[ehammond]

Hi everyone,

I, like many others, have moved from the EA Toolbox. I'm in Phoenix and we're hosting our annual Sales meeting in July. I am looking for some new, creative ideas for teambuilding activities. I will have app 30 people and am looking for an indoor activity as it's awfully hot here in July. We did a scavenger hunt last year so I'm hoping to change it up a bit this year. Any suggestions are welcome! Thanks in advance!

[Chrissy Scivicque]

Hey there - I've had two great experiences at company events: at one, we were separated into groups and had to create and perform a commercial for the company. Of course, everyone was just silly and we came up with jokes that were referenced for literally years. The second was a Jeapordy gameshow kind of thing, where the groups had to answer questions about the company and also, questions about our bosses. It was hilarious because a few of the questions were really out there.

I'm really interested in this question. Team building games and activities are SO important at meetings and they can also be incredibly fun if done well. If not done well, they can be a little lame. Please offer others, guys!! And good luck, ehammond!

[Libby Huffman]

Great question! Some of the team building games I've been involved with have been more like exercises. I've guided a co-worker through an obstacle course while he/she is blind folded. It's usually fun to see your co-workers as well as yourself fumbling around trying to trust each other enough not to run us right into the wall or trip over a chair. Another challenging one was getting in a group and collectively deciding the 12 most useful items to survive on a deserted island with. Anything that allows the employees to open up and share experiences is always a great way of building a great team dynamic. Have fun with it, I'm sure it'll be a great success.

[ehammond]

Thanks ladies! Your answers have definitely sparked some discussion and ideas flowing. If anyone else has any ideas please let me know, as we do this event every year and I'd like to keep it fresh!

[dianarowe]

Good morning all -- I've written several articles on teambuilding quoting my meeting planning sources.
The first tip is to contact the Phoenix CVB. Actually a CVB should be one of the first contacts you make when you hold a meeting in their city. Their services are free and they will have TONS of ideas to help you.

Secondly, ask your conference services manager at the hotel for suggestions. Again, they will have tons of ideas on and off-site to assist you in creating a successful team-building event.

A few ideas off the top of my head:
Incorporate golf: whether your attendees are golfers or not, there's plenty of golf teambuilding options for non-golfers from putt-putt contests to a full-blown golf tournament.
Scavenger hunts: a great way to explore an area of the city
Game shows: from American Idol to Family Feud to Jeopardy, you can create a game show (and use the CVB or hotel's assistance) that is geared to your audience. For example, make your own set of questions for Jeopardy by asking your attendees to answer questions about themselves and then bring those to the game. One planner brought questions about the company like -- "what year was our XYZ company founded?" to "Who's cubicle is the neatest?"

Hope that help! Diana

[dgallagher]

Pool activities:
-variety of relay races; pool volleyball; etc...

Cooking Activities (indoors): Team Cooking Events
-Team Iron Chef
-Team Creations( i.e.make the best salsa from scratch; name the salsa; create a song or saying about the salsa)

[melly]

Playing games such as twister is good team building. It's different and creates laughter which feels good for everyone.

[bugzna2000]

For an inexpensive, fun teambuilding idea for a larger group, we did a divisional bingo game. Our company regularly uses acronyms, so we created bingo cards (using a free website which automatically generates dozens of cards to ensure no one card is the same). Our first step was to read off a question and people had to guess the associated acronym. Once the right acronym was yelled out, people could mark off their bingo square if their sheet included the acronym. This game allows for mass participation!

[ehammond]

Gosh, it's been forever since I posted this question and after many meeting changes (location, date) we finally had our meeting. We did the Jeopardy game and it was a HUGE success! It was so much fun and people really learned a lot. We broke our people out into teams based on their customers as we had quite a few participants and also assigned members of senior management to play for each team. We had categories like company history, technology, and our industry.

It was a blast-if anyone is interested I can send you the template. I did it in PowerPoint and it was so easy!! Thanks for all your advice, time to start planning next year's event!

[Jodith]

That's great. I'm glad your meeting came off so well!