Team building ideas
Bespoke team building events
There is simply no point having the word ‘creative’ in your company name and not putting it into action when a client requires something completely new and bespoke!
One of our aims is to be an ideas factory for our clients. Clients call or email us with an objective, a brief or a conference theme and want to hear what we can add to their own thoughts to inspire their participants.
There is always a special buzz in the office when this type of enquiry comes in. We gather round, fire ideas to each other and filter out what is practical, relevant and unique. Watching an off-the-wall comment growing into a practical option, and then a real event, is very exciting and satisfying!
We have our extensive range of in-house artists, trainers and facilitators, as well as our trusted external suppliers, to cover almost any situation – from simple to complex.
Here are just some examples of bespoke corporate team events we have been involved in.
Two weeks ago, a last-minute client asked if, in addition to providing a One Voice team building singing event in the day, we could also provide a fun tabletop challenge over dinner. Very quickly, we had to create a series of interactive table tasks as part of a huge competition for 270 people! We incorporated cake decoration and portrait painting and had an incredible Street Moves table-to-table dancing competition.
Just last week, I sat at the top table of a senior partners’ dinner, billed as the guest speaker. All night long, I fended off questions about my role in the organization when in fact I was an imposter! The minute I started my speech, we sprang our Crashing Waiters on the unsuspecting diners. The recent dinner guests that I’d just met just shook their heads in disbelief at the transformation.
To highlight the conference theme of ‘combining the old with the new’, we delivered a ‘Matrix’ drumming event. Emerging from the dry ice and revolving stage set, our drumming event team appeared in long leather coats and sunglasses, while the strobe lights flashed. They then proceeded to blend electronic drums with traditional drums.
One of the strangest requests we have received was to somehow teach a conference audience every possible sound a bicycle could make and then perform these live in perfect synchronisation with a cycling film that had been specially commissioned.
You can, of course, have ideas all day long but they have work! We never forget that we are trusted with budgets and the responsibility to ensure that events flow perfectly on the day. It is our job to take unique concepts and ideas and make them real. As ever, this is only successfully achieved through the skill of facilitators, artists and instructors.
So, please talk to us about your wild and wacky thoughts and ideas for your next corporate event and give us the opportunity to create some unforgettable moments for your company.
For more information about our bespoke team activities, or our team events in general, please contact us. Please don’t forget to sign up to our mailing list to receive our weekly blogs directly by email.
Team events held absolutely anywhere!
We pride ourselves in being able to offer team building events, energisers and ice breakers in any location and type of venue. While most of the time we find ourselves in an ivy-covered stately home, shiny conference centre or a city hotel, occasionally we have to deal with more challenging and unique settings!
Last week, we had a Crashing Waiters event with a difference. As usual, we arrived at the venue long before the dinner guests to go over the format with our client and hide the gift bags of instruments that the guests would ultimately play. When we arrived at the address on an industrial estate, we were rather confused to find ourselves outside a gleaming new warehouse. Confusion turned into disbelief as we walked through the towering metal building, which was full of boxes and forklift trucks. Then, right in the middle of the warehouse, we discovered that a stunning indoor marquee had been erected. Walking inside, we found casino tables, a cocktail bar and a ten-piece band setting up! The room was stunning.
It was marvellous to see the look on the faces of guests as they arrived in elegant evening dresses and dinner jackets to discover a factory that had been converted, for one night only, into an inviting and elaborate setting. We had lots of fun, with all the usual hilarity that comes with our dinner entertainment events.
The event made me think back to some interesting past venues for our team activities. For example, I recalled flying to Edinburgh carrying 12 drums for a team building drumming event in a nearby airport hotel. Once there, the manager of the venue was concerned about possible noise issues with other adjacent meeting rooms. His solution was to offer an unused hotel bedroom! So, the bed was removed, chairs brought in and we delivered an intimate and highly successful activity.
On the subject of drumming, I also recalled a very adventurous client who wanted to hold a team event on two inflatable dinghies, just off the coast of Jersey! Apart from the constant motion and the occasional disappearing horizon, it was a lot of fun.
Unusual venues can provide perfect hiding places for unique experiences. As part of a treasure hunt, we took participants around a number of rural locations to search for map coordinates and clues. One location was a derelict farmyard with a very big barn. What participants didn’t know, but soon found out, was that the barn housed a colossal, and fully operational, flight simulator! In just under 40 minutes, participants were wrestling the controls of a Boeing 747 to land safely at the notorious Hong Kong airport. Moments later, exhausted and shocked by the realism of their experience, participants walked back from the barn into the glaring sun and surrounding countryside, making the experience seem even more surreal.
Whether a client wants a weird and wonderful venue, or a conventional venue with no nonsense, we find that adaptability and keeping the surprises coming are important ingredients of a successful event. For more information about any of our events, or for ideas of interesting and unique venues, please contact us.
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Team Apprentice recreates the fun of the TV show
No other TV show has successfully packaged the harshness of business life with brutal interpersonal competition to match the BBC’s The Apprentice. The long walks of doom towards the boardroom and the no-nonsense rulings from Sir Alan Sugar are dramatic to watch!
Whist we definitely recreate all the inter-team rivalry and many other elements from the TV show, the overriding factors in our own team building event version – Team Apprentice – are sheer fun and creative team thinking.
Team Apprentice starts in familiar dramatic style with participants asked to stand while our very own Sir Alan Sugar Rush enters the room, totally in character, with his stern faced assistants. From this moment on, the fun, pressure and healthy competition begin as teams try to avoid the immortal words “Your Fired”!
With a series of interactive team tasks to complete against the clock throughout this popular team building activity, together with occasional team reshuffling, participants get to put all their business acumen into practice. Teams have to think practically, financially and even aesthetically to successfully complete tasks before regrouping in the boardroom to face you know who!
Our Team Apprentice event is very flexible. It can be run as an immersive full-day experience or just for half a day. We can make use of outside locations, if required, or you can completely avoid the rain with participants completing the tasks indoors instead.
Our skilful actors really do make this unique team building activity special, as they seamlessly maintain the flow and energy throughout the day. Sir Alan Sugar Rush is hilarious and regularly pops up when participants least expect him with probing questions and a knowing smile. As each task comes to an end, the pressure mounts and final touches and last minute changes are fussed over.
Team Apprentice lets participants see whole new sides to their colleagues as they work in very new ways together. Leadership, patience and compromise all play a vital part in achieving team success.
So, if you want to have a completely entertaining team building event with all the thrills and spills of the hit TV show, then just give the office a call and tell them ”You’re Hired”! For more information about Team Apprentice, or any of our events, please contact us.
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