Victims, Heroes and Villains

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 by Dave Blum One of my favorite books in recent years is Gary Harper’s “The Joy of Conflict Resolution“.  Harper, a trainer, writer and facilitator based in Vancouver, is a member of the instructional team of the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the Justice Institute of B.C. …

The Monk and the Tiger

Tuesday, December 2, 2008 by Dave Blum The other day, I was re-reading one of my favorite inspirational books, Sylvia Boorstein’s short and pithy “It’s Easier Than You Think“, and came across this parable: “A monk was being chased by a tiger toward the edge of a cliff.  He leaps…

Getting in the Flow

Monday, December 1, 2008 by Dave Blum A few years back, I attended a NASAGA conference session led by Bernie DeKoven. He spoke to us about the elusive quality of “flow”, a term much-popularized by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.  According to DeKoven, the “flow” state is that feeling of being “in the zone”, when we feel…

Things We Do

Saturday, November 29, 2008 by Dave Blum For those of you who haven’t yet made it to my website, Dr. Clue is the company I founded in 1995.  Our six featured team building activities serve clients in the following ways: 1) Our puzzle-based Treasure Hunts allow participants to navigate around a given…

Favorite Treasure Hunt Movies

Saturday, November 29, 2008 by Dave Blum When looking for new scavenger hunt ideas and treasure hunt ideas, I often turn to the movies for inspiration.  As described in an earlier blog, scavenger hunts are defined as the search for objects on a scavenger hunt list.  Treasure hunts, by contrast, are a…

Five Ways to Use Clues in “The Real World”

Wednesday, November 26, 2008 by Dave Blum We live in a clue and puzzle culture, thanks in large part to the amazing popularity of The Amazing Race, National Treasure, The DaVinci Code and similar TV shows and movies.  The entertainment media has clearly latched onto treasure hunt clues and scavenger…

Shifting the Pardigm on Zero Sum Games

Tuesday, November 25, 2008 by Dave Blum My wife, Jen, and I were playing the card game, Bohnanza, Saturday night, and there I was losing — badly.  I believe the technical term is “getting whomped.”  The fact that Jen was routing me at a card game is not entirely earth shattering; she’s a…

“Business”…shhhh

Monday, November 24, 2008 by Dave Blum Should we talk about business when conducting off-sites?  During a treasure hunt last week at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, I was confronted with this very same question.  The client, Baxa Corporation, was preparing for an upcoming product launch; their offsite at the…

What’s going on here?

Friday, November 21, 2008 by Dave Blum I first saw the technique used in 2004, at a Dr. Clue hunt in Sacramento, CA.  The facilitator was Christine McHugh, a Dr. Clue veteran. At the time, the group was vehemently discussing the treasure hunt clues after the first stage of their program,…

My Favorite Hunt Locations

Wednesday, November 19, 2008 by Dave Blum In my last entry, I suggested that a great hunt location is: 1) Relatively flat in terrain 2) Large enough to get lost in 3) Packed with historic signage and public art I would also add that the hunt area should ideally possess the indefinable quality…