1) Do you have public liability insurance?

You would be surprised as to the number of providers who don’t carry PLI.

If something happens to your staff and your provider is not insured it could become very expensive for your organisation

2) Have you carried out a risk assessment on the activity.

Again many providers don’t give a second thought as to the potential risks involved and courses of action in case something does go wrong

3) How experienced is the Event team

Many providers utilise staff with absolutely no experience in team building. These providers will give you an experience, not a teambuilding event.

4) How professional is your organisation?

Do you have support staff? Do you have an office? Or do you work from home with a mobile number as a contact?

5) If you are organising a large event does your provider have the necessary experience on this scale?

Running an event for 20 people is vastly different to running an event for 120 people.

6) Does your provider have a wet wether plan in case your outdoor event can’t be run due to bad weather?

7) Does your event provider have staff who are first aid qualified?

8) What is included in the price quoted. Are there any essential add ons?

9) Can your event supplier provide 3 recent references?

10) Is your Event provider running the event themselves or will they sub-contract out the management?

We came across this very useful 4 min podcast on how to build a high performing teams,

hope you find useful,

 http://www.bnet.com/blog/intercom/how-to-build-a-high-performing-team-useful-commute-podcast/1872?tag=mantle_skin;content

Sourced from our friends at Teambuilding Inc. Author unknown.  

Fact #1 – As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71 percent greater flying range than if one bird flew alone.

Lesson Learned – People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the strength of one another.

Fact #2 – Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.

Lesson Learned – If we have as much sense as geese, we will stay in formation with those who are ahead of where we want to go and be willing to accept their help as well as give ours to others.

Fact #3 – When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.

Lesson Learned – It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership.

Fact #4 – The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Lesson Learned – We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging, and not something else.

Fact #5 – When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again, or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation, or they catch up with their flock.

Lesson Learned – If we have as much sense as geese do, we too, will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.

By Dirk Bansch of Summit Consulting & Training Ltd

Many organisations book a team building event when they want to give their teams a boost, whether it's to reward them for a job well done or to help them re-focus on the achievement of their most important goals. And this is the ideal opportunity for organisations to not just undertake a traditional team building event, but to really drill down and help team members, individually and collectively, to develop an abundance of new skills and competencies that can contribute positively to the ongoing success of the organisation.

Wanting team members to have a great day out is a really commendable goal. But what about partnering having a great day out with perhaps, developing more self-awareness, optimism, resilience, trust, collaboration and willingness to work across teams as well as within their own? The inclusion of such personal development doesn't have to result in a team building event becoming 'formal' and classroom based. Indeed, it's the exact opposite. The hands-on, brains-on and interactive approach is a fantastic way of accelerating learning within and across teams during such an event.

A growing number of clients wish to include a psychometric assessment in their team building events for managers and leaders. The purpose of this is to help participants to develop an awareness of key strengths, weaknesses and preferences in advance of the actual event. It helps participants to 'hit the ground running' and jump straight into their team event. The result? An even more effective day out that develops shared commitment from participants to apply their learning back in the workplace long-term.

Questions you need to ask before booking a team building event:

- What is the purpose of the day?

- Why now, what organisational issues/goals are driving the need for a team building event?

- What business benefits do we need/want to achieve following this event?

- How will participants be supported to apply their learning back in the workplace following their team building event?

Team building events are supposed to be great fun, but there is so much more that you can get out of them than just a nice day away from the office.

If you just want fun, take the team out for bowling or whatever floats their boat. If you want lasting positive results, arrange a professional team building day !

Dirk Bansch is Director of Learning & Development at Summit Consulting & Training Ltd.

We came across a great interview with Lance Armstrong's team manager on how to manage a superstar in your team, see http://www.bnet.com/blog/small-biz-advice/managing-lance-armstrong-an-exclusive-interview-with-his-team-8217s-director/155?promo=713&tag=nl.e713

Hope you enjoy. 

Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.
- Henry Ford

With the oncoming festive season planning an event can be a daunting task, especially if it’s your first… But don’t panic! By breaking it down into manageable pieces and calling on team building professionals to assist in their area of expertise you’ll be on your way to a successful event in no time! For the ultimate in a manageable but epic team building exercise, check out our new Amazing Race Around in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Rottnest Island! The race format can be fully tailored to your chosen destination!

• Why? First, determine what you want to achieve with your event. Why are you holding this? Is it to reward your staff? Thank your clients? Increase staff morale? Staff training and development? Determining the event objectives will help you (and those assisting you) establish the best way to achieve them and also give you a measure for the event’s success...
• When? When is a suitable time to stage your event? Make sure you leave yourself enough planning time and make sure not to clash with any important dates… i.e. End of month reports, public holidays or religious dates… etc etc
• Where? Where are you going to hold the event? Brisbane? Melbourne? Perth? Sydney? Do you want to keep it local to minimise travel costs or do you want to take your guests ‘away from it all’…? If you’re planning an Amazing Race, then why not have it across the country? Our Amazing Race Around can take you across this great brown land, for the adventure of a lifetime.
• Who? Who is this event for? Will invitations be limited to your senior management team, selected clients or is it everyone in?! Don’t forget to take into consideration the demographic of your guests – this will help to ensure you stage a well suited and enjoyable experience for them. If it’s a wide age group or if your guests are very diverse make sure you don’t include anything that may make people feel uncomfortable or excluded…
• What about the money, honey?! Work out your budget for the event… All of the grand plans may come crashing down if you suddenly realise you cannot afford to travel far or invite as many guests.. Working out a rough budget in the early stages will help keep your expectations in check. Our Amazing Race Around, can show you all the highlights great cities like Sydney Melbourne and Brisbane have to offer for a very economical price!
• XL Events takes care of all of the details so you can just turn up on the day and enjoy the experience! Our experience and expertise means nothing is left to chance… Our risk management and safety plans ensures your team enjoys a worry-free dynamic adventure! Your Amazing Race Around Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth or local area is set to the best team building experience yet!
• If you’ve made it through all of the above you probably now have a fair idea of what event you are putting together. It’s now time to work out the “How…” Is the event small enough for you to handle organising on your own or do you need extra resources? Set yourself a realistic timeline and don’t forget to factor in some leeway for all of those unexpected ‘hiccups’! It’s Murphy’s Law after all…
• Now comes the fun part! Pulling it all together! If you are using suppliers for the first time do a little research… Speak to people in the industry to get recommendations for reputable suppliers. Dealing with professional companies with helpful staff will make your job a lot easier!
• Check, check and triple check! The devil is in the details… Make sure you run through your event step by step numerous times to ensure you have covered off on all requirements. Confirm all outside suppliers just prior to the event to make sure that everyone is on the same page and knows what their role is in the grand scheme of things!
• Then it’s Showtime! The more planning done prior to the event will mean the less stress on the day (hopefully!) Some things are bound to go wrong but again… don’t panic! Take a deep breath, do what you need to do to rectify the situation and move on…
• Enjoy! Sit back and enjoy the masterpiece you have created!

XL Events can take the hassle out of organising your next event… Speak to our event management team to discuss your requirements and how they can help!  

From time to time we come across some good information on leadership & teamwork from reliable sources. The below is a short excerpt and link to the full article we very much recommend .

2 Ways to get your Team Engaged   

Team meetings are supposed to be collaborative events. If you are doing all the talking and your team members are doing all the listening, something's not right. Here are two ways to revive your team and get their best thinking out on the table:

1/ Share your ideas sparingly. It is tempting to share all of your genius ideas upfront. Instead, share one or two suggestions at a time. By limiting your comments, you give others the chance to contribute.

2/ Ask lots of questions. Don't worry about having all of the answers. Ask insightful questions that spark discussion. When people speak up, ask them to clarify their ideas so others can understand.
The full article can be viewed at: 

Harvard Business Review

Team Building in its most basic form, is all about interactive experiences. Bringing people together to share, discuss, contribute ideas, comment, identify, react and achieve is the basis for most team building initiatives on the market today.

From more traditional team building programs in past years, like ropes and raft building, to the more dynamic offerings today, like Amazing Races, Cooking team building events like MasterChef and Hi Tech programs, the only thing that has really changed is the innovative thinking and delivery methods of today's suppliers.

Traditionally team building suppliers were usually former HR trainers, psychologists or had a military background, providing a good base to develop and deliver quality team training programs. Today the market is filled with everyone from slick business people with an interactive experience to sell, to former employees of team building companies with an entrepreneurial streak, to high flying extroverts with a skill for talking and presenting, and we even came a cross a bunch of Personal Trainers who are selling Boot Camp as a team building program.

Yes it is all there on the internet for the buyers to view, scrutinise, and choose what type of team building initiative they are going to engage for the upcoming company offsite or away day!
Everything from bowling to basketball to canoeing to fitness activities are being promoted as team building programs these days. Without commenting on what experiences are value for money and will deliver a good ROI, to what is rubbish and will bore your team to death with their mediocrity, our challenge today is to give you the basics in where to start when looking for a great team building program that will provide you with bang for your buck!

Firstly, when you Google for team building ideas, it is important to realise that because a team building supplier is listed high on the sponsored links part of the page, doesn't always mean that they are the best option. Anyone can pay to appear on the sponsored links page!

When you have a short list of suitable programs or experiences, it is very important to do a quick reference check or background check on the suppliers in mind. Not all companies offer the quality programs purported on the endless flashy websites!

When you contact the supplier, the first thing that should be asked is what their experience in delivering team building programs and activities as, what professional indemnity insurance they have, and exactly who will be delivering the program and debrief.

Contingency plans should be available in most cases to cover weather issues, and you should receive a detailed program brief outlining exactly what is included for your spend, such as event insurance, risk assessment, and emergency plans to the basics like water and sunscreen, and location expenses like permits, garbage collection and and bump in/out times etc.

Your team building supplier should leave you confident in that your program will be delivered as it should be, is dynamic and fun, suits all participants, and will leave you stress free and receiving the kudos for organising in the first place!