September Team Building News

August was extraordinarily busy. Usually it's quiet because of holidays, but this year it was like a normal month. September is looking very busy too. We're having a night shift in for the first time to unload vans, clean and prepare equipment and reload ready for the following day. We have sold our old Lasersport systems and bought two brand new ones complete with electronic traps. These are extremely slick and a great improvement. We have also ordered two brand new vans from Virgin Cars. They had a very good deal on Citroen Relays offering a discount of nearly 40%. Citroen make a very good diesel engine. You can't cut corners on transport because we need it to be absolutely reliable so that we don't let clients down. Our policy is to have new vehicles and kit and replace them regularly. We're up to 50 instructors in the field and we're now recruiting actively. Our target for next year is 70 and these must be trained to full competency over the winter.



Preparations for Halloweeen are underway and people have already been caught out by heads appearing from holes in tables and a very spooky 6ft vampire which swoops down from the roof on invisible fishing wire. Every so often we've heard a scream from downstairs and some of the girls in the office are refusing to go down there until it's finished. Our product development area is like a mad cross between Department Q and Santa's Workshop!

As the Summer starts to draw to a close

Well, I suppose it's still a bit early to say that. We had a few events on today and the weather was just bizarre. Hailstones in August. August is usually a bit quieter because people go away on holiday and so clients avoid having events during the month. Still, we've had events most days. Now the busiest season of the year for team building events starts to build up. September through to mid November tends to be the big conference season. Hopefully it will be good this year, after all we're still owed a summer!

Busy year for events

2005 is going to be a good year. I estimate it will be more than 30% up on last year. The past five years have included a range of geopolitical events that have adversely affected the events industry. Foot and mouth, 9/11, Sars and the Iraq War are all examples of these events. Team building and corporate events are one of the first things to get cut when corporates aren't feeling confident and nothing affects confidence like uncertainty. This year, however, has been a level playing field (so far) and corporates are investing in their teams. This investment improves morale, teamwork and communication and these things have an accumulating effect in a business.

Team Building Galore

It is now clear that this is going to be an extremely busy year for our team. Bookings are very good and clients have reacted well to some of the new events we have developed. In particular our Parmesan Job treasure hunt event has been very well received. People love the new Mini Cooper and it does look fantastic when we have a group of them running around together - it really turns heads. Hunt The New Forest Beast has not been so popular as a team building event. It attracts interest on the website but we've only actually run a couple. I think that the idea of camping appeals to some but not others, personally I love it. My theory is that in a group of, say, 30 people between 5 and 10 people will be averse to physical activity and perceived hardships such as camping and they will veto such events. This explains why Treasure Hunts are the most popular event in the corporate event industry. They are acceptable to most people in any given team.

On the subject of camping I have signed up for two weeks' arctic survival in February of next year. I enjoyed the week surviving in the woods last year raising money for The Anthony Nolan Trust and so I have decided to go one step further with this event which will involve living in snow caves, fishing through the ice and travelling by husky and skidoo. I can't wait!

The year is underway

There is a day in the year when the events business, being seasonally affected, changes and becomes extremely busy. I have been monitoring this for the last few years and one date always comes up; 11th February. So, on 11th February this year I came into the office with a spring in my step and it there did seem to be some excitement in the air; more enquiries than usual and people actually looking to make decisions and pin down dates. This week, the week after the key date, has been extremely busy and that surprises me because it's half term and also Confex, the industry exhibition, is on this week. Given all of that I am expecting next week to be very busy, so it's all hands on deck again!

New Year!

We ran almost up to Christmas with team building events and Christmas parties. The Christmas break has been longer than usual, but we return to work tomorrow and the first big event is on 6th January. The first couple of months tend to be taken up with launch events as companies prepare for the coming year. There are still plenty of team building events, but they really kick in from March onwards. I think most of our team have had enough of the break and now want to get back into the swing of things.