Olympic Team Build (FMCG)
Our client, who is an official sponsor of the 2012 London Olympic Games, wanted to bring a flavour of the Olympics to their annual summer sales conference. The event was hosted at the stunning Beaumont House Conference Centre in Old Windsor, Berkshire.
The Penguins’ Olympic Events team were given the task of creating a series of competitive and interactive Olympic themed team building activities with a difference. The client was keen not to have the typical Olympic activity i.e. a school sports day, with an Olympic twist. More importantly, they required an Olympic event that would create a competitive spirit but would also leave staff smiling.
Scale
70 staff
The Solution
We designed a bespoke activity called ‘Going for Gold’ with completely new options, not the usual running races and welly throwing, but four different zones, each with two relevant themed and hilarious activities. ‘Opening Ceremony’, required the teams to turn one team member into an Olympic themed mascot, and for the ‘Rings Challenge’, teams had to puzzle out a tantalizingly simple idea that was almost impossible to complete and win the prize hidden in the centre.
In ‘Team Sports’, we brought back an historic Olympic event with a modern twist, ‘Space Hopper Polo’ which pitted two teams against one another in a competition to score the most goals. Another featured event was ‘Mini-Bike Velodrome’ as cycling has featured in the Olympics since bicycles were invented, only this cycle match sprint was held on miniature bikes!
‘Track and Field’, featured some more identifiable Olympic sports, only with a difference of course.
‘Go with the Throw’ required the teams to compete in our furiously frustrating but hugely entertaining Ping-Pong Shot Put, Paper Plate Discus and Floppy Foam Javelin. They won’t go very far, no matter how hard you throw them. One of the day’s favourite Olympic activities was ‘The Dummy High Jump’. The teams had to work together and co-ordinate their movements in order to launch the life-size dummy high jumper over the bar!
Obviously we could not leave out the Winter Olympics, even without snow and ice. ‘Bobsleigh’, teams had to coordinate their efforts and move the sledge along the course using rollers. The all-in-one lycra suits and helmets were very fetching. Finally we ended with a ‘Giant Slalom’ race of skill and speed performed on giant skis, not down a hill and not individually either but with the whole team having to coordinate their movements through talc-filled balloon gates.
In the evening we ran an ‘Olympic Quiz’, with a number of innovative rounds including ‘Guess the Opening Ceremony’ and the ever popular ‘Observational Round’. The finale involved each team creating their own ‘Olympic Torch’ from modelling balloons, which caused great competitiveness amongst the teams who all wanted to be crowned the overall champions of the day.
The ‘Going for Gold’ Olympic event was really well received with big smiles all round especially from the winning team who won a box of Terry’s All Gold each. Our client was delighted with the event and would recommend the Olympic themed activity to anyone considering a team build session in the run up to the 2012 Olympics.
We provided the following services:
- Event concept and creation
- Logistical management
- Management of all on-site crew and suppliers
- Competition formatting
- On site event management
Result
"Just a quick note to thank you and the team for such a great event last week. I am still receiving positive feedback from everyone who attended; most saying it was the best team building event they had been involved with. Everything ran smoothly and to time (which is no mean task with our lot I can tell you!). Please pass on my thanks to everyone involved, it really was a great day."