The Art of Story Telling: Set the Scene

Thursday, May 7, 2009 by Dave Blum My favorite movie reviewer is a guy named James Berardinelli, who writes at http://www.reelviews.net/movies.php. In a current review, he wrote: “It has been argued that for characters to be three-dimensional, they must have a past, a present, and a future, not to mention an arc.” As a team […]

Scavenger Hunts without Adrenaline

Tuesday, May 5, 2009 by Dave Blum Although my business is creating business team building games and corporate scavenger hunts, my wife, Jen, and I have a private passion for treasure hunts as well.   One of our most cherished traditions — on a date roughly equidistant between our two birthdays — is to hold a do-it-yourself treasure hunt in San […]

Business Team building Games: Should We Award Prizes?

Monday, May 4, 2009 by Dave Blum It seems like whenever I’m talking on the phone with prospective client about my company’s corporate scavenger hunts, the same question inevitably arises: “Should we give prizes and awards?” I think the better question should be: “Should we encourage or dis-encourage the release of adrenaline?” Because the scarcity […]

Managing Conflict: Feeling Emotions in Your Body

Friday, May 1, 2009 by Dave Blum There’s an icebreaker I like in a book called “The Conflict and Communication Activity Book”, by Bill Withers and Keami D. Lewis.  The game is called “Energy Jump” and it works like this: Tell the group that you want them to jump up out of their chairs every […]

Troubles in Teambuilding: Why Team Members Cheat

Thursday, April 30, 2009 by Dave Blum Some time back, while leading a corporate scavenger hunt in Ventura, CA,  I was required to put up a sign on a wall, down along the beach-side promenade. No big deal.  Treasure hunt clues often require the placing of a sign of some sort.  I took great care […]

Team building online–Smart Mobs

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 by Dave Blum In case you somehow missed it, I want to urge you to go out to your nearest newstand and pick up a copy of this month’s Wired Magazine.  It’s called “The Mystery Issue” and includes article after article about puzzles, magic, clues, codes–you name it.  I read the magazine […]

Trust and Teambuilding–Who has your back?

Monday, April 27, 2009 by Dave Blum I watch a lot of sci-fi, and inevitably there’s a scene where the hero, preparing to rush into a laser fight, turns to his right-hand man (or woman, or droid) and says, “You cover me”.  Think Han Solo and Chewbacca. This seems, to me, to be a great example of trust — […]

Trust and Teambuilding–Who has your back?

Monday, April 27, 2009 by Dave Blum I watch a lot of sci-fi, and inevitably there’s a scene where the hero, preparing to rush into a laser fight, turns to his right-hand man (or woman, or droid) and says, “You cover me”.  Think Han Solo and Chewbacca. This seems, to me, to be a great example of trust — […]

Trust, Team Building, and Survivor…

Friday, April 24, 2009 by Dave Blum Team building is happening all over the world; you’ve got your corporate team building Atlanta, your corporate team building Dallas, your corporate team building Boston, your corporate team building Los Angeles…So why not team building:  Tocantins, Brazil?  Because that’s where the TV show, Survivor, is holding its current […]