Posts Tagged ‘scavenger hunts’
Why So Complicated? Less is More with Employee Entertainment Activities
Friday, June 24th, 2011
I’ve worked with many companies and corporate groups over the years, with the goal of developing customized employee entertainment in NYC and the surrounding areas. I don’t have to tell you how hard New Yorkers are working every day – especially since the economy tanked in 2009, and many people are doing twice as much work for little or no additional compensation. As a result, when it comes to NYC team building activities, the instinct of smart HR managers, recruiters, summer associate coordinators and other staffing professionals is to try and give staff the absolute blowout experience.
While the intent here is solid, in my experience less is actually more when creating events designed to boost employee morale and teamwork. Take scavenger hunts, for example. Before starting a professional trivia company, I had the incredible experience of creating adult scavenger hunts in NYC, primarily for corporate groups. As a naturally curious person with a knack for writing and an intense drive to create fun experiences for people, this was the perfect job; I would literally spend hours, days and even weeks creating customized scavenger hunts for individual companies, and loved every second of it. But was this hyper-detailed production really providing any additional value to our clients?
You see, for people doing a scavenger hunt (or trivia, or obstacle course, or competitive boat race, or cooking class or any other fun group activity) the experience itself is relatively short-lived, typically no more than an hour or two. Does the activity have to be so complex that the experience is muddled by the details? With scavenger hunts, I would become fixated on ensuring that the group got as much out of the event as possible: a fun and memorable experience, rolled into a social activity, with a hearty dose of culture and history education to boot. But you know what? People didn’t care about that so much as they did about winning, having fun memories, and often partying well into the night afterwards.
That’s not to say I don’t think detailed effort should go into trivia team building events – far from it. However, from the standpoint of creating experiences which will be fun and memorable for employees while simultaneously boosting morale, I think that overthinking the activity’s format and content is a waste of time. Keep things simple: events should be incredibly fun, completely different from the day-to-day office routine, incorporating customization to make them more memorable and leaving everyone feeling better about themselves, their colleagues and their work environment.
What do you think? Are you in charge of designing or commissioning staff entertainment activities for your company? What is your opinion on complexity vs. simplicity when assigning value to employee entertainment events?
Why New York City Team Building Events Are Tops
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
New York City corporate team building events are awesome. That may seem like a rather broad, stereotypical NYC-centric statement, but it’s true. Our city is really like no other in terms of diversity, density and sheer variety of options for truly everything imaginable, and team building activities are no exception.
Prior to starting a professional live trivia company, I had the unique pleasure of working for two years with one of the city’s best scavenger hunt companies – yes, there are scavenger hunt companies in New York! These events were so much fun for participants, but were even more fun for me, who’s job it was to write & produce them. At my disposal? A city with so many museums, parks, zoos, landmarks and historical sites, I was like a kid in a candy store. I ultimately decided that live trivia events were more convenient and customizable for team building purposes, but the fact remains that NYC is just a perfect place for scavenger hunts.
New York City is perhaps also the greatest food town in America. If you love to eat great food from a variety of cultures, this is the place to do it- and you’d better believe there are options for food-related team building. Competitive cooking can be found at culinary schools and specially-designed lofts, and with so many star chefs and “foodies” jammed into this city, you can be certain that some of the biggest names in the business are willing to open up their famous kitchens for the ultimate food lover’s cooking experience (for a price, of course- but the option remains none the less).
Speaking of stars, let’s also not forget that many celebrities of all stripes live and work in New York City, making them available for appearances at events - which are suddenly more impactful and memorable. Of course, for the ultimate in employing celebrities for team building purposes, they should do more than simply attend, but should actively engage with the audience somehow – serving as a special celebrity host at a trivia event, perhaps?
Manhattan island also happens to be surrounded by water, creating even more possibilities for team building – competitive rowing, sailing, kayaking, even swimming (for those who dare). For the ultimate group bonding experience, there’s also the Polar Bear Club, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
While there is absolutely a thriving presence of both team building professionals and enthusiasts in other cities, in my opinion no place beats the Big Apple for corporate team building in terms of sheer variety of activities, range of experiences and overall convenience of choice among many, many options.
Do you think that your city has got New York beat by a mile as far as team building goes? Sound off here! The comments section awaits you.
Trivia vs. Scavenger Hunts as a Team Building Activity
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Prior to starting TrivWorks, I had the unique pleasure of working for two years as a freelancer for one of New York City’s most reputable – and busy – scavenger hunt companies (yes, there really is such a thing). Companies would hire out the scavenger company to create/host team building, client entertainment, branding and experiential marketing events, and my job was to both write customized scavenger hunts, as well as to produce/host them. It was a ton of fun for me and, more importantly, for the clients.
When I decided to launch my own team building company, I had a choice of either creating a scavenger hunt company- a proven market where I had a good degree of experience- or to branch out into the world of live trivia, a virtually untested area outside of pub quiz. I am of course thrilled to have done the latter, and believe strongly that I made the right choice; however, is there really a big difference between the two types of activities from a team building perspective?
Let’s take an honest look at both:
Scavenger Hunts
No doubt about it, scavenger hunts are a great way for a group to have fun. I’ve always loved them since I was a kid, and as an adult they still satisfy. There is unquestionably a value in creating a fun, memorable experience for your team by sending them off to find clues and take digital pictures, which may be enjoyed long after the event is over. It’s also a great bonding opportunity, as the group must compete as teams against each other.
I found, though, that the clues themselves could never be THAT challenging, as the goal was for all teams to finish the scavenger hunt route in a given period of time. It’s also hard to customize a scavenger hunt, when the goal is to find the next clue location; can you really change a clue to appeal to group of lawyers, vs. a groups of architects? Scavenger hunts also require a huge time commitment to be done right; 15-20 minutes for orientation, 2-3 hours for the hunt itself, then at least an hour for a wrap-up, photo display and awards ceremony. All told, it’s a long day/night, and can be quite exhausting for participants.
Live Trivia
Like scavenger hunts, live trivia offers a great opportunity for both strong impact and bonding for a group. That desire to “win” is powerful, yet good natured; in the end, everyone really wins, because they had a great time playing the game. With trivia, though, I find that there are many ways to creatively customize questions for a group, which leads to greater impact, thus delivering greater value to groups- especially if the goal is to reward and boost morale. I also like how everyone can participate, regardless of age or disability, which is not the case with scavenger hunts.
One advantage scavenger hunts will always have over trivia is changing scenery; let’s face it, for folks stuck in an office all day, it’s fun to run around the city! However, it’s also nice to stay warm and dry; I’ve seen my share of hunts run in the rain (AND snow), and am convinced indoor events such as trivia are more comfortable. Add in that the total time commitment is only 2 hours start to finish, and you’ve got an experience which will be more favorably remembered in the long run.
Ultimately, the choice of a scavenger hunt versus a trivia event will depend on the group, and both will likely be a fun time. From a corporate team building perspective, however, I feel that live trivia picks up the slack that scavenger hunts can’t make up in customization, comfort, convenience and lasting positive impact.
But that’s just my opinion, and I’m somewhat biased. What do YOU think?
TrivWorks founder David Jacobson blogs daily on a wide range of topics relevant to corporate event entertainment, team building and live trivia. 
