Aloha! Last week we gathered with TYR Sport in Long Beach to enjoy a sunset paddle for our Outrigger Canoe Team Building Race event. Participants were treated to a brief lesson on the history of outrigger canoeing in California and a hands-on lesson in paddling. Then it was into the canoes for the tournament!
Our experienced na ho‘okele (steerers) captained each canoe and urged the teams to huki (paddle fast)! Their expertise was welcome since outrigger canoes are much more difficult to navigate than regular boats. Outrigger canoes require synchronicity and communication between teammates. Hence, outrigger racing is perfect for team building! If crews are able to work together they can get their vessels cutting quickly through the waves. Their speed when manned by a cohesive team invokes the memory that these canoes were once used as powerful war vehicles. Read more
https://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ff_website_main-495x226.png00Kelsey Cohenhttps://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ff_website_main-495x226.pngKelsey Cohen2018-02-23 19:15:202023-02-27 15:23:30Outrigger Canoe Team Building – Out-paddle the Competition!
We had a totally radical time with Ghirardelli Chocolate Company at the Pasea Hotel in Huntington Beach for an 80s themed team building event. Our newest, coolest and raddest Totally 80s Decathalawn! Our tubular clients came dressed to impress with leg warmers, bright makeup and BIG hair! Awesome costumes included Marty McFly, Slash, Madonna, Ghostbusters and lots of Jazzercise get-ups. Even our team got in on the neon fashion action!
Classic 80s Games With a Team Building Twist
We introduced new games inspired by the decade we were celebrating. Teamwork really came into play with Team Pac-Man. Individual team members controlled isolated movements of our favorite pie man. Everyone worked together to make sure Pac-Man ate all his Pac-Dots while avoiding the ghosts! Read more
As we look toward the end of the year I get excited for our corporate give back events. I love seeing the ways companies use their corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments to become heroes to their local communities. Whether your company culture includes year round employee volunteering or a charitable large group team building event, here are five ways your team can give back.
1. Beach Clean Up Large Group Team Building
All the fun in the sun of a beach day coupled with the feel good emotions of civic responsibility make beach clean ups a popular option. Plenty of gloves, trash bags and trash pickers help keep the gross factor down while staff comb the shore for “buried treasure”. Consider giving the event a competitive edge and reward the team that has the most bags filled. Be sure to take before and after pictures so your team can reflect on all the good they did for the environment!
2. Toy Drive with a Twist
Spice up your year-end Toys for Tots drive with a Minute to Win It: Holiday Edition event. Offer up awesome toys as prizes that winning teams can earn for each round of competition playing games inspired by the television show, Minute to Win It. Then round up these toys to make a truly meaningful donation delivery. Cap the night off with hot cocoa and caroling for a festive good time. And might we suggest one of the games your staff of elves compete in be the “Tinsel Twerk”? Read more
https://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/large-group-team-building.png320700Kelsey Cohenhttps://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ff_website_main-495x226.pngKelsey Cohen2017-09-06 20:24:342023-02-27 15:43:14Large Group Team Building: 5 Ideas With A CSR Focus!
Looking for a great way to get your group out of the meeting room and into the glorious sunlight? Imagine doing just that while also building strong working relationships in the process. These are the big draws for our ever popular Techno Rally team building scavenger hunt.
Location, Location, Location
First, pick any location. Our clients have been spotted arm-wrestling senior citizens and admiring Manic Panic hair-do’s in various parts of Los Angeles and Orange County. Any interesting location where you are having a meeting or group event is an option. Then, let us create a hilariously wacky adventure that your co-workers will thank you for arranging.
The Team Building Scavenger Hunt Is On!
Your group will be mixed into teams who will take on crazy challenges like re-enacting high school prom photo poses. So, we’ll give them a chance to cheese it up and chase each other down as they race against the clock to complete as many challenges as possible. Groups begin by picking team names that will strike fear in the hearts of their opponents. Then, each team will pick an “App Master” who will download our scavenger hunt mobile app. The app keeps the group in check as to what’s next on the timed agenda. Strategy is key because there’s no way to complete all tasks in the time allotted. Groups must wisely choose which tasks to tackle for the most points.
Finally, they’re off to snap photos with iconic local structures, interact with the locals, and other outlandish actions. Teams will be virtually race each other as they move up and down the app’s leader board throughout the event. And lastly, they must make it back to the final meeting point before the buzzer. We turn off the leader board results in the final moments, so the winner will be a surprise to all participants. The first round of drinks are on the winning team!
Personalization For The Win
Clients can add personal touches to the event with trivia questions or other checkpoint challenges related to the company. We will help you design the event to drive home a deeper team building message to everyone on your team. Contact James Bennett at james@fireflyteamevents.com to get a-movin’ and make this adventure happen!
https://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/team-building-scavenger-hunt.png320700Kristin Sanchezhttps://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ff_website_main-495x226.pngKristin Sanchez2017-08-21 20:24:362017-08-21 20:30:10The Techno Rally: A Bold And Crazy Team Building Scavenger Hunt
I recently attended an expo at the Anaheim Convention Center. It may have been a Disney fan convention. My nerdy-ness knows no bounds. If you are brought out to Anaheim for a sales conference or meeting, know that the city has so many unique venues for a team outing. What was once just sprawling citrus groves is now jam-packed with entertainment options. I’ve compiled my favorite ideas for Anaheim team events below.
1. Disneyland Scavenger Hunt
We’ll start with the giant mouse in the room. Anaheim is most widely known as the home of Disneyland. Its popularity is all encompassing and certain to peak with the upcoming addition of a Star Wars themed land. I love Disneyland for all the great photo locations throughout the park. Grab your team for FireFly’s most magical team building challenge: a scavenger hunt at Disneyland Resort. We’ve run hunts both in the park and exclusively in the adjacent Downtown Disney shopping area so theme park admission isn’t always needed. This option is great for staff that are bringing their families with them or teams that like to be a bit Goofy!
2. Escape Room Anaheim Team Events
FireFly’s love of escape rooms is well documented. In fact, our facilitators have collectively completed over 50 rooms. One of our absolute favorites is Cross Roads Escape Games, located in Anaheim! We attempted their Hex Room together and had a blast. Themed after the scary movie genre, we had to race to solve the case of the murderer and find our own survival tokens. The Hex Room is unique because each participant is placed in their own room with limited communication to the rest of the team. More so, its a unique challenge that benefits from a thorough debriefing afterwards. Consider contracting an experienced facilitator to help your team draw meaning out of their experience.
Anaheim is home to two great sports teams. The Angels baseball team and the Ducks hockey team. Tickets to one of their exciting games is always a good incentive reward. Make your team the star by booking Anaheim team events at the Honda Center or Angel Stadium.
4. OC Foodie Paradise
If you have any foodies in your group, you’ll need to visit the Anaheim Packing House. The building is one of the few remaining structures from the agricultural era of the town. Take a culinary tour through the two story mecca of southern California cuisine. You’ll often find local musicians performing free concerts here, so it’s a great spot for groups wanting food and entertainment on a budget. This trendy spot is popular among locals so we recommend using Anaheim’s superior public transit to arrive stress free.
5. I.P.A. I.Q.
It might be due to the high population density of service industry workers, but Anaheim is home to some really good bars. So if you like craft beer, Lyft over to Bottle Logic Brewing. Craft beer made from SCIENCE! You can even get your brew in a chemistry beaker. I like their bar for the wide open seating area that’s perfect for mingling or as a setting for our Game Showdown.
Anaheim is a great city that extends beyond the tourist attractions. If you’d like to enjoy the town with a kick awesome team building twist, contact us at james@fireflyteamevents.com or 877.267.1939
https://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/5-anaheim-team-events-ideas.png320700Kelsey Cohenhttps://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ff_website_main-495x226.pngKelsey Cohen2017-08-03 11:00:272017-08-03 17:57:195 Fresh Ideas for Anaheim Team Events
Congratulations on completing your team building experience! You should now have a super powered team that is completely perfect. No? Your team is only mostly perfect? Well, that’s because your team building should never be “completed.” The value of any team building comes from reflection and implementation. The actual activity, while probably awesome and Instagram-worthy, is neutral in achieving your goals. Follow these strategic steps to create value for your team in between epic outings.
Debrief, Debrief, Debrief!
During your event one of our team building ninjas likely led your group in a discussion about how your team performed during the challenge. Your company likely already has a debriefing procedure or strategy in place to discuss how projects turn out. Debriefing is where we examine the experience to find the value and actionable data. The key with team building debriefing is the actual activity is inconsequential. The specifics of what your team did to accomplish a team building challenge doesn’t matter nearly as much as how your group functioned.
Michelle Cummings, a leader in team development and coauthor of A Teachable Moment warns “If participants are not allowed to reflect on their experiences and relate them to the outside world, then a lot of the learning may be lost” (Cummings. “Effective Debriefing Tools and Techniques”) Gather the team together once you’re back at the office. Engage with the staff about how they felt and what they noticed after the activity. You can even ask each member to write down one take away from the event. Utilize these takeaways as talking points in the future. Check out Cumming’s guide “Effective Debriefing Tools and Techniques” for some great ideas on switching up your debriefing technique. It will keep things fresh and interesting. Read more
https://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Make-team-building-count.png320700Kelsey Cohenhttps://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ff_website_main-495x226.pngKelsey Cohen2017-07-27 16:37:402023-02-27 16:07:16How Successful Teams Make Team Building Count
As temperatures rise and summer vacation photos float around the office you may notice a drop off in employee engagement and energy. When you think back to the holidays when everyone was excited about what lay in store for the future of the company you may wonder how to recapture that festive spirit. Summertime is a great opportunity to promote team bonding. You don’t need to wait until December for the office holiday party with these Christmas in July summer team building ideas.
Charity Bike Build
Most offices only consider their corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment during the holidays, but you can do some good year round. Firefly Team Events’ Bike Build will fill your team with holiday cheer. At this event which can be run in the office or as part of an outing, your teams will be led through the assembly of children’s bicycles. We also bring craft supplies out so employees can make personalized cards which turn these donations into heartfelt gifts. Local, underprivileged kids get as excited for these gifts as they do for Christmas morning. Read more
https://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Christmas-in-July-2.png320700Kelsey Cohenhttps://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ff_website_main-495x226.pngKelsey Cohen2017-07-17 14:02:332023-02-27 16:08:00Christmas in July Summer Team Building Ideas
You are a competitive force to be reckoned with. You’re not interested in a Kumbaya learning moment, but a chance to demonstrate the wreckage you can cause with your kick butt team. You need to experience our extreme Dodgeball Tournament team building event.
Where: Literally anywhere, we’ve hosted dodgeball tournaments on the beach, in parks, and indoors.
Why: Because your team is awesome and deserves an awesome team building experience.
Setting the Stage for Dodgeball Tournament Team Building
We start off every tournament by assigning teams and gearing up. You bring the “hoo” we’ll bring the “rah”. Those who can’t or don’t wish to participate we’ll crown cheer captains and festoon them with more noise makers than you can shake a spirit stick at.
Next up is a group warm up led by our experienced facilitators. Just because we’re chucking balls at each other with force doesn’t mean we actually want to injure anyone. Once everyone’s muscles have been properly prepared your group will square off against others in a round robin style tournament to crown the ultimate victor. You’ll need to practice the “5 D’s of Dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!” You can choose to have larger teams with alternates to allow for some breathing time during games. Even your strongest athletes will appreciate the respite as this sport is intense! All games will be refereed by our trained staff. Hence there’ll be no funny business with regards to rules or safety. We promise not to throw any wrenches at you.
So whether your team is a bunch of Average Joe’s or more like the Purple Cobras round them up at your next team outing. Our Dodgeball Tournament team building event can be run at a variety of different venues which makes it a flexible option for sales conferences, team bonding activities or motivational meetings. For more information about our team building events or to hear more decade old movie references contact us at james@fireflyteamevents.com.
https://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/dodgeball-tournament-team-building.png320700Kelsey Cohenhttps://fireflyteamevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ff_website_main-495x226.pngKelsey Cohen2017-06-28 08:30:122017-06-28 19:24:19Dodgeball Tournament Team Building: Your Next Extreme Team Experience
Aloha! Last week we gathered with TYR Sport in Long Beach to enjoy a sunset paddle for our Outrigger Canoe Team Building Race event. Participants were treated to a brief lesson on the history of outrigger canoeing in California and a hands-on lesson in paddling. Then it was into the canoes for the tournament!
