If you tell your employees you’ll be doing some team-building activities together, what would their reactions be? If you’re getting more eye rolls than enthusiastic “Heck yeah!”s, that’s a sign you need some fresh employee bonding ideas. Read more
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
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!
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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
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.
Who: You and a handful of coworkers.
Against: The rest of the force.
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.
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.
Here’s your excuse to buy that rotating triple barrel precision shot Nerf blaster you’ve been eyeing in the toy section. Play, such as firing foam darts, is a valuable office team building activity that can actually increase productivity by providing employee fun. And yes, I’m serious about this. I never joke about fun.
As children we are encouraged to play to strengthen our creativity, build problem solving skills and improve communication. Once we grow up however, we’re expected to stop playing and focus on “work”. Work tends to involve using creativity and communication to solve problems, so why does play suddenly become unimportant once our ages pass the range listed on toy packaging? Scientists like Stuart Brown have been studying the correlation between play and success at the National Institute for Play. Psychologists have begun encouraging adults to harness the power of play so that we can continue to reap the benefits of it.
No doubt over the next several weeks, your company will hold a sales meeting to share in the corporate successes of 2016 and discuss the best interest of your organization for the new year. As far as your employees can expect, it’ll be conducted as many a sales meeting before, with talk of market strategy and bottom lines.
Imagine, if you will, a scene in which your sales meeting is coupled with a charitable team building event! Suddenly your attendees are talking more than facts and figures; they’re actively engaged in a task that will transform the community you serve! Several options exist to make your upcoming meeting the best it’s ever been! Read more
