meeting attendee travel tips

Business Travel Tips to Get Out of Your Hotel Room!

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Traveling for business can be a great perk, but it can also be dull and lonely at times.  When your meetings are done, solo business travelers often find themselves alone in their hotel room flipping through cable channels, missing home, contemplating the function of a rubber duck.  Avoid this sad image and utilize your time for maximum awesome. As a corporate facilitator I travel several times a month, and I’ve picked up a few business travel tips to combat boring. Following this advice your social media followers will think you’re at vacation, not a conference.

Explore the area

Even if your destination wouldn’t be featured by LonelyPlanet anytime soon, there’s still plenty of unique local sights to experience.  To get off the beaten track of museums and aquariums check out atlasobscura.com. It will show you often overlooked attractions near you.  If you have time, you could also enjoy some nature. I always bring a swimsuit and sneakers I can hike in and use the AllTrails app to help me find routes to explore.  Seeing the area will give you great conversation topics the next day when people ask how your travel has been. Read more

Help Send Rashad and Amir to Camp Woodward

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With our Ramp It Up skate board build team building event, an ultimate goal is to bring greater accessibility for youth in all walks of life to the sport of skateboarding. We came across a heartwarming campaign just as we’re preparing to facilitate another Ramp It Up event next week: Rashad and Amir are brothers in Detroit, Michigan. They took up skateboarding a little over two years ago and have flourished in the sport. The siblings have wanted to attend Camp Woodward, the ultimate summer camp for youth skateboarding since they were first introduced to the sport. As you can probably imagine, skateboarding summer camp does not come cheap. We’re sharing their GoFundMe campaign in the hopes of bringing awareness to their positive story.

https://www.gofundme.com/send-radhad-and-amir-to-camp-woodward

  • Brothers Rashad and Amir

The Not Impossible Labs

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Graffiti is has a special role in our collective Firefly hearts. When I saw what the Not Impossible Labs was doing to help Tempt, a graffiti artist paralyzed by ALS, I had to share. Not only was I moved by the story of Tempt, I am blown away by the mindset and hustle of The Not Impossible Labs. When I travelled through India I learned the phrase, “The only thing that is impossible is No.” To me, that captures the spirit of the Not Impossible Labs. Watch out Mick Ebeling I may come knocking on your door sometime soon =)   – James B, CoFounder of FireFly Team Events

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best escape rooms for team building in orange county logo corporate

5 Best Escape Rooms in Orange County [Updated for 2018]

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Nearly two years ago I shared my thoughts on the top 5 Best Escape Rooms in Orange County.  What was a rising hip trend has become a fully fledged recreation industry complete with die hard enthusiasts.  You don’t have to be a Sherlock Holmes to enjoy an escape room, they’ve become a popular social activity for all groups.  With their sudden prevalence it can difficult to choose which room is right for you, especially if you’re new to the game.  I’ve sifted through the legions of escape rooms and have determined my top 5, all of which have a unique excellence that makes them worth checking out.

It’s no secret that we at Firefly Team Events love escape rooms. With so many rooms to choose from it can be daunting picking the right room for your team. With the help of my fellow escapees I compiled a short list of my favorite escape rooms in Orange County. I consider theming, creativity of puzzles, difficulty and overall entertainment value. If a room sparks your interest I encourage you to check it out, let them know who sent you and see if you can beat our time!

Read our blog on how to make escape rooms more meaningful for corporate groups http://fireflyteamevents.com/escape-rooms-corporate-team-building

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Everything You Need To Know For Your Huntington Beach Conference

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Planning to attend the 19th Annual International Lung Cancer Congress at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach from July 26-28, 2018? Have you and your group finalized your accommodations, places to see, and things to do? As a team building event company based in Huntington Beach, we’re confident that we can steer you in the right direction. Read on about experiencing the best that “Surf City, USA” has to offer during your Huntington Beach Conference.

FireFly Iron Team ChallengeTeam Building To-dos in Huntington Beach

Before we give you the 411 on the best places to stay and see in Huntington Beach during the 19th Annual International Lung Cancer Congress, what about the best things to do? Namely, the best things to do with your group of colleagues coming to the conference together? Lucky for you, dear reader, you’re looking at the greatest team building company the world has ever known (ahem) AND we’re based in Huntington Beach. Check out these team building event options our team can produce for your team to help boost camaraderie, morale, and FUN during your time in Huntington Beach. Read more

culinary team building

Food Fight! A Culinary Team Building Event

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When Genmark Diagnostics approached us about creating a custom team building event involving a cooking competition with a “fighting” theme, we knew it was the perfect opportunity to get our culinary creativity on. We came up with an epic fight of the food trucks culinary team building competition that took place at the beautiful Laguna Cliffs Marriott. Team competed to create unique food truck concepts and signature entree dishes. The food trucks and dishes all had to have a “fighting” theme.

culinary team buildingEach team conceptualized, prepared, plated and served a unique dish featuring a secret ingredient. They were also responsible for wowing the judges with a 1-minute presentation featuring life size renditions of their food truck designs. Read more

Your Childhood Game of Tag is Now a Professional Sport Called World Chase Tag

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Can’t touch this.
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Original article posted on Laughing Squid:

Brothers Christian and Damien Devaux founded World Chase Tag, an exhilarating competitive sport that combines parkour, obstacles, and the classic childhood game of tag.

This is a team format that is played by two teams in each match. Each team has a maximum of six athletes. The match is divided into sets. Each set consists of a pre-determined number of chases (usually 10-16 chases). Each chase is twenty seconds long and has one chaser and one evader from opposing teams. The winning athlete in each chase stays on as the evader and the losing athlete is replaced by a teammate in a new chase who comes on as the Chaser. If an athlete steps out of bounds, they lose that chase. A team is awarded one point when their athlete successfully evades their opponent for the entire duration of the chase (i.e. 20 seconds). The team with the most points after of the pre-determined number of chases wins that set. Tags must be made with the hand (i.e. NOT your foot).

Outrigger Canoe Team Building – Out-paddle the Competition!

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outrigger canoe team buildingAloha! 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

CEO and Co-founder, James Bennett FireFly Team Events Interview with USA Weekly

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USA Weekly recently did an interview with James Bennett, CEO and co-founder of FireFly Team Events. Check out James’ FireFly Team Events interview session below.

Starting a business is a big achievement for many entrepreneurs, but maintaining one is the larger challenge. There are many standard challenges that face every business whether they are large or small. It is not easy running a company, especially in a fast-paced, ever-changing business world. Technology advances, new hiring strategies, and now, political changes coming with the new administration, all add to the existing business challenges that entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives have to deal with.

Maximizing profits, minimizing expenses and finding talented staff to keep things moving seem to be top challenges for both SMBs and large corporations. We have been interviewing companies from around the world to discover what challenges they are facing in their businesses. We also asked each company to share business advice they would give to a younger version of themselves.

Below is our interview with James Bennett, Founder and CEO at FireFly Team Events:

What does your company do?

We design interactive team building events for companies who want to improve their culture and engagement. We use play as a vehicle for teams to explore communication, trust, vulnerability, collaboration, and leadership. Our events allow your employees a safe space to explore new relationships and ideas. They also create opportunities for employees to show talents in previously unrecognized areas. Each event is designed for maximum participation so that every person has a way to meaningfully contribute to a win.

What is your role? What do you enjoy most about your role? 

I’m the CEO and I take a large role in creating new programming for our clients. I LOVE that I get to shape the vision of both our company and create new experiences for our clients. My favorite client is the one who challenges me to get more out of an existing program or to create a new idea for their specific needs. We often have to be agile with both concepts and implementation but I thrive in those circumstances. I get to be creative, technical, and help other people realize their goals.

What are the biggest challenges in your business right now?

The biggest challenge we face right now is scale. We’re at a growth point where we need to invest in infrastructure in just the right amount to stimulate growth. For our company that means finding the right people for the right positions. Where can I apply my efforts to see the maximum amount of return. As a small company we have to say “no” often to insure we’re focused on the right tasks, clients, and outcomes. I haven’t found a magical solution to that yet but I have found great sources of advice.

If you could go back in time, what business advice would you give to a younger version of yourself?

There are people out there that have the business knowledge you need and will give it to you for the cost of lunch. Reach out often and be humble. Surround yourself with positive people and find a group of people going through similar business struggles. It doesn’t matter if they’re the same industry. What matters is that they understand what it means to own a business and the attached struggles. Also, don’t worry about being first just focus on being great at what you do. Often time the innovators see success that creators might miss.

Winter Olympics Team Building

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Let the games begin.

The XXXIII Winter Olympic Games will begin next month. So that means it’s perfect timing for an Olympics team building event for you and your office team!

Here in Southern California, we pretty much win at the weather lottery year round. So even our winter months are great times for an outdoor beach Olympics. The series of challenges featured in our beach Olympics bring out both the fierce and the fun in all participants. Smaller teams are created and compete head to head in physical challenges. Most importantly, the challenges are adapted directly from actual team building concepts designed to get teams thinking, talking, and working together.

Maybe outdoor Olympics is not your thing? We still have you covered with fast paced team competition indoors. Our Minute Madness is our team-based take on the popular game Olympics team buildingshow, Minute to Win It. Each of the 1-minute challenges are wacky and hilarious, yet bring out the competitive spirit in everyone. And we always have a purpose to the fun. In Minute Madness’ case, we designed the fun to focus on full team participation. We also cover concepts like dynamic problem solving, communication, and relationship building.

Once all points are tallied, we bring the Olympics flair even ’til the end by awarding the top team with a medal ceremony for the ages. Maybe you really want to get into the theme? An opening ceremony, parade of the nations, and torch lights are totally all options! Whether you stage the competition indoors or out this Winter Olympics season, you’re honoring your employees’ accomplishments by getting them out of the office and encouraging their engagement.

We’re pros at producing Olympics team building competitions!

Go for the gold this winter by getting in touch with us to help plan your team Olympics event. Fill out a website contact form, email us directly at events@fireflyteamevents.com, or call 877.267.1939!