I have an off site meeting coming up in Key West, Florida.
I’m on a committee to find (team building) things to do for a team of about 20-30 people.
Since I think sitting in a conference room and building paper tours to learn about communication (I know some of you know what I’m talking about) is TERRIBLE team building; I need to come up with something better. While we’re at it, I’m not interested in doing any trust drills where I fall back and you catch me . :rolleyes:
One thing I thought that would be fun is a walking tour and maybe even turn it into a picture scavenger hunt.
Is Key West a good place for a walking tour? If it matters any we’re staying at the Mariott Key West Beach Side.
What ideas do you guys have for team building; that can (but doesn’t have to) be a competition?
Divide into teams. Whichever team can destroy their livers in the shortest amount of time win.
Actually, a picture scavenger hunt sounds like fun. Especially if you include a lot of (offensive to those who have to look at them) tourist items, like black socks with sandals, or spandex on anybody who shouldn’t be wearing it.
I stayed at the southern end of Key West a couple of years ago. It was easy to walk to almost anywhere, and there were cool things to look at, but it was really humid. I was usually sweating within 5 minutes of leaving the hotel. The Conch Bus (or whatever it’s called) might be a good way to get around and possibly stop off to check out the highlights.
BUT – the walk-able stuff is mostly downtown, so not the most convenient to the Marriott location. Most visitors will want head downtown at some point, so might as well have a good excuse.
My suggestion:
Get the WPA (Depression era – 1930s – Federal Writers’ Project) Guide to Florida, and use the Key West walking tour. Maybe parallel it with a current one.
I did this ten or fifteen years ago as an ordinary tourist, and had a great time. People were friendly and as helpful as possible when I was looking for things that are now gone, even when they didn’t understand what they were. And lots of the stuff is still there, some restored or re-purposed.
A resourceful program designer should be able to harvest 20-30 challenges from all that, suitable for demonstrating the value of each team member’s contribution to the whole.
Check out Dominque and his trained Flying Cats.
[OK, I didn’t fully read the OP, so nevermind, but I’ll leave the link up, in case it appeals to anyone]
I think it sounds fun to; but I was thinking more of an architectural scavenger hunt so that people would more or less be forced to experience part of the town. Isn’t there a historic district? If not architectural in nature, perhaps matchbooks or other products from various restaurants and bars.
Definitely do some drinking. Preferably rum. Maybe you could do a team building exercise where each team gets a bottle of rum that they have to consume and then perform a task that requires dexterity, like a relay race with spoons on their noses. The challenge would be to figure out how to distribute the rum in such a way that they’re all drunk enough to do the exercise, but no one person is too drunk to do his or her part for the team.
Which is why my wife (and a lot of others’ spouses) are coming in town on Friday. We’re going to stay the weekend doing ‘fun’ stuff.
Where’s your positive attitude ladyfoxfyre? I work with people all over the USA, and this is the only chance I get to see them face to face. Before this, we’ve only done our “offsite meeting” at a place in Georgia called Montara Farm; which was fun but this has the potential to be a much better location.
haha, while this would certainly be entertaining; getting sloppy drunk in front of our vp isn’t advisable at this time. Besides, thanks to an incident in Washington DC a few years ago; Rum is still off my list. ::Pukey Smiley Here::
Is that friendly englisman still hanging out at the “farthest point south” marker?
He’ll take your picture and tells good jokes.
There ain’t much to do in Key West-except watch sunsets and drink.
I lived in Marathon, (50 miles up the road from Key West). Walking tours are fine, and Hemmingway’s house is cool. Everyone had a moped so watch out they drive like nuts down there.
It’s interesting as Key West almost looks like a small New England town in the tropics. It has a very different feel from other Florida cites. The hospital is now on Stock Island, and the traffic in and out can be a nightmare, so stay healthy. Of course you’ll want to go to the "southernmost point in the continental USA). Beaches in the Keys are coral, so they really aren’t much fun.
I didn’t find the Keys to be all that hot. The islands get breezes other places like Naples and West Palm Beach (where I also lived) lacked. Don’t be afraid if it rains. It rains a lot in the Keys but it’s rare the storms last. They’re usually done in an hour and the sun comes back out
The sunsets are great as well. Unfortunately there’s a lot bars and drunks around. There’s not much to do in the Keys, after all you can only get so tan.
