni, Matteo and Tania) there to offer guidance and feedback, challenge ideas and help each team find a clear, practical and achievable direction.
The day before the final challenge, we welcomed the apprentices to Aton, arriving from all over Italy.
Some had spent eight hours travelling across the country by train, some had set off at dawn with a backpack on their shoulders, while others had travelled more than 800 kilometres. Their first meeting was a mix of excitement and a touch of disbelief.
Until then, they had only ever met through Teams. Each had their own story and their own journey, yet when they finally met in person at Aton, it felt as though they had known one another for years. The group was already a team.
Then came the big day. The exceptional setting of Teatro del Pane in Villorba provided the perfect backdrop for the final challenge.
The tension before going on stage, last-minute rehearsals with eyes closed, final tweaks right up to the very last second. Knowing smiles between team members, Buddies standing beside them in support, the Masters cheering them on and mentors nodding from the sides of the stage.
Amid all that adrenaline, emotion and determination to do their best, everything we had hoped to see came through: team spirit, communication skills, strategic thinking and, above all, genuine relationships.
Each team had 15 minutes for their pitch: a chance to bring to the stage not just their project, but weeks of work, discussion and shared decisions.
Some chose a sales role-play, others simulated a customer meeting in English, while others built their story around data, insights and vision. Different approaches, but with one thing in common: every presentation had been carefully thought through, developed and delivered with consistency, attention to detail and genuine collaboration.
And there, under the theatre lights, we saw the real purpose of this .atonAcademy come to life: not simply learning how to sell, but learning how to do it as a team.
Some of the projects developed for the final challenge could genuinely become part of Aton’s strategy, while some of the 15 Workshop participants will be hired to join our teams.
Everyone will receive a personalised letter of reference recognising the value they demonstrated throughout the programme.
But beyond the results and the tangible opportunities, there was something that struck us even more.
When we asked each participant for feedback, it became clear just how much this experience had meant to them. In ways that go far beyond anything that can be written on a CV.
Because they didn’t leave with new skills alone. They also left with confidence, relationships and a different perspective on growth.
The understanding that when people work together towards a shared goal, something changes. Both within ourselves and around us.
