With the hectic schedule at work, how can someone go on an adventure, visit an island, and try to survive there at least for a day or two and then get back to the office by Monday? With Corporate Castaways, yes you can!
Invite your colleagues or suggest it to your supervisor to have a company outing or team building - castaway style. With almost the same concept as the famous show, work challenges with your team or co-workers to complete the task and survive (at least for the 3 to 4 hours). Compete with other teams or departments to be the fastest or with the most points and completed challenges. Work in harmony and succeed or face the penalties (pink slip is at the sole discretion of the employer).
For those who are afraid of going far from their city or beloved families, this can be done in a local park, beach or a nearby lake. Teams or tribes will be formed prior or during the start of the event and ceremoniously presented to each other. Wear your best team outfit that would best represent your tribe and accessorize with a common totem to symbolize the unity and pride of your team.
Enjoy games for staff unity and create a unique and memorable day for all of you. This will not only impact your relationship with each other but drive each other towards working excellence.
This is the transcript from our
YouTube video featuring the Corporate Castaways in Costa Rica that can be found at
http://youtu.be/q3F0_OkrEy4.
Tiff: You
have provided us with some really great feedback about your experience with
that event and just with us, American Outback Adventures and Events in general,
so you could tell me what it was that made it such a success?
Tracy: Well,
I think that the coordination that you guys brought to the table, just in terms
of, you know, as an event planner, it’s such a beautiful thing when there’s an
event that you can rely on, that has all their experts in line, and you guys
got everything so well orchestrated and thought out every little detail so that
it made my worrying factor next to nothing. I mean, I had complete confidence
that you guys have thought about every little thing and did your homework
enough, it’s important to know the nuances of the property and what you weren’t
going to have because we were in an international country, just what resources
you have to pull up and stuff. It was so nice to just show up and I just had
to focus on everything but that for a change. Knowing that you guys had that
detail done was just, that was a relief for me and a big piece of the worrying
out of my day to day experience on site. Because that is usually, it is a huge
focal point, the team building is always a huge focal point of the week for the
company and while we’ve had some great vendors come to the table in the past,
none of them are a professional team building company, so you all knew exactly
what you’re doing, you knew what staff it took, you knew what resources that
you need to pull locally from both the hotel and from a staffing perspective
and just even from the props and the organization of it and things you would need
each station to make everything flow, and it just all did so well. So, you know
it just made us look good, it made my client look good and you know they just thought you guys are great, so
which is why we want to use you guys again.
Tiff: That’s
great, I mean Tracy, we really do appreciate your business and working with
Helms Briscoe is a pleasure, so I’m glad that it was such a success and I’m
glad you’re going to work with us for next year’s program as well.
Since the dawn of time and when humans started walking the earth, we have tried several times to fly onto the air like the birds in the sky without the aid of any contraption or machines. But alas, we cannot do it, unless we suit up a jet pack or ride an airplane or a helicopter. We have always wanted to have that feeling of the wind on our face, soaring in 3 dimensional spaces and see the earth around us from a different point of view.We have created "Superman" and several super heroes to animate that feeling and want - to soar through the clouds and travel from places to places without touching the ground.
Even if we cannot fly, we can create the experience of that wind on your face, soaring through mid-air and span the scenery and safely go back to the ground through the use of an equipment called - Zip line. The history on how the zip line came about is not well documented but the principles behind its pulley mechanism can be dated since the invention of the wheel. Originally, it was made to transfer supplies to and from elevated places like mountains and cliffs. It is still being used the same way today, only in addition, humans traverse the Zip line for transportation and recreation.
Now that we have a contraption that could give us the experience of flying even for a short while, several places all over the globe has setup this thrilling ride, from mountain tops to cliffs and even when there are no natural elevations available, platforms are made and still give that same feel. The criteria that would spell how enjoyable and how exciting the ride would be are the distance between platforms, the height from which platform you will go to and come from, and the scenery that can be found while soaring through the sky. Nothing can be compared with the beautiful and majestic Canadian parks and mountains, most especially in Banff. Located at the outskirts of Yoho National Park, you can see the scenic Canadian Rockies and the Horse Shoe River while soaring through this outdoor activity.
This is the transcript from our
YouTube video featuring the Banff Zipline Sightseeing Tours that can also be found at http://youtu.be/R9hoPooiMpk.
Shannen: This is Shannen
with Canadian Outback Adventures & Events and today I’m talking with Carla,
our Alberta Adventure expert. Now Carla, when I was younger I always had a big
dream about flying. I thought it was going to be a super cool adventure, is
there anything that we offer or any activities that would recreate this feeling
of flying?
Carla: Ziplining
over the past 3 years has really increased in popularity and I think a lot of
that does have to do with exactly that feeling you just described - that want
and desire to fly. We can’t flap our arms, we’re not there yet but we do have a
great alternative and that is ziplining - being suspended from a cable and
getting to really soar over beautiful landscapes just as if you’re flying.
Shannen: Where
can somebody go and try this ziplining experience? It sounds pretty amazing!
Carla: We’ve got
a few different zipline courses, we’ve got one in Whistler and one in Banff as
well and today I’m going to speak a little bit more about our Banff Zipline
course.
Shannen: yeah,
tell me all about it, you said in a harness suspended from a cable but tell me
how it all works?
Carla: Our Banff
zipline takes place outside of the national park, unfortunately, you can’t have
a structure like that within the national park according to the bylaws, but
just outside the Yoho national park near field BC we’ve got our zipline course.
The course itself consist of 3 ziplines and they range in height so we actually
start you off on lower, shorter zips which really just help build the
confidence, getting you ready for the longest line of the course. The last line
is actually 40 meters high and you’re actually going to reach speeds of 70 Kms
per hour. So that’s going to be that experience like you say just completely
soaring over a landscape, wind on your face, wind in your hair, really feeling
like you’re flying.
Shannen: It
sounds really amazing! What kind of people can go and do the zipline? How old
do you have to be? Could kids go and do it or do you have to have a certain
level of fitness to try it out?
Carla: Definitely
beginner accessible so you don’t need any prior experience, you don’t need any
special equipment, we handle all that on our end. So you will be led with a
guide and we will provide you with helmets and harnesses, and our fully trained
guides are actually going to be the ones to connect and un-connect you at each
launch platform. In terms of the age, we do request that kids be at least 6 years
and everybody needs to weight a minimum of 66 pounds. Other than that, you
don’t need to have any special skill or physicality to be able to participate.
Shannen:
Excellent! How long will this tour take?
Carla: The tour
itself, I mentioned, is 3 lines and overall it takes about 45 minutes in
duration. Between each of the zipline there is a short interpretive locks on
trails and ramps so you do get that entertaining combination of a little bit of
education as well as the adventure.
Shannen: I think
we’ve got some other adventures up in that area so if you wanted to make your
day even more filled with adventure, what else can somebody do up there?
Carla: Yeah you
got it! We got our adventure base just outside of Field, BC. We also offer
ATVing in the summer and snow mobiling in the winter. The zipline itself does
run year round, on a hot sunny day or beautiful snow covered landscape, we’ll
take tours out. If you have the time, it’s definitely in your best interest to
come out visit us for an afternoon or a day. With your ziplinning you actually
have an option of doing a 3 hour or a 5 hours of riding time as well so we do
combos with both the ziplines and snow mobiles, and ziplines and ATVing.
Shannen: Sounds
like a pretty excellent way to get your fill of adventure and have an amazing
time just outside of Banff and see the beautiful landscape that Banff has to
offer. So how would somebody go about booking either the zipline tour or one of
these awesome combo tours?
Carla: If anybody
has any interest in these tours or would like to ask some more questions or
just book, we’ve got our phone number which is 1-800-565-8735 Extension 2 and
we’re also accessible by e-mail as well at reservations@canadianoutback.com
Looking for venues for your company outing or team building doesn't have to be far, and doesn't have to be the same each year. Lure your employees in joining your company event by holding them in these wonderful spots in Toronto that you might have not heard before, and this is just the venue. We haven't talked about the things we could do on these places!
Sunnyside Pavilion
Water, Beach, fantastic scenery, and more water. Everybody loves holding events near a body of water. Grill and barbecue anytime of the year, hold parties and Picnic, and the atmosphere: Perfect! Any kind of outdoor event works great here, but of course, "Party in the Park" is always top of the list.
Polson Pier
Turn your team building into a concert or a mini-show here and make it a never-to-forget event. It has a big stage with great sound and AV hook ups, great for dancing or singing events. It has great breakout rooms where your group could split into teams and work with "Boat Building Regatta" and see if those boats you've made could float on the Lake Ontario or sink become one of the artifacts underwater.
Mariposa Cruises
It's in everyone's bucket list to join a cruise at least once in their lifetime, and Mariposa Cruise lines is here to make that dream come true. They are very accommodating with the options on what entertainment you can do on board. You can do a "Vegas Casino Night" like what every luxury cruise liners have or turn the evening ball room dance into a challenging "So You Think You Can Dance" event.
Berkeley Church
This is an old church built in the year 1871 turned into a beautiful and versatile event venue. The best thing about this place aside from the spacious courtyard, is that they have an in-house catering service - making it a full service event venue. You can do a wide variety of activities here like "The Aprentice" or "Cake Creators" events inside or do Barbecue "Iron Chef Challenge" and "Party in the Park" outdoors.
Westin Harbour Castle
Very accessible and centrally located with lots of downtown attractions nearby, The Westin Harbour Castle hotel is the best for a starting and ending point when making an adventure race event for your group like "Wild Goose Chase", "Amazing Chase", or even the now popular "CI: Crime Investigators".
The Carlu
This is a very elegant place to do your events, with 4 distinct rooms, you will never run out of possible activities you could hold here. The Sky and Round Room is absolutely wonderful for Christmas Parties and the Clipper Room looks good for small group karaoke.
Event Venues in Toronto offers endless possibilities of activities, all you have to do is try one out.
Watch this video to know more about the best venues to hold events in Toronto or visit http://www.canadianoutback.com for more information:
This is the transcript from our
YouTube video featuring the Corporate Event Venues in Toronto that can be found at
http://youtu.be/zEd1qsqh1Po.
Shannen: Canadian
Outback Group of companies and today I’m talking with Natania , our Operations
Manager, and we’ve got a core operation center located in Toronto, and I know
that we’ve established some really great relationship with a lot of venues out
there. These venues are really great to provide unique location for a lot of
our corporate team building event. Tell me about some of our favourites?
Natania: Thanks Shannen!
Toronto has great unique opportunity for us to do a lot of different
indoor/outdoor, off season activities for corporate clients. So to start off,
Sunnyside Pavilion is one of our favourites for our summer Party in the Park
event. We’ve run into a bit of a challenge with the city of Toronto when
clients want alcohol at their events, and so, the Sunnyside Pavilion is a great
private venue that allows us to have beachfront, water access as well as some
great green park space for us to be able to do our Party in the Park event. We
do a big barbecue and we can get their catering team to setup a bar, and we can
setup some of our interactive summer picnic games. So the Pavilion is a really
good location with beach access and it’s kind of got this rustic pavilion feel
to it, and they do a really tasty barbecue menu, we even have an ice cream cart
setup there so it’s a great venue for kind of indoor - outdoor location with
alcohol, so that’s a bonus.
Shannen: You
know, Party in the Parks are really great for social – corporate environment,
aren’t they?
Natania: Yeah,
it’s kind of taking the standard corporate barbecue and stepping it up a level
where we get our host to really interact with the participants and get some
competition going, we’ll setup beach volleyball and have bocce going and
crocket, and we try really encourage “team competitive nature” with some of the
games and interaction that our team brings to the event.
Shannen: Awesome!
Alright, what’s another venue that we have out there?
Natania: Another
venue where we’ve done some fun event is the Polson Pier. The Polson Pier is in
a bit of a unique location so it’s unfortunately not transit accessible, butut
they’ve got a very large parking lot right in front of the building. So for
groups who are arranging their own transportation or carpooling and such, it’s
really a neat location to get to. We’ve actually had a really fun experience
there doing our “So You Think You Can Dance” event, the Polson Pier holds
concert and private entertainment venue, so they got a big stage with great
sound, an AV hooked up there and they’ve got lots of different breakout rooms
where we can have our choreographers come and have the teams break up and
practice their routines and then perform on the stage. They also have an
upstairs space that has its own big private patio and bar as well, so it’s a
versatile location for us to do large scale, more entertainment focused events
as well as taking advantage of more summer time focused activities, especially
our Iron Chef. They’ve got great big patio there where overlooks their
playground. They also got a beach flared feeling to it in the summer time, so
it’s a good winter and summer location for us to do all types of different
interactive events. We’ve offered them The Apprentice there which is our
Philanthropic bike build event, so clients who wanted again just an indoor
activity with a lot of place, it poses to be a good location for that.
Shannen: Yeah,
sounds like a great venue, definitely a really versatile for a lot of the
different events that we can run there. What’s the next one on your list?
Natania: The next
one is a little bit more unique, it’s actually is on the water, so we’ve talked
about some of these venues that overlook the water but the next one would be Mariposa
Cruises. They have a fleet of private charter boats where we can do events on
board. We’ve hosted Casino Party nights there, James Bond Theme 007 nights
there and they are really good partners to work with. They take off right from
Queens Quey right downtown, and they work with us on menu selection, bar
selection, they’re open to all sorts of different entertainment that we can
bring onboard whether it be bands, magicians, casino like I said, so it’s kind
of a fun, unique, different version of a venue for an event. We could
definitely be really creative and do our other teambuilding focus interactive
activities. We could do a crime investigator on board as well and setup our
crime scene around the vessel so it’s just a bit of unique option, if clients
are looking to get away from the city, and of you have fantastic views, looking
back on the city from the boat itself.
Shannen: That
sounds awesome! Now I know last we ran a couple of familiarization events and
we used the Berkeley church, is that one on your list as well?
Natania: Oh yes,
the Berkeley church, we have done a few really successful familiarization
events. Our Cake Decoration Competition at the Berkeley Church and they’ve been
wonderful partners. The Berkeley church is, I think prior, hidden gem in
Toronto that a lot of people don’t know about. It’s a old church converted into
a venue, so it’s got this real, rustic feel to it and there’s two main areas:
their main old setting and then they have a courtyard area that has a covered
patio and some greenery which is really pretty. The venue itself can
accommodate closer to about 200 people and their courtyard lower level area is
about a hundred people. They have their own in-house catering team as well and
they produce tasty culinary treats for us and can customize any type of menu
for the group and have two versatile spaces. So if it’s a group who is a little
bit smaller we can use their downstairs room with their courtyard. They also
have access to the outdoor space so if we want to setup a barbecue or do our
Iron Chef competition there, we could do so. But is just a unique beautiful
brick building right on Queen street, so again very accessible to the city and
just a versatile space for any of our indoor program and they’re very flexible
and easy to work with.
Shannen: Yeah, I
like the idea that a lot of these venues that you mentioned really provide
multiple options so that they can usually provide something that would work
with one of our indoor events or one of our outdoor events. That make them
great partners to have, sounds good! Alright, what’s next up on your list?
Natania: So also
on our top venue list is the Westin Harbour Castle. The Westin is a really
popular chain of hotel and we’ve worked very closely with them across Canada
but specifically in Toronto, they are always really open to having our groups
on site. They started and finished a lot of our different events in the lobby
or in the restaurant of the hotel, and they’ve got some great meeting room
spaces as well. Your typical ballroom setting style hotel but they are very
accommodating, and again, really great access to transit or just within walking
distance to some major attractions downtown as well as being close to the
waterfront, and having those great view of the city. This is a really great
hotel partner we have with, lots of versatile space to view and many activities
to do, whether we’re doing strictly indoor entertainment focus activity or
wanting to do one of our amazing chase activities where the teams are meeting a
start and a finish wrap up location.
Shannen: Yeah,
hotels are always really so versatile for being able to provide either those
starting or stopping points / finishing points or the great meeting place they
offer there. Okay, what else we have on our list?
Natania: And last
on our top list here is the Carlu. The Carlu is the unique venue with having
multiple different spaces within it, so again, another one of those very
versatile venue where we can partner with to accommodate lots of different
groups sizes. Great again, downtown location, direct access to the subway. It’s
a really beautiful multi-functional space, it has 4 distinct rooms, there’s a
concert hall, and the round room, the sky room, and those rooms open up into
the grand foyer. So the unique, sexy kind of romantic space they have access to
different types of décor as well so if we wanted to create more of a theme for
a type of activity that we are doing, we have access to all of that. It can
accommodate smaller groups but then also
be a great location for the larger five hundred, eight hundred person
activities, and where sometimes corporate clients need space accommodating
those big, big groups.
Shannen: and of
course. We always love working with great venues and hotel partners throughout
all of our regions. So, thanks very much Natania and we will talk to you again.
There is always something new to discover in every destination you go to, and every destination has a featured activity that it is famous for. So let us say you want to go to Jasper during winter, what activities can you do there? Answer: Icewalk
Icewalk Adventures is a great way to explore the surroundings, see the plants and animals
in winter, appreciate nature more and feel the environment without the
city lights and concrete buildings. It will make you realize that there is much more to see than all the ice around the mountains and that same ice is much different than where you're at.
However, you learn so much more and experience something much different when you do an Icewalk tour rather than watching it on television or visiting that place by yourself. Take a tour and step into the wilderness with a knowledgeable guide to learn about the history of the place, how the glaciers and canyons were formed, and see the Rockies like you've never seen it before.
Nothing spells winter wonderland like Jasper, and no other canyon can
be as comparably beautiful and magnificent as Maligne Canyon. The best
way to explore it is doing a Maligne Canyon Jasper Icewalk tour.
This is the transcript from our
YouTube video featuring the Jasper Maligne Canyon Ice Walk that can be found at
http://youtu.be/qBlrpfDXj94.
Shannen: Canadian
Outback Adventures and Events and I’m talking with Karla Haerthe our Alberta
Adventure expert, Karla how are you?
Karla: Good, how
about yourself?
Shannen: Good, I
know you get lots of clients visiting us and Jasper up in the winter time, what
type of activities do you have? What would you recommend for our clients up in
Jasper?
Karla: For sure
Jasper is definitely a beautiful place to visit in the winter time, and if
clients are visiting in the winter time, I always say they can’t miss the
Jasper Maligne Canyon Ice Walk Tour. This is easily Jasper’s most scenic and
most popular winter activity.
Shannen: They said
Maligne Canyon Ice Walk Tour, is that an extreme adventure? Or is it something
that’s going to be accessible for all of our clients?
Karla:
Definitely, it’s very accessible when you think about the Maligne Canyon Ice
Walk, it really is that, it is a walk. So it is very accessible, this isn’t
extreme Ice climbing, but there is definitely extreme beauty to be seen out
there. The Canyon Ice walk tour runs daily throughout the winter time, November
to April based on tradition and it’s accessible for participants 7 years and
older. So it is actually quite family friendly. As a matter of fact, it is a
guided ice walk so it is simply walking but we do provide you with warm
waterproof boots and tread enhancing cleats so it will help everybody warm and
feel secure on the ice. It is a really beautiful ice walk where you’ll have a
guide that’s going to lead you safely through the canyon floor to look at all
the fascinating mazes of natural ice sculptures, frozen waterfalls, you can see
an entrance to a cave system and some fossils as well.
Shannen: That
sounds pretty spectacular, I bet seeing some of those frozen waterfalls and
just the natural winter beauty out there would be pretty incredible. How often
does this tour run? Is it an all day thing? How does it work?
Karla: The tour
actually runs 3 times a day and we run a departure in the morning, the
afternoon, and the evening. It’s 3 hours in duration with 2 of those hours
spent on the trail, so we do transport you to and from the Jasper Camp site to
Maligne Canyon and that accounts for the little bit of extra driving time and
we make sure that everybody is experiencing the tour in a very safe, and fun,
educational manner. We really actually respect the natural surroundings that
we’re in as well. For anybody who might be looking for a really unique experience,
as I mentioned, we do have an evening tour and of course in the winter time its
dark out in the evening, but we provide all guests with head lamps during that
tour. It’s just a really neat atmosphere as you are walking through the canyon
and you see all these light shadow dancing on the powering ice, it’s really
beautiful and unique.
Shannen: I bet
that would make it an extra special trip to add to the beauty of the
surroundings for sure. If somebody’s staying in Jasper, how do they come out to
this trip? What part? Do they book it with us and what’s the best course of
action?
Karla: Well,
definitely, if you’re staying in Jasper, if you’re within walking distance of
our check in, we do have a check in right on Patricia Street, very accessible
by most hotels. But not a problem, we’re more than happy to pick you up from
your hotel as well and we do transport all guest from Jasper campsite to
Maligne Canyon at no additional charge.
Shannen: And how
do they book this trip with?
Karla: If anybody
is interested and they like to learn more about it or if they have any
questions, or simply just want to go ahead and book because it just sounds that
amazing, they can definitely give us a call at 1-800-565-8735 Extension 2 or if
e-mail’s best reservations@canadianoutback.com
According to the American Society of Training and Development, businesses in the US spent $125.9 billion on employee learning and development back in 2009. On average, this works out to around 2.2% of annual payroll budget.
But in recent years, many companies have slashed their budgets, in response to the ever challenging economic climate. So what are the options when it comes to team building on a budget?
Well, there are a number of simple but effective ways to get your team out of the office and interacting with each other. The key is to find an activity that meets your objectives in a fun and collaborative way that will not break the bank.However, successful companies are now recognizing the need to actually increase their investment in employee training and development. Focusing on maintain positive working relations is especially important during times of change and uncertainty.
Team building activities are an essential way to re-group and develop collaborative problem solving skills to help teams work more effectively. It’s important to look carefully at how much you need to invest in order to deliver a positive, measurable return on investment.
Here are some of the benefits that businesses are looking to achieve:
Improved communications
Increased sales, productivity and efficiency
Greater understanding and appreciation
Improved trust, energy and enthusiasm
More productive working environment
Less sickness, absence and turnover
Less issues and conflicts
More thinking outside the box
At Canadian and American Outback Adventures & Events, we have specialists experienced in providing solutions for companies of all shapes and sizes. We’ve got over ten years of expertise and an outstanding track record to go with it. So if you’re looking for the right solution, give us a call today on 1-800-565-8735 (Canada) 1-800-713-7238 (US), or visit our websites at
