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Team building, Game Theory & Volleyball: Who Sets Up the Nets?

Thursday, April 9, 2009 by Dave Blum During the week, my job is to be generating team building ideas, drawing up scavenger hunt lists and concocting treasure hunt clues. On the weekend, however, I try to leave the scavenger hunts and team building activities behind. Saturdays are my day to sleep in, hang…

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The Stories We Spin

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Wednesday, April 8, 2009 by Dave Blum As my Austrian friend, Harald — the *genius* (see my blog entry for December 8th) — is back in town this week, he and his girlfriend, Jutta, my wife, Jen, and I gathered on Monday for dinner at a sushi place near Union Square. (Harald…

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Lessons from Treasure Hunt Scouting

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Tuesday, April 7, 2009 by Dave Blum Yesterday was a rare scouting day for me — one of the pleasures of being a professional creator of scavenger hunts and corporate team building activities. My “task” (if you can call it that) was to walk every street and alleyway in San Francisco’s Union Square area,…

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Team Building and Trust: Part 5

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Monday, April 6, 2009 by Dave Blum Due to my father’s passing a couple of weeks ago, I found myself unavailable to lead one of my scheduled scavenger hunts at the Natural History Museum in New York City. Calling around desperately at the last minute, I eventually get Franco, one of my…

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Team Building and Trust: Part 4

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Friday, April 3, 2009 by Dave Blum Back in July of 1985 (years before scavenger hunt ideas would begin dancing in my head), I was a 22-year-old college graduate, about a month into a two-year stint as an English teacher in Shimonoseki, Japan. Mr. Ueno, my boss and mentor, was giving me final…

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Team Building and Trust: Part 3

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Friday, April 3, 2009 by Dave Blum So far this week I’ve discussed 3 different requirement for building trust: 1) Avoiding gossip 2) Giving consistent effort 3) Demonstrating empathy Today I want to talk about requirement #4: Follow-through A team leader, Marilyn, tasks her marketing director, Stuart, with the challenge of…

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Team Building and Trust: Part 2

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 by Dave Blum Some years ago, I was leading one of my corporate team building activities in perhaps my favorite location for scavenger hunts: New Orleans. One of the participants, Patty, was struggling with the scavenger hunt list — not because the treasure hunt clues were too hard,…

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Team Building and Trust: Part 1

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Tuesday, March 31, 2009 by Dave Blum The longer I work in the field of corporate team building activities, the more I realize that trust building is THE key factor for ensuring team success. By declaring this I don’t, in any way, mean to diminish the importance of such vital…

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My Week Off–With Dad

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Monday, March 30, 2009 by Dave Blum A bit of explanation is in order, I think, for my week away from this blog. On March 22, at ~6pm, my father, Walter, died at a hospital in Santa Rosa, CA, from complications related to lymphoma. He was 81. It was a fairly sudden…

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Team building Idea from Battlestar Galactica

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Friday, March 20, 2009 by Dave Blum Battlestar Galactica–my favorite TV series ever–ends tonight after a marvelous 5-year run. I’m both excited and saddened: excited to see how it all ends up; saddened that there won’t be anymore giddy adventures with the ragtag fleet of humans and their fight against…

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Michele Calope

BMS

JobTrain was seeking a new and exciting method of fundraising for our nonprofit, as well as exposing more individuals and organizations to the work that we do. We needed to find a new and unique way to engage new supporters to JobTrain, in particular a younger demographic. Hosting this team building event seemed like a great way to address both goals. Dr. Clue’s enthusiasm over the event matched well with the enthusiasm we were hoping to derive from the active younger demographic.

Dr. Clue was able to work with our organization, and its specific needs, to tailor a fun community-building event for our guests. He goes above and beyond to ensure that: 1) He fully understands your wants and 2) He fulfills them in a professional, friendly and approachable manner. Dr. Clue took time and care in understanding the unique mission and goals of our event and organization. It was a “thought partner” in refining the details of the event.

All of our guests were fully engaged in the event and had a fantastic time. The variety of clues, clue styles and difficulty level allowed for all participants to be included and feel accomplished. Our Dr. Clue facilitator was very engaging and inspiring, especially in his closing activity with the whole group!

Our guests enjoyed an amazing morning of teambuilding with their own peers, got a chance to meet other community members and made connections with other organizations at this multi-company event. This Treasure Hunt model allowed guests to release their inner child while solving puzzles like a modern Indiana Jones….what’s not to love?! Everyone enjoyed the challenge, the thinking and working together, the fun environment and the uniqueness of the event.

Dr. Clue’s Treasure Hunt allowed new organizations, and the individuals who work at those organizations, to become more familiar with JobTrain’s goals, work and community. We are excited about the new connects that were forged, and are looking forward to another Treasure Hunt, soon! Dr. Clue gave us a window into the possibilities of creating an event centered around on team building and uniting community activities. We are looking to build on this year’s event and grow for next year!

Kunal Kirti

Dr. Reddy’s Lab

Great learning the elements of team building with fun activity and enjoying the surroundings. You get to know the strength of individuals in a different setting, especially outside of work.

Mark Barnes

Trelleborg

I loved piecing together the clues and searching the historic town. Learned a lot more about the people around me.

Heather Morrison

Carolinas Healthcare

What I loved about the treasure hunt was the tour of Charlotte and seeing new places.

Wonderful experience and great team building.

Hugh Hunter

BioMarin

Dear Dave,

Dropping you a quick note to let you know how well-received The Dr. Clue Hunt at Universal Studios was. As you know, we have a team comprised of varied ages, personality types and physical statures. And, as advertised, the Hunt was a good fit for All. The comments I heard from our delegates were as such: “fun; just the right lengt;, challenging but not impossible; a great way to get to know your fellow associates. “

People definitely enjoyed this – and it helped further our “teaming”. As advised, The Hunt required a true team effort and utilizing every member’s skill set to solve the puzzles.

Thanks again! I would not hesitate to utilize your Dr. Clue services in the future when opportunity arises, as well as recommend to others.

George Kuniholm

BioMarin

Excellent Program; Fun, outdoors, plus learning.

Rachel Fortier

Procure4

We had a fantastic time on the scavenger hunt. It was a big hit with our team and by far one of the best team building events we’ve had.

Thank you so much for the enjoyable day!

Pauline Gehnrich

Peninsula Regional Medical Center

Our department (the Education Dept.) here at the Medical Center was VERY pleased with the event. They say it was the BEST teambuilding activity they have every done. And that is saying a lot – since this is what we do (doing workshops/activities, etc) – they can be rather critical.

Stephanie Loughran

Sun-Netscape Alliance

Awesome! We really had a blast and it was an incredible team building event. It really brings out everyone’s specific talents.

Team building, Game Theory & Volleyball: Who Sets Up the Nets?

The Stories We Spin

Lessons from Treasure Hunt Scouting

Team Building and Trust: Part 5

Team Building and Trust: Part 4

Team Building and Trust: Part 3

Team Building and Trust: Part 2

Team Building and Trust: Part 1

My Week Off–With Dad

Team building Idea from Battlestar Galactica

Michele Calope

Kunal Kirti

Mark Barnes

Heather Morrison

Hugh Hunter

George Kuniholm

Rachel Fortier

Pauline Gehnrich

Stephanie Loughran

Introducing our new REMOTE-TEAM
“Virtual” Treasure Hunt

100% on Zoom. Puzzles, clues, creative challenges and more!

Introducing our new REMOTE-TEAM “Virtual” Treasure Hunt

100% on Zoom. Puzzles, clues, creative challenges and more!

Introducing our new REMOTE-TEAM
“Virtual” Treasure Hunt